Ocean City, Maryland -Rare Mystery Shipwreck Artifact Found In Surf

OCEAN CITY – A large section of what is likely a fairly ancient wooden vessel was discovered in the surf at 43^rd Street and now awaits its fate in a town-owned storage facility in West Ocean City as state historians and maritime archaeologists attempt to date it and perhaps discover from whence it came.
The roughly 25-foot long, L-shaped artifact was first discovered in the surf by swimmers in the 43^rd Street area on Monday. Ocean City Beach Patrol staffers tried to remove the unknown object from the water, but quickly realized it was something much larger than they were capable of moving. The town’s Public Works department was called in and was eventually able to haul the giant piece of history from a bygone era from the water using a front-end loader and other equipment.
“People were reporting to us they kept bumping into something in the water below the surface,” said Beach Patrol Lieutenant Ward Kovacs. “The lifeguards tried to get it out, but they knew right away it was something beyond the scope of their abilities.”
Only after Public Works employees were successful in dragging the mystery object from the water and onto the beach did it become clear it was likely some large part of a vessel shipwrecked or destroyed years ago. The longest section is about 25-feet long with a shorter section attached by treenails, or wooden pegs used in ship building in the 18^thcentury, creating an L-shaped artifact. Realizing it could be a rare archaeological find, Public Works crews carefully removed the artifact from the beach and transported it to a town-owned facility on Keyser Point in West Ocean City where it’s being preserved and stored while state scientists do their research.
“It appears to be a keel and stern portion of a ship and I’ve been told it appears to be dated around 1850,” said Public Works Director Hal Adkins. “We’ve got it covered in an effort to preserve and keep it from drying out. We’ve been told if it dries out, it will likely start to disintegrate.”
On Tuesday, officials from the Maryland Historical Trust Office of Archaeology, led by state maritime archaeologist Susan Langley, arrived at the West Ocean City site to begin unraveling the mystery behind the rare find. While the investigation continues, there are certain elements of the find that can help date it and others that can rule certain things out.
For example, Langley said it was a stern post with dead wood attached, suggesting it was likely from the mid-18^thcentury. The longest section is not the actual keel, but dead wood attached to the keel to provide additional weight for the vessel. Adding dead wood to a keel for additional weight was a practice used in ship building in the 1800s, according to Langley.
Perhaps the most significant part of the find is the metal fish plate attached to the stern post. Through her research, Langley was able to determine similar fish plates were first used on vessels as early as 1805, but she believes this particular fish plate dates back to about 1850 or even later.
“It will probably be impossible to pinpoint the exact age of this vessel, but there are certain educated assumptions that can be made based on the evidence,” she said. “It’s still early, but I would place this vessel around 1850 or maybe even post-Civil War.”
Langley said there were other key indicators used in dating the artifact. For example, treenails (pronounced trunnels), which are wooden pegs used in ship building in the 18^th century, are lathe-turned, meaning they are likely post-Industrial Revolution. Prior to the advent of power lathes, treenails and other wooden parts used in ship building were hand carved or cut with a saw.
Noticed immediately when the artifact was pulled from the ocean were Roman numerals carved into the stern post from four to seven, or IIII to VII, on the actual wood. Some on the beach initially believed the carved Roman numerals were an indication of the age of the vessel, and one man actually told OCBP members he thought the markings suggested the vessel dated back to 1537, but Langley explained the carved Roman numerals were depth markings on the stern post used when the vessel was being loaded to determine how low it was sitting in the water.
Langley and her crew were, at first, thought the use of the Roman numeral four carved as IIII as opposed to the widely accepted IV could be used to pinpoint the age of the vessel, but it didn’t prove to be helpful. The archaeologists discovered from their research that IIII and IV were used interchangeably for centuries even dating back to Roman times.
“There was nothing to be gained from the markings in terms of determining the age,” she said. “There is no rhyme or reason for the use of one or the other.”
Although a variety of elements of the artifact has allowed researchers to date the vessel from the mid- to late 18^thcentury, there is little hope for determining what its name was, where it came from and what it was doing off the coast. Langley said the size of the piece found suggests it was likely a merchant vessel carrying cargo and not a fishing vessel. She also said the lack of copper plating anywhere on the artifact suggests it was not a military vessel. “It was a fairly large vessel,” she said.
Langley said the piece was in fairly pristine condition given its age, suggesting it has likely been buried under the sea floor for a long time.
“There are no worm borings or barnacle growth, meaning it was fairly deeply buried,” she said. “It was certainly buried below oxygen level because there is no evidence of any critters getting to it.”
For the same reason, it must have been unearthed fairly recently after perhaps a century or more under the sea floor, but it is unlikely there is more of the vessel off the coast in the immediate area of where it was found this week.
“There is no way of knowing where it came from or where the rest of it is,” said Langley. “It could have been unearthed by a storm or some dredging activity and drifted down the coast. There’s a strong north-south drift off the coast in the mid-Atlantic region, so the rest of it, if it’s still preserved, could be off of Delaware or even further north. Lord knows where it came from, but it was buried until fairly recently.”
For now, the artifact remains carefully stored at the town-owned facility in West Ocean City where the research continues. Langley said it would deteriorate rather quickly when subjected to the elements, but the artifact could find a home for display, perhaps at the Ocean City Lifesaving Museum at the end of the Boardwalk.
“I’ve already had some discussion with [Ocean City Life-saving Station Museum Curator] Sue Hurley at the museum and we wouldn’t have any objection to displaying it as long as it lasts,” said Langley. “It would also make a wonderful teaching piece, so it might have some value for a short time anyway.”
Langley said because so much is not known about the vessel or its origins, it wouldn’t be practical to attempt to preserve it long term. “To truly conserve it would cost a lot of money,” she said. “It’s a wonderful find, but it just wouldn’t be worth it.”