Two late-season hurricanes hitting Florida’s east coast helped uncover a probable shipwreck from the 1800s.
Buried in the sand of Daytona Beach, Floridaup to two centuries, bathers and lifeguards discovered the wooden structure sticking out from under the sand.
The 80- to 100-foot-long wooden vessel was spotted over Thanksgiving weekend in front of homes along the Volusia County coast that collapsed into rubble last month due to Hurricane Nicola.
The properties had been made vulnerable by Hurricane Ianwhich hit in late September and swept through the southwest coast of Florida and central Florida.
Maritime archaeologist Chuck Meide, who led an archaeological team from St. Augustine, Fla., on Tuesday to examine the find on the beach, described it as an “extraordinary event.”
He said he is convinced the structure is a shipwreck because of how it was built and materials such as iron bolts that were used.
Despite the rarity of the find, with climate change causing “more intense hurricane seasons,” such discoveries “are happening more frequently,” he added.
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Archaeologists Say Hurricane Nicole May Have Uncovered 1800s Shipwreck in Daytona Beach
In addition to removing sand and making a shallow trench around the structure’s wooden beams, the archaeological team also made sketches and took measurements, while the excavators used shovels and trowels to expose more of the frame.
There are currently no plans to remove the ship from the shores of Daytona Beach, but work is underway to learn more about its origins.
“We’ll let Mother Nature bury the wreck,” Meide said.
“This will help preserve it. As long as the hull is dark and wet, it will last a long time, hundreds of years longer.”
It’s not the only unusual object to have been displayed on the Florida coast.
Hurricane Nicole also unearthed the skeletal remains of six people from what is believed to be a Native American cemetery in Martin County, about 160 miles south of Volusia County.
