In the Muddy Banks of North Carolina, Student Archaeologists May Have Discovered the Remnants of a Centuries-Old Spanish Ship

A large section of the possible La Fortuna shipwreck sits on the beach in southern North Carolina Image courtesy ECU Program in Maritime Studies

Nearly 300 years after a Spanish ship was destroyed along the southern coast of what is now North Carolina, a team of marine archaeologists may have finally discovered the ship’s remains. 

During a summer maritime studies program, graduate students and marine archeologists from East Carolina University spent several weeks at the site of the former Brunswick Town, once a well-populated British colonial city and North Carolina's largest pre-Revolutionary War port. 

There, about 12 miles south of modern-day Wilmington, the team unearthed evidence of four separate shipwrecks, including 40 pieces of timber that experts believe may have come from the vessel known as La Fortuna, a privately owned Spanish warship that preyed on British vessels in the 18th century and exploded after colonial forces repelled an attack.

The discovery was serendipitous. Two students were diving to measure the width and northern extent of the Cape Fear River when they became disoriented in murky conditions. 

“I came across several wooden frames barely sticking out of the clay mud with evidence of planking just barely visible on the surface,” Cory van Hees, a maritime studies graduate student who was part of the discovery, said in a statement. “I didn't understand what I was looking at in that moment, but I knew I should relay the wooden structure to faculty.”

The discovery was confirmed as ship wreckage later that day. Samples of the discovered wooden timbers reveal they are made of either Monterey cypress or Mexican cypress, species whose respective ranges are limited to southern California and central America. This suggests, the researchers say, that shipbuilders used materials from Spanish colonies in the 18th century. 

That the timbers were found in proximity to where a cannon, likely from La Fortuna, was recovered by a diver in 1985, further links the newest find to the Spanish ship. 

In early September 1748, after persistent Spanish raids on the British-controlled Brunswick port, privateers descended from their ships, including La Fortuna, and mounted a ground attack in town. But a local militia turned them back, and the crew retreated to their ship. Amidst an exchange of cannon fire, a gunpowder magazine likely ignited onboard, “resulting in an explosion that killed La Fortuna’s captain, officers, and most of its crew,” Popular Science’s Andrew Paul writes. 

Bounty taken from the shipwreck helped fund the construction of two local churches: St. Phillips Church in Brunswick and St. James Church in Wilmington, The News & Observer’s Mark Price reports. Today, the site of the former colony is preserved as the Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson (BTFA) State Historic Site. 

Marine archaeologists are less certain about the origins of the three other sites discovered this summer. One, located next to a colonial wharf, appears to have been used for waterfront land reclamation. A second may be the remains of a colonial-era flatboat, which was “a watercraft historically used to transport people and goods between the port and nearby plantations,” according to the university. The last, barely visible amid mud, remains a total mystery. 

“We are extremely excited about these important sites, as each one will help us to better understand the role of BTFA as one of the state’s earliest colonial port towns,” says Jason Raupp, a maritime historian and archaeologist, who also led the team. “These submerged colonial waterfront features are incredibly well-preserved.”

Time is not on the archaeologists’ side. Erosion near BTFA caused by dredging, strong waves and storms continue to threaten the shoreline ecosystems and unprotected estuarine marshland where wreckage is buried. The possible remains of La Fortuna were excavated from a degraded section of marsh as part of an emergency effort.

“The successful recovery of the possible La Fortuna shipwreck and documentation of heritage at risk within a nationally significant historic site demonstrates the effectiveness of the collaborative efforts of the research team,” Raupp says.

Source: smithsonianmag.com