Pew Pew! Small Arms from the Storm Wreck, a Loyalist Evacuation Ship from the End of the American Revolutionary War.

Summary

On or just after 31 December 1782, sixteen ships from a larger fleet evacuating Charleston, South Carolina wrecked while attempting to enter the St. Augustine Inlet. One of these sixteen ships, the Storm Wreck, has been the focus of six seasons of excavation for the Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program (LAMP), the research arm of the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum. The firearms recovered from the shipwreck include three Brown Bess muskets, two of which were loaded and in the half cock position, an intact and highly decorated pocket or Queen Anne’s style boxlock pistol, and the remains of a wooden handle from an additional small pistol. This paper will discuss the small arms recovered from the site thus far, conservation challenges, and what these arms mean for the interpretation of this site.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Archaeology, Conservation, and Interpretation of the Storm Wreck, a Wartime Refugee Vessel Evacuating Charleston, South Carolina at the End of the American Revolution and Lost at St. Augustine, Florida on 31 December 1782   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2016

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Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 800