Taking it Personally: Personal Items from the Storm Wreck

Author(s): Hunter L. Brendel

Year: 2016

Summary

The Storm Wreck, a Loyalist refugee vessel fleeing Charleston near the end of the American Revolution in 1782, was discovered by LAMP in 2009. Since 2010, a systematic excavation of the shipwreck has been ongoing, aiming at documenting, recovering, and conserving diagnostic artifacts to further understand this shipwreck and its role in Florida’s Loyalist influx, a time of civil conflict and rapidly increasing population. This paper will review artifacts from the shipwreck categorized as personal items and effects, including spoons, straight pins, belt and shoe buckles, buttons, knives, a dirk sheath, pistols, coins, a lice comb, and a fausse montre or false watch. Most are undergoing conservation treatment though many have been deconcreted and physically examined. Some can be considered diagnostic to affirm the vessel’s date, purpose, and cultural identity, while also providing a greater understanding of the social aspects of those on board forced to flee their homes. 

Cite this Record

Taking it Personally: Personal Items from the Storm Wreck. Hunter L. Brendel. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Washington, D.C. 2016 ( tDAR id: 434992)

Spatial Coverage

min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 818