Coming in with a Tide, Going out with a Forklift: The Spring Break Shipwreck Project

Summary

This is an abstract from the "A Sudden Wreck: Interdisciplinary Research on the Spring Break Shipwreck, St Johns County, Florida" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The Spring Break shipwreck washed ashore just north of St. Augustine in late March 2018. The media presence created a cultural phenomenon of the hull remains with stories and images spreading worldwide. The first four days of the project brought out thousands of people and a drive to document as much as possible before the coming tide. Using traditional and digital recording, the site was documented by researchers from across the state and openly discussed with the public at hand. The race against the tide and the popularity of the hull pushed the decision to move the vessel from the beach to the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve, where it currently sits today. This paper will provide an overview of the fieldwork, public interpretation and protection of the site while on the beach, its transportation from the beach, and current outreach and preservation efforts for the site.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2019   •
• A Sudden Wreck: Interdisciplinary Research on the Spring Break Shipwreck, St Johns County, Florida

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 128