Two Wrecks In A Historic Careenage : The Case For Identification Of The Deadman's Island and Town Point Shipwrecks In Pensacola Bay, Florida.

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Developing Standard Methods, Public Interpretation, and Management Strategies on Submerged Military Archaeology Sites" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The Deadman’s Island (8SR782) and Town Point Shipwrecks (8SR983) are unidentified wrecks that were archaeologically investigated and interpreted as small stripped and abandoned wrecks from the British Occupational Period of Pensacola (1763-1781). The wrecks were found in an 18th-century Royal Navy careenage. Today these wrecks are threatened by sea level rise, erosion, and looting. This paper argues a possible identity for the two wrecks by investigating probable candidates introduced in the historical record. Documents rediscovered may prove the Deadman’s Island Wreck to be HMS Florida, the last survey schooner of Royal Surveyor and Cartographer George Gauld, and the Town Point Wreck her attendant shallop. Both vessels are excellent examples of the small craft used to chart the Gulf Coast before being utilized to transport troops during the Anglo-Spanish conflict of the American Revolutionary War.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2019   •
• Developing Standard Methods, Public Interpretation, and Management Strategies on Submerged Military Archaeology Sites

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 493