Using Quantitative Analysis of Historical Records to Understand Landscapes and Predict Possible Locations of Shipwreck Remains in the Virgin Islands

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Landscapes Above and Below in Southern Contexts (General Sessions)" , at the 2021 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

The United States and British Virgin Islands are popular tourist destinations with their picturesque beaches and turquoise waters but as Caribbean colonies of various Euro-American nations, these islands were primarily comprised of sugar and cotton plantations. Transportation of products to markets in Europe, import of manufactured goods from Europe, increasing slave populations, and defending the territories from rival Euro-American nations, meant that the inhabitants of these islands relied completely on water travel. This reliance became problematic when strong storms and hurricanes moved through the region, captains misjudged the depth of the reefs that commonly surround the islands, or ships were attacked by rival seafarers. This paper analyzes a catalogue of shipwrecks throughout the Virgin Islands in terms of their nationality, location and date of wrecking, port of origin, purpose of voyage, and cause of wrecking in order to better understand the landscape and possible locations of shipwreck remains.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Landscapes Above and Below in Southern Contexts (General Sessions)   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2021

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology