Is it Guerrero? Investigations of an Early Nineteenth Century Shipwreck Near Key Largo, Florida

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Ship Construction and Shipwrecks: A Journey into Engineering Successes and Failures (General Sessions)" , at the 2021 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

On December 19, 1827, the Havana-based pirate slave ship Guerrero wrecked on a reef off Key Largo, Florida, while being chased by the British Royal Navy schooner HMS Nimble. Forty-one captive Africans drowned when Guerrero sank; the survivors were rescued. Items were salvaged from the wreck, but it never sailed again. Nimble also ran onto the reef, but refloated after jettisoning iron ballast, shot, and a gun. From 2003-2005, magnetometer surveys were conducted in the areas where the events occurred and located a shipwreck that matches what is known about Guerrero, as well as a nearby site consisting of iron shot and ballast. This presentation gives an overview of what has been revealed about the sites, the connections between the historical and archaeological evidence, and why a tentative identification of the shipwreck as Guerrero is warranted.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Ship Construction and Shipwrecks: A Journey into Engineering Successes and Failures (General Sessions)   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2021

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology