Jean Lafitte’s Dorada or the U.S.S. Firebrand: A Remote-Sensing Survey with an Autonomous Surface Vehicle and a Towed Magnetometer

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Needle, Meet Haystack: The Role of Magnetometers in Underwater Archaeological Research and the Evolution of Interpreting Magnetic Data for Cultural Resource Investigations", at the 2024 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

An archaeological remote-sensing survey was conducted in search of the U.S.S. Firebrand, formerly known as the Dorada, situated on or near Square Handkerchief Shoal offshore Pass Christian, Mississippi. Prior to its sinking in 1819, the vessel was owned by the infamous pirate, Jean Lafitte before being seized and acquired by the US Navy in 1814/1815. In an attempt to locate this historic shipwreck, a state-of-the-art approach using a Sea Robotics Surveyor M1.8 Autonomous Surface Vehicle equipped with a towed Marine Magnetics Explorer magnetometer was employed. This innovative technology facilitated surveying at depths as shallow as one foot of water, opening new avenues for comprehensive investigations. The case study demonstrates that by integrating the ASV with a magnetometer, areas too shallow for traditional marine remote-sensing are now more accessible for archaeological surveys.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2024   •
• Needle, Meet Haystack: The Role of Magnetometers in Underwater Archaeological Research and the Evolution of Interpreting Magnetic Data for Cultural Resource Investigations

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow