Revisiting HMS Looe: Recent Investigation of a British Warship in the Florida Keys

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In 2023, NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries and East Carolina University initiated a reinvestigation of the HMS Looe shipwreck in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. This 1744 shipwreck was the focus of early underwater archaeological research amidst treasure hunting activities in the early 1950s, when Mendel Peterson of the Smithsonian Institution linked a shipwreck’s artifacts to the location’s name, Looe Key. Surprisingly little archaeological research followed in the subsequent decades indicating to the research team that the site warranted another look. In concert with their archaeological investigation, researchers began to examine the HMS Looe artifact collection once held by the Smithsonian, but now housed at a local museum. Initial findings from the research indicate that the site and its artifacts have much more to offer.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow