The Gloucester Historical Society welcomed Watermen’s Museum Education Director Mike Steen to its quarterly meeting on Sunday to talk about the status of projects to document and preserve the historic shipwrecks of the York River.
From Abingdon Episcopal Church’s fellowship hall, Steen addressed upwards of 50 attendees on projects pertaining to wrecks from the American Revolution, Civil War, and late 19th century.
As reported last week, surveying is ongoing on multiple targets from Lord Cornwallis’ scuttled fleet at Yorktown. Steen addressed the history of these shipwrecks, past and current archeological efforts, as well as future plans for the sites.
During the siege at Yorktown, following the intentional sinking of ships by the British to protect their rear from a potential landing by French marines, several vessels were sunk on both sides of the river in subsequent action.
Three “fireships,” remnants of an attempt to break the French line at the mouth of the river, are believed to be near the meeting place of Sarah’s Creek and the York.
These ships were loaded with combustibles and sent towards the French frigates that guarded downriver during the Yorktown siege in 1781. The intent was to light them at such a time that they would crash into the French vessels and catch them on fire, sinking or disabling them in the process.
This would have made it possible to escape into the bay and north to British forces in other colonies farther up the Chesapeake.
Fortunately for the American and French forces, the ships were lit too early and grounded on shoals short of their targets. They have yet to be positively identified.
In addition, records indicate multiple Confederate ships sunk during the Civil War as well as a late 1800s paddlewheel vessel that has been dived on before.
According to Steen, the paddlewheeler sits on the edge of the channel, about to slide into much deeper water. Smokestacks were recovered in 2016, but most of the vessel remains on the river bottom.
These are just some of the 100-plus ships that currently rest on the bottom, part of the Yorktown Shipwreck Archaeology Project.
In total, 77 ships are known by name, though far fewer have been identified with certainty.
While recoveries of artifacts were made in the 1930s, true archaeology didn’t get underway until the 1970s when John Broadwater began sonar sweeps, dives, and a cofferdam project with the help of state funding.
Broadwater, working with Marine Sonic Technology, studied the Betsy, one of the British vessels sunk at Yorktown. Their archaeology included the construction of a cofferdam, enclosing the wreck, pumping out water, to allow for more detailed work on the site.
According to Steen, the consistency of the silt prevented the cofferdam project from working fully as planned and the end of state funding made it difficult to continue. As a result, the team closed the cofferdam around the wreck to protect it and was forced to end the project.
Since then multiple organizations have used towed and stationary sonar to continue studying sites like the Betsy throughout the York River.
Steen said that one of the individuals who worked on the recent JRS expedition has a connection to the archaeology series, “The Curse of Oak Island,” and there is talk of filming “a History Channel-style documentary on the Yorktown wrecks,” though this has not been confirmed.
Steen said that the arrival of a state park in Gloucester, as well as potential funding from an unnamed billionaire investor associated with the Oak Island series, could lead to further opportunities to document, study and preserve the wreck sites.
While the aforementioned JRS expedition member does have a connection to the Oak Island series and potentially this investor, nothing is certain at this point.
For the time being, education will be a main component of furthering interest in these sites.
Steen described an upcoming series of visits to fifth grade classrooms throughout the area where students will have a chance to learn about and map artifacts recovered from the Revolutionary War-era wrecks.