Many of the people who attended two public meetings in the area earlier this month focusing on York River eco-heritage projects were especially interested in an archaeological survey of ships that may be on the river bottom, project coordinator Mike Steen said.

The Gloucester County Tourism Office and the York River Stewardship Project Team held a meeting Dec. 13 at the Gloucester Library in Main Street Center that attracted about 15 people, said Steen, director of education at the Watermen’s Museum in Yorktown, who is a spokesman for the project. A similar meeting Dec. 12 drew about 30 people to the Watermen’s Museum in Yorktown, hosted by the museum and the project team.

The meetings included discussion about eco-heritage education programs and cooperative tourism being developed for the York River and Chesapeake Bay, he said. But many of those who attended seemed very interested in the archeological survey, which will try to locate ships the British may have scuttled i...