M.A.R.C.

A 19th Century Wooden Sailing Ship

This wreck site is an unidentified ballast pile in shallow water (10-15 feet) off Caesar Creek in Biscayne National Park.  This site is also an NPS Heritage Trail site and is part of the public education project designed by NPS Archaeologist, Brenda Lanzendorf.   The site sits on exposed hard bottom and is some 200 feet in length by 25 feet wide in some areas.  It consists of basalt, non-riverine stones of varying size and angular in cleavage.  Sizes range from some 18" square down to 5-6 cubic inches and are distributed into two main concentrations.  Several 1M  x 1M study areas were marked and selected to represent a more precise sample of the size and orientation of the stones through out the site.  A geo-referenced site plan and photo mosaic have been completed as of 8-04-06 and can be viewed below as part of our 2006 NPS summer project.

Daryl Wilmoth takes measurements from the ballast pile to be used in a geo-referenced site plan.

 

MARC divers record the pile dimensions and complete drawings of feature details.

An example of a 1 square meter study area marked beside the baseline by four survey flags.

 

An example of the  2D scale drawing taken from the same study area (raw data).

Careful study of the size and number of the stones, including mineral analysis and geological examination may help reveal the identity of this vessel.  Estimates as to ballast volume and weight may give an indication of size of the sailing ship.  The dimensions of the piles can indicate approximate length and beam.  However, this ballast data may not be conclusive given the impermanent nature of weighted keel ballast in early maritime history, where it was often off-loaded or added to compensate for changing vessel displacements with heavier or lighter cargos.  More specific information as to vessel period, type and size might be obtained by conservation and examination of the ferrous dead-eye and iron features located within the site.  Examination of their attached chains and chain plate, as well as their size and construction may give important clues as to the identity of this vessel.  Overall, a wealth of information has yet to be compared against records of loss in an attempt to narrow the possible identity of this mystery wreck.   For now, the site teams with wild life and is regularly visited by the local glass bottom boats.

 

Click HERE to see underwater video of this remarkable NPS submerged cultural resource. This clip illustrates the breadth and elevation of the study area in addition to general biological integration as a marriage of history and nature.

The MARC team has also completed a magnetometer survey of the site and it's surrounding area.  Pete Kendrigan developed windows interface data recording software and 3-dimensional graphics allowing intuitive and revealing examinations of ferrous anomalies within the survey area.  The 3D graphic bellow confirms the presence of small ferrous encrusted objects throughout the ballast pile area itself, and hints to the light scatter of possible debris southeastward of the ballast piles: 

19th Century Wooden Sailing Ship Magnetometer Survey 5-28-06

Biscayne National Park

 

Finished Site Plan and Photo Mosaic

The site plan methodology included careful trilateration of boundaries and features of the ballast pile as well as of all visible ferrous objects exposed on the surface hard bottom. 

Two square one-meter study areas were selected from which to create  two-dimensional mechanical scale drawings.  This was selected as the best method to capture finer details specific to the ballast pile and relationships of the stones therein.  The majority of the other ballast stones in the site plan graphic are drawn form captured jpeg photographs.  All images are scaled and trilaterated on the geo-referenced baseline to create the finished Level II site plan.

High resolution digital video was also recorded over the entire site systematically from a controlled perspective to create a photo mosaic of hi-res jpegs captured from video.  A composite of captured jpegs was used to create a single contiguous image which became the finished photo mosaic.  This project was posted here in various increments of completion.  This finished draft was posted in early August of 2006.

Click HERE to see the full-size site plan

 

Click HERE to see the full-size photo mosaic

   
   

The MARC Team at  19th Century Wooden Sailing Ship Site

Perspective drawings of feature details and ferrous objects were completed by Bob Dimesky.

Several macro still images were taken of the ballast stones to assist in identification.

  Bob Dimesky completes sketches of an interesting tagged feature on the site.

 

Engineering graduate Dave Briggs takes trilateration measurements for development of the site plan.

 

Sunset brings rest and home cooked meals aboard Seahorse, anchored south of Cape Florida for the night.

 

  Bob recounts the days accomplishments with his team after the evening meal.

 

The Cape Florida Lighthouse rests on southern Key Biscayne six miles north of Fowey Rocks.

 

The sun over  Biscayne Bay sets into the horizon as seen over the aft deck onboard Seahorse.

 

The perfect end to a day working the calm waters of Biscayne National Park.

Funded in part by the South Florida National Parks Trust

 

 

 

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