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| Archaeology students on Thursday help excavate a portion of a shipwreck that a nor'easter revealed in November. No one had remembered seeing that section of the barge for 20 years. CHRIS CURRY | THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT |
The Virginian-Pilot © June 29, 2007
The shipwreck was not a total mystery. Shifting sand had covered and uncovered portions of it over the years, and this much was determined: It had been a sturdy barge measuring 220 feet long and 50 feet wide. It was built in the early 1900s and likely carried coal or timber.
But in the 1930s - perhaps it was the following decade - the barge met a storm - perhaps it was a hurricane - and wrecked at the southern end of Hatteras Island.
The base of the barge settled on what is now a dune on Cape Hatteras National Seashore, and three years ago the National Park Service led an excavation of the base.
Part of the hull settled closer to the ocean, disappearing under the sand. Until a November nor'easter revealed it, no one remembered seeing that section of the barge for 20 years. No one knew quite how big it was, what it looked like or what condition it might be in.
This week, they're finding out. Twelve students from age 12 to 17 have been digging, measuring, scooping, sweeping and sketching 5 -foot squares. Their work, once it's finished today or Saturday, will become part of the permanent archaeology records of the area, said Joe Schwarzer, director of the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum, one of the partners in the project.
Lots of people called about the newly uncovered wreck back in November, said park service historian Doug Stover. Some thought it was the base they'd excavated in 2004, a wreck they called Flambeau because it was near Flambeau Road. But it was the hull of the barge, and it disappeared that month as quickly as it had revealed itself.