Ship Sunk in 15th Century Is Found in South Carolina

A private investors’ group seeking the shipwrecked treasure ship Central America has discovered the wreckage of a second ship researchers believe is the oldest sunken vessel ever found in the Western Hemisphere.

The 40-foot, wooden-hulled ship, which sank in the late 15th Century, is upside down with the hull intact in about 20 feet of water near Georgetown on the Black River, a state official said Friday.

Silt covers about two feet of the ship’s sides, effectively sealing its contents.

Officials of the S.C. Marine Archeological Trust are withholding the exact location of the shipwreck to prevent looting.

“It’s the real thing. We believe this could well be the oldest ship (of that era) ever recovered,” said Mark Newell, head of the Underwater Antiquities Management Program for the state Institute of Archeology and Anthropology at the University of South Carolina.

“Its historical significance cannot be understated,” he said.

The ship was found by divers working for Marine Archeological Trust, which recently found the wreckage of the Central America, a ship that sank off the coast in an 1857 hurricane carrying a gold cargo worth about $500 million.

Newell plans to visit the site within two weeks to determine how to raise the ship, which has boards 8 inches thick, 27 inches deep and 40 inches long held together by wooden pegs.

“This is an enormous piece of wood and is considered ‘first growth’ timber from trees 200 to 300 years old,” Newell said.