200-Year-Old Ship Found in Mud at Ground Zero

A recent find at Ground Zero has workers abuzz but in a good way.

Construction workers digging below street level in Manhattan to build a memorial to the victims of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 have found the hull and other remains of a ship that looks to have been buried as junk more than 200 years ago. One of the pieces is 32 feet long. Both pieces are being treated with extreme care because their sudden exposure to oxygen, after a couple of centuries of preservation in mud, has accelerated their decomposition. In the meantime, workers have been busily photographing and measuring the remains, so that research can continue in the event that the pieces of wood well and truly fall apart.

Archaeologists have discovered other evidence of human presence, including pieces of shoes and a 100-pound iron anchor.

Historians say this kind of ship was used in the 1700s but was probably not a ship of choice by the time it was sunk, likely to serve as support for a southern expansion of landfill making up the boundaries of Manhattan. (A ship sunk for similar purposes was discovered nearby in 1982.)

Still unknown: what kind of wood has been found, how old the ship really is, and whether the ship sailed in the Caribbean (as one historian thinks likely, based on remains of marine life discovered attached to the wood).

Construction continues in the area, as workers build the set of large buildings set to replace the World Trade Center and function as a memorial. The discovery of the ship has been a highlight amid the mixed reactions to the decision to rebuild on the Trade Center site and also a reminder that the area was a center of commerce long before 1973, when the Trade Center was unveiled to the world.