18th-Century Wooden Ship Unearthed At World Trade Center Site

Excavation teams at the World Trade Center site unearthed the hull of an 18th-century ship, and hope to have it removed by Thursday.

Workers first found the wooden remnants on Tuesday morning, and by Wednesday the outline of the ship became apparent at the site of the Sept. 11 attacks.

It is believed the ship was most likely buried there, along with other debris, to extend the lower Manhattan shoreline from old Lindsey's Wharf and Lake's Wharf further into the Hudson River.

Archeologists from AKRF, a firm hired by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to document artifacts found at Ground Zero, call the find significant and hope to salvage a few timbers. But they said further analysis of all recorded data would be needed to to determine the age of the ship.

On Wednesday, teams were seen measuring wooden planks that seem to make up the lowermost deck of the presumably early to mid-1700s vessel.

They say it appears the vessel's hull was deliberately sawed off and the size of the ship could be about two to three time longer than the section uncovered on Wednesday.

Archeologists also found a 100-pound boat anchor, about three to four feet across, and a metal collar that appears to have been part of a steam mechanism or oven.

The area where the ship was uncovered, about 25-feet below street-level and between Liberty and Cedar Streets, was apparently never excavated for the construction of the World Trade Center, and workers are currently preparing the site for a future underground vehicle center.

In 1982, an 18th-century cargo ship was uncovered at 175 Water Street in lower Manhattan -- six blocks away from the World Trade Center site.

via 18th-Century Wooden Ship Unearthed At World Trade Center Site - WPIX.

It would be ironic if the captain of that ship's name was Cheney.