by US archaeologists have identified the remains of a 300-year-old British warship found 30 years ago in the waters off Florida as part of HMS Tyger.
The Tyger came to rest in a watery grave in the reefs of Dry Tortugas National Park near the Florida Keys, the National Park Service has announced.
New evidence has confirmed that the remains are the wreck of the gunship after the results of historical research have been compared with the artefacts found underwater.
The impressive ship, built in 1647, is believed to have been a 50-gun frigate, 130 feet long and weighing 704 tons. Its remains, including cannonballs and cannonballs and copper barrel bands, have allowed experts to piece together the story of how the vessel sank.
A little less than a century after the vessel’s launch, it sank in 1742 after running aground on the reefs of the Dry Tortugas while on patrol in the Jenkins Ear War between Britain and Spain – aptly named after the British Captain Robert Jenkins allegedly was. The Spanish Coast Guard cut off his ear.
Archaeologists from Dry Tortugas National Park, the Center for Submerged Resources and the Southeast Archaeological Center worked together to survey the site in 2021.
The experts found five coral-prone guns about 500 yards from the main wreck site.
They cross-referenced their mysterious findings with a note hidden in the margin of an old log book, which said the team had the following to say: “they lit her on” after first landing, which allowed them to briefly refloat HMS Tyger, but it ended there. up to sink in the shallow water.
Based on this, they determined that the guns they found were the same British six and nine-pounders that were thrown overboard in their desperation when HMS Tyger ran aground, the park service said.
This finding is a great example of how historical records and real-life remains can paint a wider picture of the lost ship story of earlier history.
“Archaeological finds are exciting, but it helps us connect those finds to the historical record as we tell the stories of the people who came before us and the events that happened to them,” Park Manager James Crutchfield said of the recognition announcement. the ship.
“There is a permanence and persistence to this particular story. National parks help protect these untold stories as they come to light.”
The identification allowed experts to piece together a puzzle of the story of how the crew managed to survive on this remote island after the ship became a lost cause.
After the ship met its fate in the water and was wrecked in pursuit of the Spanish into the Gulf of Mexico, some 300 crew members perished for more than two months on a small island off the coast of Florida, which now known as Garden Key. .
The crew set up camp and assembled the first fortifications on the island, more than 100 years before Fort Jefferson arrived on the island, which is what Garden Key is known for today.
Fort Jefferson was built over thirty years in the second half of the 19th century. It was intended to create an “outpost” for ships patrolling the Gulf of Mexico and Florida Straits and, more importantly, to strengthen one of the most strategic deep-water anchorages in North America, the park service says.
Now, the Key Garden confirmed another important part of history long before Fort Jefferson was built.
Although they were stranded on the island, the survivors would have to endure exposure to heat, thirst and swarms of mosquitos, the park service stated.
They were able to build vessels from pieces they could salvage from the wrecked HMS Tyger and made many attempts to seek help, collect supplies and even attack a Spanish ship, but to no avail.
In the end, the survivors burned the remains of the Tyger so that their guns would not fall into the hands of the enemy. They then used their makeshift vessels to sail 700 miles through enemy waters for 55 days until they reached Port Royal in Jamaica.
Although the remains of the historic ship were found in a US national park, a 2004 law known as the Sunken Military Craft Act means they belong to the British government.
HMS Tyger was the first of three British warships to be trapped in the Florida Keys.
Archaeologists identified the other two, HMS Fowey and HMS Looe, but the Tyger remained mysteriously lost.
However, after further scrutiny of those vital ship’s logbooks, the new information was able to match, and the Tyger was finally found.
