Florida Shipwreck Identified As Bermuda Vessel
A mysterious shipwreck on the Florida coastline that slowly revealed itself over time thanks to the effect of storms and the work of history buffs has been officially identified as a vessel that originated in Bermuda before sinking in 1947.
After four years of digging, study, and research, American archaeologists have finally been able to pinpoint the vessel’s history, identifying it as the Deliverance, a schooner that was wrecked on the Ponte Vedra shore following a severe storm while en route to Jacksonville, Florida from Bermuda.
According to a report in News4JAx.com, “Submerged in the water’s edge just south of Mickler’s Landing in Ponte Vedra Beach, the skeleton of an old schooner has been haunting archaeologists at the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum for four years.
“After a nor’easter in January exposed more of the wreck than ever before, the archaeologists were finally able to put together the puzzle pieces and identify the ship as the Deliverance, which wrecked in December 1947.”
The team of researchers responsible for identifying the vessel were forced to conduct research via a variety of sources in order to determine its originating point, crew, and the cause of its demise. In the end, it was an obscure story published on the internet that gave them the lead that they’d been looking for.
“One wreck quickly stood out, thanks to photos found in “St. Augustine and St. Johns County: A Pictorial History” by Karen Harvey, and in the archives of the Beaches Museum and History Park in Jacksonville.
“But the photos only identified the wreck as a “Bermuda boat” run aground during a storm in December 1947. Armed with a name and date, LAMP archaeologist Brendan Burke scoured the internet until a tiny article in the archives of an English-language newspaper in Singapore confirmed the theory of the boat’s origins.
“The article identified the Deliverance, a ship with a regular route between Jacksonville and Bermuda, and described the boat’s demise met on Dec. 13, 1947. Captain Wilson King and a crew of eight fought to save the ship during a brutal storm, but were unable to keep it from running aground on the Ponte Vedra shore.”
With a cargo of rum.They would sit off shore about two miles where lighters would meet and purchse rumm and such in what was then international water…who would then take the rum ashore in speed boats…with airplane engines in them…coast guard couldn’t keep up with them…
That wouldn’t apply to this ship as it sank in 1947 and prohibition ended in 1933.
You did’no-dat?
Think the Rum was ” Inside ” to calm the Storm – didn’t see the Rocks coming.