A Ship in the Cellar By Norman Brouwer On Friday, October 27, 1978, workmen excavating beneath the cellar of 209 Water Street, in the South Street Seaport Historic District of New York City, encountered the well preserved remains of a ship, buried in landfill about six feet below street level. The workmen were engaged in constructing a sump pit to drain several cellars, as part of a $2.5 million restoration of the buildings in the block bordered by Fulton, Front, Beekman and Water Streets, funded by the Federal Government through the City . The find was encountered in an area originally located 200 feet offshore in the East River, and today around 200 feet inland from the present shoreline. The ship itself was probably covered over between 1750 and 1758. In February 1750 a John Cannon was awarded a water lot grant by which he was required to widen Water Street by fifteen feet and fill outward to a new wharf forty feet wide. The ship lies immediately east of Water Street and possibly partly under the street itself. Cannon was required to finish this work by March 25, 1758. Prior to being buried, the ship may have served as the foundation for a pier or warehouse. At the time the ship was discovered, an archaeological team was on the scene from the Anthropology Department of
New York's City College. They had been called in to analyze the 18th century landfill and artifacts uncovered; including bricks, pottery, clay pipes, shoe leather and coins. All artifacts found in the landfill date from the 1790s or earlier. The ship's side first appeared as a row of vertical timbers sheathed with horizontal planking on both sides, lying near the centerline of the building at right angles to the street. The timbers were at first thought to be cribbing placed there to support the foundation of the building, which dates from 1836, or an earlier building dating from the 1790s. The upper strakes of planking were removed and placed on the sidewalk in front of the building, where I came upon them and immediately identified them as part of a ship. Following consultation with William Avery Baker of the National Trust and representatives of the President's Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, the National Register of Historic Sites, and the State Historic Preservation Office in Albany, all work on the site was suspended pending the organization of a full-scale archaological dig . At this point roughly eight feet of one side of the ship had been uncovered, to a depth of four feet outboard and a lesser
At lefta4" x8" plank from wale with34"scarf, ~ "sheathing, 2 Vi " outer planking, laid out on Water Street, where author Brouwer came on them. Below, ship'ssideasfirsl uncovered, bedded partly in chipsjrom old shipyard, showing planking, partly pulled away from frames, with !runnels exposed, and ceiling behind. Deck beam shows bolls from missing lodging knee. Photos, Merrill Hersch, NYS Maritime Museum. In 1717, at right, a shipyard flourished on the site the ship wasfound in, at the north end of the East River docks, on a shoreline some 400 feet further inland then it is today. A ship is a-building ashore, and a gallant new sloop lies in the stream. From !he William Burgis view, courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Ari.
depth inboard . Features of the sh ip's construction which had been revealed included; wales 16 inches in depth composed of two 4" x 8" stakes, 2 Vi" outer planking sheathed with wood 3/4 " thick laid over tarred horsehair, 21/2" cei ling planking, frames 5" by 5 1/2 - l 0 V. ", deck beams 8 Yi' ' by 11 Vi -15" and remains of lodging knees, deck planking and planksheer. Three wooden artifacts were found inside the hull of a nautical or possibly nautical nature: the half shell of a wooden block 12 1/2 " in length scored for a rope strop, a wooden wheel 12 1/2 " in diameter of the type used on gun carriages, and a heavy timber containing the type of mortice used as a step for masts or bitts 4" by 8" by 4" in depth with drain holes bored in from two sides. Based on what has been uncovered, the ship appears to be complete in places up to the main deck, and in good condition . The side which was exposed was watertight. Too little of her form was revealed to indicate the type of vessel or give an accurate idea of size. The hull is currently underwater due to seepage in the excavation, and is not accessible to the public.
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Mr. Brouwer is H istorian of South Street
Seaport Museum, and Trustee of the National Maritime Historical Society.