Gras wreck lies approximately thirty-seven been caught in the Loop Current as well, miles southeast of the modern Pass a Loutre that time could have been easily halved. In of the Mississippi River. In the first half of other words, within a day, Rapid's drifting the nineteenth century, ships leaving the hull could have reached the position of the Mississippi would have exited through the Mardi Gras Wreck, lost buoyancy, and sunk Northeast Pass that split off from Pass a 4,000 feet to the bottom. Loutre, which at the time was too shallow While ther~ is considerable circumstantial evidence supporting this identificaand filled with sand bars for navigation. This was likely the route Rapid would tion, the "smoking gun," as it were, does have taken when she left La Balize on the not exist at this writing within the artifact blustery morning of 28 November 1813. collection recovered from the seafloor. 2 That Soon afrer HMS Herald initiated the chase, may still lie buried under the seafloor or it may no longer exist at all. It is extraordinarily difficult to conclusively identify most historic shipwrecks, shy of the discovery of some artifact bearing the name of the ship or a personally identifiable possession of one of the known members of the crew on the seafloor. All the artifacts recovered to date from the Mardi Gras shipwreck site remain singularly anonymous. Until such time as it can be proven, Rapid remains a compelling hypothesis worthy offurther research and consideration. Even if the artifacts recovered from the A six-pounder cannon recovered from the Mardi Gras shipwreck. seafloor can never be unequivocally proven solid mass against a bulkhead, amidships on the position was recorded in the log as 29° to have come from the American privateer the port side. Although it was not feasible to 08' N by 88° 38' W on a bearing thirty schooner Rapid, they nonetheless provide a recover intact, video imagery and underwa- miles east and four miles north of La Balize window into the lives of those who sailed ter still photography have provided general with "the chase" to the north. Navigational the Gulf of Mexico 200 years ago. ..1 information regarding its contents. Video accuracy during this period was likely withand still photographs show that the box in a mile of the true position. The pursuit The BOEM report on the "Mardi Gras contains at least seventeen longarms, seven lasted another three hours in heavy seas Shipwreck" is available online at www. boem. pistols, and two edged weapons, including with a strong wind out of the north before gov!BOEM-Newsroom/Library!Publicaa saber or cutlass in its scabbard. A copper Rapid capsized. She likely was running on tions/200812008-03 7. aspx. buttplate located directly under the wea- her fastest course, a beam reach, which would pons box was recovered and determined to have meant that the upset likely occurred With over 39 years' experience in underwater be of Germanic-Dutch origin dating to the even further to the east of La Balize. If the archaeology, Dr. jack Irion has participated last half of the eighteenth century. More Mardi Gras wreck is the remains of Rapid, in or directed archaeological expeditions than 1,200 pieces oflead shot were recovered how then could it have ended up on the in England, Mexico, Belize, Turkey, Italy, from the site ranging in size from 0.33 to seafloor some 22 miles to the south? Bear- Puerto Rico, and throughout the US. Since 0.69 caliber, with 75 percent being for a ing in mind that Rapid's crew was rescued joining the BOEM, Dr. Irion has directed the 0.69 caliber musket. This caliber was most while still clinging to the side of their upset documentation of several historic shipwrecks commonly used in French, American, and vessel more than an hour and a half after on the Outer Continental Shelf, including some Spanish weapons, whereas British the ship had capsized, it is reasonable that the Civil Wtir gunboat USS Hatteras and muskets typically had a caliber of 0.75. Rapid continued to drift for some distance, the 19th-century coastal steamers New York Additionally, fifty-nine gunflints were re- pushed southward by the winter Norther, and Josephine. He has overseen projects that covered from the wreck, the majority of until the hull lost buoyancy and sank. With investigated the deepest shipwrecks ever found British origin and an appropriate size for wind drift at three percent of typical wind in the GulfofMexico, including the German use with a musket. Significantly, Rapid's speeds associated with Gulf Northers, the submarine U-166 in 5, 000 feet ofwater, and applications for Letters of Marque describe wreck could have drifted that far south some of its most historic, such as the "Mardi her armament as a six-pounder with mus- in less than two days. If the derelict had Gras Shipwreck. " Most recently, he directed kets and side-arms. the team that discovered an early 19th-century Finally comes the question of the loca- 2 The BOEM estimates that no more than 20% armed sailing ship in the Gulf that received tion of the Mardi Gras wreck in comparison of the artifacts from wreck site were recovered international news coverage and was featured to the recorded loss of Rapid. The Mardi in the Phase III investigation. on The Today Show.
were subsrantial in quantity. Additionally, one prepared "buck and ball" shot and two bar-shot were recovered. The "buck and ball" shot consists of a prepared canvas cartridge containing both a six-pounder cannon ball and langrage used for anti-personnel shot, often used by privateers and merchantmen. The bar-shot would have been used to disable rigging and includes one sixpounder and one three-pounder. In addition, a five-foot-long box of mixed arms and edged weapons was found concreted into a
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SEA HISTORY 142, SPRING 2013