A shipwreck 6,000 feet below the Gulf of Mexico answers 207-year-old questions
After being lost in an 1838 storm, a recent discovery just off the coast of the U.S. helped piece together the puzzle of the whaling industry’s rich 19th century history.
By
John Murphy, AccuWeather staff writer
This image of the tryworks was taken from the shipwreck site of brig Industry by a NOAA ROV. The tryworks was a cast iron stove with two deep kettles used to render whale blubber into oil. It was manufactured by G & W Ashbridge, a Philadelphia company. (NOAA Ocean Exploration)
A recent 207-year shipwreck discovery showcased the history of Black and Native Americans in one of the nation's oldest industries.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its partners announced the discovery of a 207-year-old whaling ship at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico in March 2022. The 64-foot long, two-masted wooden brig is helping researchers learn more about a little-known time period of American History. The ship was first discovered in late February off the coast of Pascagoula, Mississippi, which is located along the state's southeastern coastline about 40 miles southwest of Mobile, Alabama.
"Today we celebrate the discovery of a lost ship that will help us better understand the rich story of how people of color succeeded as captains and crew members in the nascent American whaling industry of the early 1800s," NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D. said in a news release from NOAA.
Spinrad explained that the discovery reflects the prosperity of African Americans and Native Americans in the ocean economy during a time when they were facing discrimination and other injustices.
"It is also an example of how important partnerships of federal agencies and local communities are to uncovering and documenting our nation’s maritime history," said Spinrad.
During this time, African enslaved people and Native Americans served as essential crew, according to NOAA.
This image of an anchor was taken from the 1836 shipwreck site of brig Industry in the Gulf of Mexico by the NOAA ROV deployed from NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer on February 25, 2022. (NOAA Ocean Exploration)
“Black and Native American history is American history, and this critical discovery serves as an important reminder of the vast contributions Black and Native Americans have made to our country,” U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves said in the NOAA news release.
Graves said the discovery will help researchers learn more about the lives of Black and Native American mariners as well as their communities during the 19th century, in addition to understanding more of the immense challenges those groups faced on the land and at sea.
The discovery was aided by a remotely operated vehicle aboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer, which was able to provide guidance via satellite to scientists onshore. The vehicle explored several suspected locations first spotted by an energy company in 2011.
Six years later, an autonomous vehicle briefly viewed the area but it wasn't until last month that it was fully examined.
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Recently, a coordinated effort was launched between scientists and archaeologists from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to find Industry, according to CNN. Last month, the team was able to find the ship's wreckage. The team also uncovered details about the ship and how it sank.
The whaling brig was built in 1815 in Westport, Massachusetts, a town bordered by Rhode Island in southeastern Massachusetts. The brig was used to hunt whales in several large bodies of water including the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. Named Industry, the ship was used for 20 years until it was lost during a strong storm on May 26, 1838.
NOAA Ocean Exploration documented the brig Industry shipwreck in the Gulf of Mexico at a depth of 6,000 feet below the Gulf surface. The brig sank in the summer of 1836 after a storm snapped its masts and opened the hull to the sea. (NOAA Ocean Exploration)
The ship was hunting for sperm whales located more than 70 miles from the Mississippi River. During the storm, the masts on the ship snapped and opened its hull to the sea. Out of 214 whaling voyages from the 1780s to the 1870s, it is the only one known to be lost in the Gulf of Mexico.
According to a report filed by the team, the ship did not sink immediately after the storm hit, due to whale oil that was on board.
"That there were so few artifacts on board was another big piece of evidence it was Industry. We knew it was salvaged before it sank," Scott Sorset, marine archeologist for the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, said.
There was a mystery for several decades about the whereabouts of the crew after the ship went down in the storm, but research by Robin Winters of Westport Free Public Library was able to identify the crew members of Industry and what happened to them after the ship sank.
Winters' research revealed an article from June 1836 in the Nantucket Inquirer and Mirror that reported the crew was picked up at sea by another whaling ship. The crew was returned safely to Westport.
The mosaic of images from the NOAA video of the brig Industry shipwreck in the Gulf of Mexico, February 25, 2022, shows the outline in sediment and debris of the wooden hull of the 64-foot by 20-foot whaling brig. The tryworks and two anchors are also visible. A third anchor is buried in the sediment near the tryworks. Mosaic was created by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management using NOAA ROV video footage. (Bureau of Ocean Energy Management)
“This was so fortunate for the men onboard. If the Black crewmen had tried to go ashore, they would have been jailed under local laws. And if they could not pay for their keep while in prison, they would have been sold into slavery,” said James Delgado, Ph.D., senior vice president of SEARCH Inc., who worked closely with Winters and several other local historians to confirm the identity of Industry.
Paul Cuffe, a mariner and entrepreneur whose father was a freed slave and whose mother was a Wampanoag Native American, had a son that navigated on Industry. The son-in-law of Chuffe was an officer on the brig and is thought to have made the most whaling voyages of any Black person in American history.
“Finding the Industry is an amazing opportunity to tell a much fuller story of Paul Cuffe’s accomplishments as a whaling captain, businessman and social activist bent on finding a way to end the slave trade,” said Lee Blake, president of the New Bedford Historical Society, who played a key role in the development of the Captain Paul Cuffe Park and an African American and Native American Heritage Trail.
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News / Weather News
A shipwreck 6,000 feet below the Gulf of Mexico answers 207-year-old questions
After being lost in an 1838 storm, a recent discovery just off the coast of the U.S. helped piece together the puzzle of the whaling industry’s rich 19th century history.
By John Murphy, AccuWeather staff writer
This image of the tryworks was taken from the shipwreck site of brig Industry by a NOAA ROV. The tryworks was a cast iron stove with two deep kettles used to render whale blubber into oil. It was manufactured by G & W Ashbridge, a Philadelphia company. (NOAA Ocean Exploration)
A recent 207-year shipwreck discovery showcased the history of Black and Native Americans in one of the nation's oldest industries.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and its partners announced the discovery of a 207-year-old whaling ship at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico in March 2022. The 64-foot long, two-masted wooden brig is helping researchers learn more about a little-known time period of American History. The ship was first discovered in late February off the coast of Pascagoula, Mississippi, which is located along the state's southeastern coastline about 40 miles southwest of Mobile, Alabama.
"Today we celebrate the discovery of a lost ship that will help us better understand the rich story of how people of color succeeded as captains and crew members in the nascent American whaling industry of the early 1800s," NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D. said in a news release from NOAA.
Spinrad explained that the discovery reflects the prosperity of African Americans and Native Americans in the ocean economy during a time when they were facing discrimination and other injustices.
"It is also an example of how important partnerships of federal agencies and local communities are to uncovering and documenting our nation’s maritime history," said Spinrad.
During this time, African enslaved people and Native Americans served as essential crew, according to NOAA.
This image of an anchor was taken from the 1836 shipwreck site of brig Industry in the Gulf of Mexico by the NOAA ROV deployed from NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer on February 25, 2022. (NOAA Ocean Exploration)
“Black and Native American history is American history, and this critical discovery serves as an important reminder of the vast contributions Black and Native Americans have made to our country,” U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves said in the NOAA news release.
Graves said the discovery will help researchers learn more about the lives of Black and Native American mariners as well as their communities during the 19th century, in addition to understanding more of the immense challenges those groups faced on the land and at sea.
The discovery was aided by a remotely operated vehicle aboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer, which was able to provide guidance via satellite to scientists onshore. The vehicle explored several suspected locations first spotted by an energy company in 2011.
Six years later, an autonomous vehicle briefly viewed the area but it wasn't until last month that it was fully examined.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
Recently, a coordinated effort was launched between scientists and archaeologists from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to find Industry, according to CNN. Last month, the team was able to find the ship's wreckage. The team also uncovered details about the ship and how it sank.
The whaling brig was built in 1815 in Westport, Massachusetts, a town bordered by Rhode Island in southeastern Massachusetts. The brig was used to hunt whales in several large bodies of water including the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. Named Industry, the ship was used for 20 years until it was lost during a strong storm on May 26, 1838.
NOAA Ocean Exploration documented the brig Industry shipwreck in the Gulf of Mexico at a depth of 6,000 feet below the Gulf surface. The brig sank in the summer of 1836 after a storm snapped its masts and opened the hull to the sea. (NOAA Ocean Exploration)
The ship was hunting for sperm whales located more than 70 miles from the Mississippi River. During the storm, the masts on the ship snapped and opened its hull to the sea. Out of 214 whaling voyages from the 1780s to the 1870s, it is the only one known to be lost in the Gulf of Mexico.
According to a report filed by the team, the ship did not sink immediately after the storm hit, due to whale oil that was on board.
"That there were so few artifacts on board was another big piece of evidence it was Industry. We knew it was salvaged before it sank," Scott Sorset, marine archeologist for the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, said.
There was a mystery for several decades about the whereabouts of the crew after the ship went down in the storm, but research by Robin Winters of Westport Free Public Library was able to identify the crew members of Industry and what happened to them after the ship sank.
Winters' research revealed an article from June 1836 in the Nantucket Inquirer and Mirror that reported the crew was picked up at sea by another whaling ship. The crew was returned safely to Westport.
The mosaic of images from the NOAA video of the brig Industry shipwreck in the Gulf of Mexico, February 25, 2022, shows the outline in sediment and debris of the wooden hull of the 64-foot by 20-foot whaling brig. The tryworks and two anchors are also visible. A third anchor is buried in the sediment near the tryworks. Mosaic was created by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management using NOAA ROV video footage. (Bureau of Ocean Energy Management)
“This was so fortunate for the men onboard. If the Black crewmen had tried to go ashore, they would have been jailed under local laws. And if they could not pay for their keep while in prison, they would have been sold into slavery,” said James Delgado, Ph.D., senior vice president of SEARCH Inc., who worked closely with Winters and several other local historians to confirm the identity of Industry.
Paul Cuffe, a mariner and entrepreneur whose father was a freed slave and whose mother was a Wampanoag Native American, had a son that navigated on Industry. The son-in-law of Chuffe was an officer on the brig and is thought to have made the most whaling voyages of any Black person in American history.
“Finding the Industry is an amazing opportunity to tell a much fuller story of Paul Cuffe’s accomplishments as a whaling captain, businessman and social activist bent on finding a way to end the slave trade,” said Lee Blake, president of the New Bedford Historical Society, who played a key role in the development of the Captain Paul Cuffe Park and an African American and Native American Heritage Trail.
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