A British warship has been recognized off the coast of Florida practically three centuries after it sank whereas on patrol within the waters of what’s now Dry Tortugas Nationwide Park, officers mentioned. HMS Tyger went down with lots of of sailors on board and the surviving crew have been marooned on an uninhabited island for greater than two months earlier than making a dramatic escape on makeshift boats.
The wreck was initially situated in 1993 off Key West, however new analysis by archaeologists has confirmed definitive proof that the wreck is certainly the 50-gun frigate HMS Tyger, the Nationwide Park Service mentioned Thursday.
The ship sank on Jan. 13, 1742, after it ran aground on the rocks of Tortuga Secca throughout the Anglo-Spanish Battle, a nine-year battle between Britain and Spain, officers mentioned. Outdated logbooks described how the crew would “lighten it ahead”—presumably unloading the heavy gear—after initially touchdown, briefly floating the vessel after which sinking.
NPS picture by Brett Seymour
Archaeologists in 2021 investigated the location and located 5 cannons, weighing between 6 and 9 kilos, a few quarter of a mile from the principle wreck web site. Consultants have been lastly capable of decide that they have been certainly cannons launched into the ocean when the warship went ashore. Based mostly on this, archaeologists concluded that the wreck first situated in 1993 was the truth is HMS Tyger.
“Archaeological discoveries are thrilling, however connecting these finds to the historic report helps us inform the tales of the individuals who got here earlier than us and the occasions they skilled,” mentioned Park Supervisor James Crutchfield. “This explicit story is certainly one of perseverance and survival. Nationwide parks assist defend these untold tales as they arrive to mild.”
About 300 crew members have been aboard the HMS Tyger when it sank, and the survivors spent 66 days marooned on an island off what’s now Backyard Key, park officers mentioned.
“The stranded survivors battled warmth, mosquitoes and thirst as they tried to flee the abandoned island,” the park service mentioned.
The crew burned the stays of the warship to make sure that their weapons didn’t fall into enemy palms. In the end, they constructed makeshift boats from salvaged components of HMS Tyger and “made a 700-mile escape by means of enemy waters” to Jamaica. The journey took 55 days.
HMS Tyger was the primary of three British warships to sink off the Florida Keys, the park service mentioned. Archaeologists have beforehand recognized the websites for HMS Fowey and HMS Looe.
“This discovery highlights the significance of in-situ preservation as future generations of archaeologists, armed with extra superior applied sciences and analysis instruments, are capable of reexamine the websites and make new discoveries,” mentioned Josh Marano, the maritime archaeologist who led the group that recognized HMS. Tyger.
The positioning is already protected below the cultural useful resource legal guidelines that apply to Tortugas Secca Nationwide Park, however the optimistic identification of HMS Tyger gives further safety below the Sunken Army Craft Act of 2004, they mentioned. officers mentioned. The stays of HMS Tyger and her artefacts stay the property of the British Authorities.
The outcomes of the archaeologists have been lately printed within the Worldwide Journal of Nautical Archaeology.
NPS picture by Brett Seymour
