Eighteenth-Century Ballast Pile Site, Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana: An Instrumental and Archaeological Study

摘要

During an earlier Minerals Management Service sponsored study of the patterning of shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico, a suspected historic shipwreck site was located near the Chandeleur Islands in the coastal waters of Louisiana. An instrumental survey and excavation of the site was conducted to provide data to test the hypotheses developed in the earlier study on the occurrence and preservation potential of shipwrecks in different areas of the Gulf and on the relationship between survey linespacing and the ability to differentiate shipwrecks from debris. The instrumental survey of the site depicted a well-defined assemblage of materials with one or two satellite areas of interest nearby (100 m). Excavations showed that the site was either the location of a vessel grounding with subsequent lightening by discard of ballast and ordnance or cargo remains whose genesis is not understood. Work at the site supported earlier developed hypotheses about the occurrence of shipwrecks of different age and nationality in this area of the Gulf. Two recovered cannons from the site, however, proved to be heavily infiltrated by chlorides, thus reducing the ferrous nature and magnetic signature of the metal.