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Sometime during early May 1774, Capt. James Hawthorn made a decision to run the 200-ton cargo ship Severn aground just off Lewes Beach. A nor’easter was lashing the Cape Region, threatening the vessel and its crew of 20 or so men.
“They all made it to shore alive,” says Dan Griffith, director of the Lewes Maritime Archaeological Project.
Griffith, Secretary of State Harriet Smith Windsor and Tim Slavin, director of the state’s Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, gathered at the University of Delaware’s College of Marine Studies in Lewes Wednesday, Oct., 11, eager to talk about the Severn and what’s been learned during the past several months.
Griffith and teams of state archaeologists, volunteers, historians, professional archaeological divers and – to a great extent the general public – have spent nearly two years investigating the source of thousands of artifacts that began washing onto Lewes Beach in December 2004. A beach replenishment dredge had struck a cache of artifacts a few thousand feet from shore and spewed them out, along with 160,000 cubic yards of sand.
Last year, divers got their first up-close look at what little appears to remain of the ship’s hull. They were also able to recover several intact and nearly intact artifacts, including mineral water bottles, grist mill wheels and other objects.
But beachcombers who had been walking along the chilly December shoreline had been making startling finds of their own: military miniatures of ships and soldiers, thousands of fragments of glass that were once fancy hand-painted china, pieces of stoneware storage jars, and the bowls and stems of clay smoking pipes.
Public contributions
Griffith said in all, 45,000 artifacts have been recovered from the Severn, and the public has donated more than 30,000 of the pieces.
“This has truly been a community project,” Griffith said of help the public has provided in donating finds he said many would liked to have kept.
Two weeks ago, divers with Southeastern Archaeological Research Inc., of Jonesville, Fla., began dives following up on last year’s work. Jason Burns of Southeastern said for divers working at a depth of about 15-feet, visibility in the Delaware Bay is poor – even on a good day. He said visibility of about a foot is typical and being able to see three feet ahead is exceptional.
Griffith said Southeastern was hired to dive the site because the divers are all archaeologists, and one of them specializes in British ships of the 1700s.
This year, divers will focus on locating additional evidence of the hull, cargo and artifacts relating to life aboard ship for commercial seamen of the third quarter of the 18th century.
They plan to investigate the stern area where the captain’s quarters were probably located and the amidships area where the crew quarters and ship’s galley were most likely situated.
Griffith said small quantities of “organics,” in this case, wooden portions of the ship’s structure, have been found. He said divers are using a grid on the bay floor and are focusing their search on the vessel’s northernmost end, a location the beach replenishment dredge did not hit. “We’ll look at about 30 percent of the site. It’s rare to be able to look at 100 percent of a site,” said Burns.
He also said diving activity would probably wrap-up Friday, Oct. 27.
Cargo offers clues
Griffith said settling on a date for the demise of the Severn, which had been based in Bristol, England, and was bound for Philadelphia, came down to matching weather information about the nor’easter and finding specific objects that were part of the cargo – German mineral water bottles, two never-before-seen items, a pewter plate warmer, and a glass linen smoother, German brown stoneware jugs, and South African Constantia Wyne (wine) bottles.
“The Severn was a transport, a Wal-Mart and a Home Depot, carrying everything from building materials to toys,” said Griffith.
He said the ship and its crew had traveled widely, judging from its cargo of Dutch smoking pipes, German mineral water and African wine.
Turbulent times
“The cargo reflects the politics of the times,” Griffith said. He said the Severn went down only a couple of months after the Boston Tea Party and the ship’s captain and crew were probably well aware of anti-British sentiment brewing in the colonies.
Griffith said a London-based researcher has been able to determine the ship and its cargo were insured by Lloyds of London.
“She’s been able to come up with a crew list but not a cargo manifest,” said Griffith.
Griffith said the Severn shipwreck site has been placed on the National Historic Register of Historic Places, in recognition of the historical significance of the ship and site.
The site remains off-limits to boaters and divers and is closely monitored by a variety of law enforcement agencies.
Griffith said this year’s dive, recovery, conservation and documentation work is paid for by a $300,000 U.S. Department of Transportation grant.
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