An old shipwreck has been found buried in Boston’s Seaport District and, according to the city’s archaeologist, it is a rare find. More recently, the MBTA Silver Line tunnel was built under 121 Seaport and nearby parcels where large residential projects are planned. It was found about 25 feet below grade.
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“We immediately halted excavation in that area and started to do a little exploration”, said Shawn Hurley, CEO of Skanska, the construction company.
Bagley says it appears the vessel was carrying lime, which was used for masonry and construction. Workers also found barrels of lime that apparently were part of the ship’s cargo, and notified city officials of the unusual find.
The 50ft ship “looks like it’s a mid- to late-19th-century sloop”, city archaeologist Joe Bagley told the Guardian.
What will happen to the shipwreck after today remains “up in the air” and up to Skanska, Bagley said. Bagley can only theorize that the ship ran aground on the mud flats at low tide, then the crew salvaged all they could.
It was a typical day at work for construction crews in Boston.
They’ve stopped construction, and now an impromptu archaeological dig is underway.
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Bagley said archaeologists were working as quickly as possible to dig out and rescue artifacts from the ship, and that a team from across the Charles river in Cambridge will perform a 3D scan of the wreck, as they did for a Palmyran arch that was recreated in London and will be shown in NY in September.
