Archaeologist debunks post about 1700s ship off St. Augustine

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — A Fb put up with a picture of a ship has garnered over 19,000 shares since being posted Wednesday, claiming that the vessel is “a totally intact 1700s-era ghost ship washed ashore close to St. Augustine on Wednesday, baffling each locals and specialists.”

Some commentors on the put up have raised eyebrows about it, mentioning that the ocean water at St. Augustine is not as vibrant as seen within the put up, whereas others have hopes of flocking to the valuable jewel for the chance of exploring it.

The put up additional states that the “mysterious vessel” washed ashore within the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, as “the Class 4 storm churned the Atlantic [Ocean].”

Did a 1700s-era ghost ship wash ashore close to St. Augustine, Fla. within the aftermath of Hurricane Milton on Wednesday?

• Maritime archaeologist Chuck Meide
• First Coast Information Meteorologist Robert Speta
• Google Lens

No, a viral Fb put up a few 1700s ghost ship washed ashore close to St. Augustine after Hurricane Milton is not true.

Chuck Meide, the director of the Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program on the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum, instructed First Coast Information Friday, Casper Planet’s put up will not be true. He’s a maritime archaeologist who dives into archaeology associated to the maritime historical past of St. Augustine and the whole First Coast area.

“The ship depicted is totally intact, and also you simply do not get that,” he stated. “In Florida waters, you recognize, we’ve heat water many of the yr and we’ve critters like ship worms and different issues that eat up the wooden of shipwrecks. So, what’s way more typical for a Florida shipwreck to seem like is simply the decrease most a part of the ship that occurred to get buried. However, having a totally intact ship like that’s simply actually unattainable.”

The archaeologist elaborated saying the one places on the planet the place a totally intact ship may emerge from the depths of the ocean, just like the one within the put up, can be in “locations just like the Baltic Sea … off the coast of Sweden and Norway, and just like the Nice Lakes, and Lake Champlain … the place it is extraordinarily chilly and freshwater.”

Meide additional defined that the concept of items of a ship washing ashore after a hurricane is “completely believable and has occurred earlier than.”

Different flaws seen within the put up, giving cause to it being unfaithful, is the colour of the water which is often seen in areas of South Florida reasonably than Northeast Florida, the put up stating that Milton was a “Class 4 storm” that churned the Atlantic, in addition to the profile’s bio mentioning that the Fb web page posts satire.

In response to First Coast Information, On Your Aspect Meteorologist Robert Speta, Milton was a Class 1 hurricane when it crossed into the Atlantic Ocean after passing over Central Florida; it was a Class 5 hurricane within the Gulf of Mexico earlier than making landfall.

Utilizing the Google Lens software, a reverse search of the ship revealed the vessel, known as the “Flying Dutchman,” was situated on certainly one of Disney’s personal island, Castaway Cay, from 2006-2010. It was designed after a supernatural, fictional ship that appeared in “Pirates of the Caribbean: Useless’s Man Chest” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s Finish” motion pictures with the identical identify.