Ship Found During Ground Zero Excavation Traced Back To 1773
NEW YORK(CBSNewYork) -- A mystery has been solved about a 32-foot wooden ship that was found buried at Ground Zero.
Tests on the tree rings in the oak fragments recovered from the site showed that the vessel dates back to 1773.
Experts were able to match the oak to varieties that grow in the United States.
Based on that information, they said that the ship was most likely built in Philadelphia, but sailed as far away as the Caribbean.
According to a release by Columbia University, the ship has been tentatively identified as a Hudson River Sloop, typically used by the Dutch to transport passengers and cargo through shallow, rocky water.
Historians believe that the ship was used as landfill in 1810 to extend the shores of Lower Manhattan.
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