What we're hoping to see today is a ship that was identified first from an oil and gas industry survey back in 2002.
We have made several attempts to try and identify what this might be and so far, this is going to be our absolutely best chance.
But I think the switch from Roman numbers is before 1825, in terms of a construction date.
What's interesting to note about this is you can see the number 12 buried, indicating that there's a lot more hull underneath the sediment.
It looks like she was built for comfort, not speed.
Not built for speed is correct. I've looked at a lot of the wooden wrecks from the 19th century here in the Gulf of Mexico
and of all the construction, this is probably the heaviest I've seen.
Likely a merchant vessel.
Because of the copper sheathing, it was not a coasting vessel, but more would travel the open ocean.
I think you're looking at something 1830ish.
That would certainly, in the Gulf of Mexico, would have taken place at the height of the cotton trade.
It's a period that we have not seen other wrecks in the Gulf, so this is unique.
This is literally a dream come true here.