18TH CENTURY BONES FROM WRECK

 8 June 2025: 

Even though the calendar hasn't got there yet, summer appears to be here, though I was surprised at the number of boats still on the hard and many still under their winter covers. Time to splash, folks! The season is short enough in the Northeast; don't make it even shorter. And speaking of the Northeast, here's a bit of quite local news, from Fox News.

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Mysterious bones that washed up on Jersey Shore finally identified 180 years after tragedy

Bones that mysteriously washed up on the Jersey Shore over the past three decades were recently identified, thanks to cutting-edge technology and diligent students.

Ramapo College announced the discovery in a May 21 press release. The remains were identified as belonging to Henry Goodsell, a captain who died in an 1844 shipwreck off the coast of South Jersey's Brigantine Shoal.

The ship was carrying 60 tons of marble for Girard College, a preparatory school, when it sprung a leak and sank.

Goodsell's bones didn't wash up until over a century later, when they were found on various beaches in the Garden State.

"A skull washed ashore in Longport in 1995, and more bones were found in Margate in 1999, both in Atlantic County," Ramapo College's statement noted. "In 2013, additional remains were found in Ocean City, Cape May County."

 

 

"Scattered Man John Doe went without a name for 30 years since traditional methods of investigation could not deliver an identification."

Cairenn Binder, assistant director of the Ramapo College Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) Center, told Fox News Digital that her team conducted traditional DNA testing to find a matching profile in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a national DNA profile database.

"While there was no missing person sample on file that matched with the profiles from the bones, the bones all matched one another, so that’s how [the New Jersey State Police] learned they were all connected before we began working on the case," she said. 

 

Over the past several months, Ramapo students have gleaned various details about Goodsell's life from old newspapers. 

He was 29 years old when he died, and his ancestors were among the earliest settlers in Connecticut.

"Capt. Goodsell’s ancestors lived in Litchfield and Fairfield Counties in Connecticut and had all been there since the 1600s – some of the earliest European Americans," Binder said. 

"He was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, but lived in Boston from at least the late 1830s."

Goodsell also left behind a wife and two children when he perished; his family was financially devastated by the shipwreck.

"The news reported that his family was left in ‘very embarrassed’ circumstances after the captain’s death," Binder said. 

"There was a fundraiser held for Capt. Goodsell’s widow a year after his death," she also said. Reports were that "she was destitute."

Five or six other crew members were on the vessel, Binder noted, and all of them are believed to have died. 

 

One was found and buried while the others were lost at sea.

Binder described the discovery as "extremely rare," noting that Ramapo researchers have not been able to find an older case where IGG was used to successfully identify remains.

"There are a handful of cases where remains more than 100 years old have been identified with IGG, but this is the oldest we have been able to find," she said. 

"We believe that more identifications like these will be made now that we have the advances in technology to make them happen," she added. 

Authorities from various New Jersey law enforcement offices were also involved in the research. 

In a statement, Cape May County prosecutor Jeffrey Sutherland said the same technology is used to "bring offenders to justice."

"The hard work of Ramapo College’s IGG Center and working with the New Jersey State Police Cold Case Unit has demonstrated the power and accuracy of this new technology combined with classic detective work in solving complex cold cases that will bring offenders to justice and provide closure to victims' families," he noted.

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A little forensic work - kind of complements our last post on some even older "bones." Have a good week, friends, and to those of you who observe, happy Fathers Day next week!

Until next time,

                                         Fair winds, 

                                                 Old Salt 

 

 

REVOLUTIONARY WAR GUNBOAT DISCOVERED

 24 May 2025: OK - first an apology for the extra week between posts - we were traveling overseas and then took ill when we got home.... no excuse I know, but a valid (in my opinion) reason. So there.... but here we are again with some new stuff of interest and seems, given that it's Memorial Day Weekend here in the U.S., timely. Also, timely as we approach the 250th anniversary of American Independence. From Fox News (online)

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A lost Revolutionary War-era ship that was unearthed at the site of the World Trade Center will finally be exhibited in a museum over a decade after it was found.

The New York State Museum announced in a mid-May press release that the ship will be housed in its Albany headquarters. The 18th-century vessel was found during an excavation of Ground Zero in July 2010.

But details about the boat have perplexed historians until now – just in time for America's 250th anniversary.

With help from Texas A&M University historical preservationists, experts have been working for 14 years to gather facts about the ship while preserving it carefully. 

The ship, which measures 50 feet long and 18 feet wide, has been identified as a "rare" American-built gunboat.

 

The vessel was likely built in the Philadelphia area in the 1770s. 

It was used during the Revolutionary War but was decommissioned after roughly two decades.

"[B]y the 1790s, the ship was out of commission and repurposed as landfill to expand New York City, ultimately ending up beneath what would become the World Trade Center," the New York State Museum said. 

"Today, it stands as one of the few American-built Revolutionary War ships to be identified, studied and preserved in New York State."

In total, 600 pieces of wood and roughly 2,000 artifacts were found at the site, including musketballs.

 

After years of carefully preserving each piece of wood and artifact, the preservation team began the process of reconstructing the vessel at the New York State Museum on May 14.

In a statement, New York State Historian Devin Lander said the exhibit is "history in its rawest, most thrilling form."

 

"We’re not just unveiling a ship – we’re resurrecting a lost relic of the American Revolution, right before your eyes," Lander said. 

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Discoveries like this continue to amaze us - guess there's still much to be found - and it will likely be by accident! 

So, to our American readers, enjoy your Memorial Day weekend - remember what it's about, please, and stay safe!

Until next time,

                                   Fair Winds,

                                         Old Salt

CAR FOUND ON SUNKEN AIRCRAFT CARRIER

 3 May 2025: May already and time is just whipping by! Hard to believe it was just a few short months ago we were freezing and shoveling snow! Now the flowers are in bloom, trees are green, and boats are in their element! And speaking of boats, here's one from the Charlotte Observer by way of Fox News that made national news but should not have surprised any of us who were in the navy - even on shore duty! But the location and circumstances apparently made this one newsworthy!

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Defying all logic, a vehicle has been found parked in the hangar of the USS Yorktown, which was famously sunk in the Pacific by a Japanese submarine during World War II. The baffling discovery was made Saturday, April 19, when NOAA Ocean Exploration sent a remotely operated camera inside the massive wreck, about 1,000 miles northwest of Honolulu.

USS Yorktown as she now looks

 

 Yorktown was an 809-foot-long aircraft carrier, known to host about 2,200 personnel, 90 aircraft ... and apparently, one car.

 “It’s a car. That’s a car,” one surprised researcher was heard saying when tires sporting shiny hubcaps came into view. “That is a full car.” “Why is there a car on this boat?” another is heard asking. The vehicle was found upright near the carrier’s elevator 3, and immediately had historians scrambling for explanations. One possibility: It’s Rear Admiral Frank Fletcher’s flag car, they guessed. (USS Yorktown was his flagship.) Closer inspection by the camera revealed flared fenders, hints of a rag top, chrome trim and and a spare tire, researchers said.

 

It is suspected the car is a “1940-41 Ford Super Deluxe ‘Woody’ in black,” NOAA Ocean Exploration says. “It has a license plate on the front that can be partially read saying ’SHIP SERVICE’ at the top, but the lower part is illegible due to corrosion,” NOAA reports. “Evidently staff cars of the Ford Super Deluxe model were common with the Navy and Army ashore; however, as of yet, they haven’t been able to find a ‘Woody’ in service for staff officers, so that is potentially unique for this ship.” “Here’s an open request to all your automobile vehicle folks out there,” one researcher said in the livefeed. “I’m sure you are being attentive to this and you understand what you are looking at. Please post on this. It really helps.” NOAA Ocean Exploration officials say the discovery is “an exciting find.” “Yorktown’s salvage crew worked tirelessly to jettison anti-aircraft guns and aircraft to reduce its list (after the torpedo strike), but did they leave the car, something they could roll off the side?” NOAA officials said in an email to McClatchy News. “Perhaps the car belonged to someone important on the ship or to the fleet: the captain or admiral.”

 

The vehicle may have been brought aboard at Pearl Harbor during a very brief visit for repairs “sustained during the Battle of Coral Sea,” officials said. A Reddit debate about the vehicle quickly appeared online, with commenters noting “none of the literature ... mentioned a car being onboard for the battle.” “Wonder if the car was intended to be offloaded on Midway following the anticipated engagement with the Japanese (if the US was victorious),” one Reddit commenter wrote. “Hangar space on carriers was (and still is) extremely valuable. Having a car occupying space would be remarkable.” Yorktown was serving at the Battle of Midway in 1942 when Japanese carrier bombers successfully struck it with three bombs, NOAA says.

The ship was being towed back to Pearl Harbor for repairs when additional torpedoes from a Japanese submarine hit the starboard side, “causing the carrier to capsize and sink on the morning of June 7, 1942.” NOAA Ocean Exploration visited the wreck twice as part of a 28-day expedition to explore and map deep water regions of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, “the largest contiguous fully protected conservation area under the U.S. flag” at 582,578 square miles. The expedition marks the first time cameras have been sent inside the wreck, which was first discovered in 1998, officials said. It sits more than 3 miles deep, experts say. The Ocean Exploration vessel E/V Nautilus visited the Yorktown wreck in 2023, and NOAA Ocean Exploration is building on data collected by that expedition.

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Well, there you have it, folks! Not surprising to this former Squid, as many of the carriers I was aboard had a car often parked on the hanger deck right next to the admiral's barge or captain's gig. But for some, it came as a shock!  

Until next time,

                                   Fair Winds,

                                        Old Salt