World Trade Center Revolutionary War gunboat reassembled

It has been 15 years since the remains of an 18th-century ship were discovered, which was found below 22 feet above the World Trade Center site, and finally it reached its new home: the New York State Museum in Albany. This will be the heart of the museum’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Built near Philadelphia in 1775, the ship is a gunboat patrolling shallow waterways in the Northeast. The boatworm found in the wood indicates that it heads to the warm, wormy waters of the Caribbean Sea, and the British Legion buttons found inside the boat may mean it was captured by the British and sailing south before returning to New York. It was deliberately abandoned along the Hudson River coastline.

It was originally about 50 feet long with raised decks. Save the 30-foot-long section in the soil on the shore. Before building a World Trade Center, it was found in a ground zero excavation and the wood was exposed to oxygen and began to deteriorate. Archaeologists worked fanatically over two weeks to dismantle the ship and restore more than 600 pieces of wood so they could stabilize for final reconstruction.

In the first year after the excavation, wood was studied and conserved at the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory. They then moved to the Texas A&M University Maritime Archaeology Center, the country’s most important nautical archaeology expert, where the remains were preserved over a 14-year multi-stage process. It was soaked in fresh water for five years to lighten the wood. The wood is then freeze-dried to ensure there is no water there. The team laser scans each wood, creates a 3D model of the boat, and removes each piece of iron (per nail) to prevent the wood from being damaged by rust.

The ship’s stable block has now been moved to Albany, and in the public view of the South Hall, they have chosen next to the artifacts they found during the excavation. The reconstruction is led by Dr. Peter Fix, the principal protector of the World Trade Center ship and an expert in archaeological vessel protection at Texas A&M University, and it is estimated that the reassembly will be completed in mid-June or late June. Visitors are encouraged to ask team questions, and a series of lectures and speeches will be held while the protectors put the boat back in place.