NATIONAL
PARK UNITS: Aspects of U.S. maritime
history are commemorated or interpreted at the following NPS units mentioned
below:
Biscayne National Park, Everglades
National Park, Big Cypress National
Park, Canaveral National Seashore,
Fort Matanzas National Monument,
Timucuan Ecological And Historic Preserve,
Cumberland Island National Seashore,
Gulf Islands National Seashore,
Buck Island Reef National Monument, Salt River Bay National Historical
Park and Ecological Preserve, Dry Tortugas
National Park, Fort Sumter National
Monument, Fort Pulaski National
Monument, Shiloh National Military
Park, Cape Hatteras National Seashore,
Cape Lookout National Seashore,
San Juan National Historic Site,
and Virgin Islands National Park.
Underwater
Archeology Projects
Prehistoric Archeological Resources
Although no archeological sites of Pleistocene age are yet recognized for the coastal seashores and other maritime parks, the presence of peat deposits dating to this period and underlying inshore barrier islands at Canaveral National Seashore, Fort Matanzas National Monument, Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, Cumberland Island National Seashore, Cape Lookout National Seashore, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, and Gulf Islands National Seashore reflect the potential for studies concerning the early peopling of North America. Submerged peat deposits that contain well-preserved cultural resources are also evident and to be anticipated at Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve.
Prehistoric maritime exploration, probably from South America, resulted in the settling of the Virgin Islands among the northern Leeward Islands, with the initial occupation of the Greater Antilles estimated to have taken place as early as 5000 B.C. (Rouse and Allaire 1978:465). In his 1960 survey of St. John, (Virgin Islands National Park), Frederick Sleight (1962) noted that most of the prehistoric settlements were in the northwest section of the island .
The development of specialized maritime, riverine, and other adaptations in select areas allowed for establishment of a sedentary way of life that was not specifically agriculturally based. Many maritime communities developed as a result of the use of specialized fishing and hunting techniques or a combination of both. A combination of maritime and agricultural practices formed the foundation for cultural developments in the Caribbean and along the southeast coast of the United States. Examples of these cultures have been found in archeological contexts throughout the Southeast, including at Virgin Islands National Park, Biscayne National Park, Everglades National Park, Big Cypress National Park, Canaveral National Seashore, Fort Matanzas National Monument, Timucuan Ecological And Historic Preserve, Cumberland Island Na-tional Seashore, and Gulf Islands National Seashore. These sites are usually manifested as shell middens or mounds reflecting the remains of local shellfish exploitation.
Protected bay and cove prehistoric site types are also found at Buck Island Reef National Monument and Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve. Elsewhere in the Southeast, the potential for prehistoric maritime exploration and early settlement has been considered for Dry Tortugas National Park (Cockrell 1989).
Maritime cultural adaptations of the native populations throughout the Southeast were recorded by early explorers, including Columbus, LeMoyne, Ribault, Laudonniere, and d'Iberville, among others. National parks in the region which either have archeological sites or historic accounts describing contact period maritime cultural adaptations include Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve, Canaveral National Seashore, Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, Cumberland Island National Seashore, and Gulf Islands National Seashore.
Colonial Exploration and Settlement
European maritime colonial exploration and settlement is thematically represented throughout the Southeast, especially at most coastal parks. In Northeast Florida, the research needs for examining Spanish and French exploration and contact of the sixteenth century have been addressed in "A Design for Historic and Archeological Research of the 16th Century European Encounter in the National Parks of Northeast Florida" (Keel and Brewer 1991). Spanish and French maritime exploration and settlement is represented at the following Southeast parks for the stated reasons: San Juan National Historic Site, where the oldest masonry fortifications in the territorial limits of the United States were begun by the Spaniards in the sixteenth century to protect a strategic harbor guarding the sea lanes to the New World; Biscayne National Park, which contains one of the best preserved shipwrecks of the 1733 flota disaster; Canaveral National Seashore, where, considering the presence of the survivors' camp site mentioned earlier one or more of the known Ribault fleet wrecksites may yet exist within the boundaries of the park; Gulf Islands National Seashore, where some remains of the DeLuna fleet of 1559 may yet exist within the park boundary at Pensacola Bay. Maritime archeological remains may also exist in the inland waters off Cumberland Island National Seashore, reflecting the establishment of early Spanish mission settlements there, and Virgin Islands National Park, where Danish sugar plantations were supplied and cargoes carried off by mercantile shipping.
At Canaveral National Seashore, an archeological site, which appears to be a survivors' camp of the ill-fated Ribault fleet of 1565, was recently (Elizabeth Horvath, SEAC, personal communication, 1993) the subject of investigations by SEAC. Metal-working remains appear to indicate an extended occupation by a small European group living among the native population, which reflects the establishment of intercultural relations. A beach-face survey at the park is scheduled and will hopefully locate associated Ribault fleet material.
The maritime aspects of the development of the English colonies are evident throughout the Southeast. Incorporating the golden age of piracy, this period saw the English settlement of both Cape Hatteras And Cape Lookout National Seashores, as well as the founding of English fortified coastal towns in Georgia, such as Fort Frederica National Monument and the as-yet undiscovered Forts St. Andrew and Prince William at Cumberland Island National Seashore.
At Biscayne National Park, there exist the remains of an English warship of the Caribbean Squadron, the HMS Fowey, sunk in 1748. This site has received considerable study over the past decade, and indications are that at least one other British vessel of the same general period, as yet only identified but unstudied, exists in the northern section of the park. Economic and social ways of life are also exemplified in the park at the site of the merchant vessel Hubbard (or Ledbury), a ship laden with a cargo of ceramic tablewares, the wrecking of which occurred in either 1769 or 1772, depending on the correct identification of the vessel.
At Gulf Islands National Seashore, the French establishment of a Gulf coast military and territorial presence at the beginning of the eighteenth century is exemplified by the archeological evidence of the French warehouse site at Ship Island. The significant anchorage off the northeast end of the island served the French for over a decade and may contain remnants of that early incursion.
Revolutionary War
Concerning maritime activities associated with the Revolutionary War, there are several parks in the Southeast that manifest an archeological presence, including Fort Sumter National Monument. The original Fort Moultrie withstood the battering guns of the British fleet under Sir Peter Parker on June 28, 1776, returning fire and sinking several vessels. At Moores Creek National Battlefield, the scene of the opening engagement in the South, the bridge site that crosses the navigable waterway there may yet reveal evidence of the brief but fierce engagement, which dashed British hopes for a quick Southern victory. Elsewhere, in 1781, as an ally of France (but not the American colonies) against the British, the Spanish sent an Armada of sixty-four ships against the British at Pensacola Bay, which quickly fell. This invasion will likely have left some archeological remains in the waters of Gulf Islands National Seashore at Pensacola.
Development of the Coastal Forts System
The development of the coastal forts system relied heavily on the efforts of both military and merchant shipping. Construction alone entailed the movement of massive amounts of materials and men, with the inevitable losses that occur with bad weather and perilous navigation. At Dry Tortugas National Park there are several documented "construction" wrecks, and others are expected to be located. This will probably prove to be the case in other coastal system-related parks in the Southeast, such as Fort Sumter National Monument and Fort Pulaski National Monument, as well as Forts Pickens, McRae, and Massachusetts in Gulf Islands National Seashore, where construction and supply vessels wrecked or foundered.
The Civil War
The Civil War affected the naval activities of coastal areas all across the Southeast, whether involved in blockading (and running those blockades), ship-to-shore engagements, or major assaults. Parks in the Southeast that have known or potential resources reflecting Civil War maritime history include Fort Sumter National Monument, where the initial assault on, and removal of, Union forces precipitated the War Between the States. Ships running past the Union forces, which blockaded Charleston harbor, and those that continuously fired upon Fort Sumter also may have left archeological remains. At Gulf Islands National Seashore, ship-to-shore engagements, as well as major landings, occurred throughout the war at both units in Florida and Mississippi. Also to be noted are the remains of the USS Cairo at Vicksburg National Military Park, Mississippi, a reminder of the riverine naval actions during the war, such as those that took place on the Mississippi River at Fort Donelson and the Tennessee River at Pittsburg Landing (Shiloh National Military Park).
Commercial and Industrial Development
Business and industry development is exempified by many of the more recent (i.e., post-Civil War) shipwrecks known to exist in southeast coastal parks. In Biscayne National Park for instance, the extractive industries of sponging and lobster trapping have left substantial remains that reflect the livelihood of the first settlers to south Florida. Another extractive industry of considerable impact to the development and settlement of south Florida was the business, both legitimate and otherwise, of wrecking, whereby stranded and imperiled ships and their cargoes were brought back into commerce by the efforts of professional salvors of the late nineteenth- and early twentieth centuries. Also extant in the park, and representing a unique type of housing construction, are the still standing structures known as Stiltsville, soon to become relics of a past way of life. Although it has not become an issue to date, at some point the theme of insurance, involving questions of marine insurance, ownership, and the development of the marine insurance industry, may come into play concerning historic wrecks within the boundaries of this and other parks in the Southeast.
Shipping and Transportation Development
Shipping and transportation are represented by all merchant and cargo vessels wrecked within park waters. At Biscayne National Park several sites that come to mind are the wrecksites of the steamboat St. Lucie, the locally famous mail packet and coastal transport wrecked in the historic hurricane of 1906, and the Lugana and the Alicia, two of the last vessels ever worked by Southeast Florida wreckers. Many cargo vessels are known to lie within the boundaries of Cape Hatteras National Seashore and Cape Lookout National Seashore, and at least one large lumber vessel is known to lie within the waters of Gulf Islands National Seashore. At Dry Tortugas National Park, near Fort Jefferson, the remains of the 1907 Windjammer wreck, the Killean, still lie exposed at low water. Thanks to the mapping done by the NPS Submerged Cultural Resources Unit (SCRU), this wrecksite provides an especially exhilarating inter-pretive dive for visitors trained in diving.
The above provides a sample of maritime historic
contexts known to exist in Southeast Field Area parks. Surveys to be carried
out as part of SEAC's Field Area-wide Archeological Survey Plan will undoubtedly
provide further data to support these thematic associations as well as
evaluate significance.
