The Playa Grande shipwreck appears to
be a ship that was fortunate to have wrecked on a beach. The north coast of the Dominican Republic is a
very hazardous coastline bordering the second deepest part of the ocean in the
world. Jutting up from the depths is numerous reefs, rocky crags and out-crops.
Northern winter swells traveling hundreds of miles meet their demise on this
treacherous coast. Driven by tides and
with no wind these swells could pick these ships up and slam them repeatedly
against the rocky shoreline. Seasonal trade winds to 25 knots kick up seas to
seven feet. Tropical systems and even
tsunamis have been reported here. Ships
that wrecked against this rocky coast would have been instantly shredded to
pieces. In this era of colonial travel there were no positioning devices, no
weather warnings and in most cases not even a light house to guide your ship
through the storms. This coast is littered with shipwrecks that never made it
home. Each shipwreck is its own time capsule. Like a clock stopped in time.
The Wreck (nail
wreck)
The ship
lies in an up-right position. The cannon
on this site appear to have been used for ballast. They do not appear to be in a
position to be used for defense. (fig.1)
Fig.1
No other
ballast in the form of stone is visible. Most all cannon are lying side by side and
pointed in opposite directions. All
cannon are closely stacked together less the exception of the eight cannon west
of the wreck, which also appears to be part of the ballast and broke off from
the main pile. (See drawing) I would imagine there is a good possibility we
will uncover more cannon as the excavation moves forward. So far we have
initially observed 35 cannon. With several different sizes, the largest cannon
measuring just over three meters in length. There are three stacks (rows) of
cannon starting with 12 in the south and then 9, and the last row has 6. The central
row of nine cannon is where you find the neatly stacked row of cannon balls.
The row of six cannon is where you find the large deposit of cannon balls and
shot. This conglomerate of shot position is slightly west of center. It would appear
to have been the original stowed position. (The accommodating position of the
cannon in this area would indicate this).
Initially
this shipwreck appears to be facing bow towards the sea (330 degrees) and the
stern towards shore (150degrees). (See drawing)
After four
and a half days of excavation it is apparent this shipwreck has been a subject
of salvage from many years of unprofessional and novice salvers. (fig.2)
Fig. 2
Also
this wreck is lying in and around very deep sand. I suspect many important
artifacts have broken free from this wreck and are now buried very deep in the
sand. (fig.3)
fig.3
The
location of this wreck will make for a very difficult and time consuming
operation. The wreck sits in a depth of eight feet of water (MLW) and for the
most part of the year large surf breaks over this area. (fig.4)
fig.4
There are five large casks of nails on this
wreck. Three of these casks are in close proximity, stowed on the north portion
of the site and one amidships and one towards the stern or shore side.(see
drawing) The nails encased in these casks are square iron and are a mix of many different
sizes. We believe these nails are not ship fasteners, they more resemble nails
used for house construction? Sizes ranging
from (modern sizes) “8 to 16 penny”
On the north
end of the ship and beyond the cannon were lead musket balls. Mixed in were
lead shot very similar to the size of shot you would find in a modern day
shotgun. (Slightly larger than bird shot or the size of a BB) This lead was buried inside the wood beams and
mostly still intact and concreted together in the shape of that section of the
hull. I am not sure if this was their original location or if they had worked
their way to this location during many years of erosion. Nearby and a meter to
the south begins a large conglomerate of cannon balls. Some bar shot are also
visible here. (fig.5)
fig.5
The
shot is very comparable in size to the shot found on the LeScipion "1782" .(24lb?)
There is many cannon balls lining the crevices of the closely stacked cannon. I
believe this also to be part of the ballast. (fig 6)
Fig.
6
In fig.7 is a ballast plan taken from
Jean Boudriot reference books. “The 74 gun ship”
The
reference book states that one of the trunnions would have been struck off. We
have seen no cannon with its trunnion "struck off". It’s not possible to see all
trunnions from every cannon on the site but the cannon that are totally visible
all have both trunnions. Possibly giving credence to cannon being stowed and
shipped, possibly destine to some distant fort? Note: The three rows of cannon
with the stack of cannon balls resemble very closely to what we have observed
on the Playa Grande site.
The locals
have been finding coins in this area. (fig.8) I hear the coins are being found further to
the east. Our four and a half days of excavation did not yield any coins. These photos were taken at Playa Grande. The
locals find and sell these coins to the tourist.
fig.8
After
our four and a half days of excavation we notice a very disturbing fact. All
cannon balls had been partially cleaned of their concretion. Broken open and in
most cases just left behind.
Several
empty “bowl shaped” concretions where cannon balls have been removed are
clearly visible. There are hundreds of pieces of concretion that litter this
site. I have seen photos of cannon balls recovered from this site with the
French “Fleur-de-lies” (Fig.9) stamped on the ball. My guess these types of
balls are easily sold openly on the tourist market. And for that reason all
cannon balls were broke open to see if the Fleur-de-lies exist.
fig.9
Any more artifacts recovered from this site will
be buried well below the sand line. In
certain storms and
seasonal changes there are times when the sand retreats. I have personally
witnessed this phenomenon. Nothing more visible remains above this line. The
locals and foreign beach goers have pretty much dismantled and looted anything
in reach. I believe only a professional excavation using modern methods will
produce any more artifacts of importance.
Because no
cannon of the ships defense are visible, might mean that this ship was salvaged
very early on or that the most part of this wreckage spreads northeast towards
deeper water and to the southwest towards shore. Finding this trail would
undoubtedly lead us to more significant discoveries.
