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<img src="http://www.piratesahoy.net/images/stories/real-pirates.gif" border="0" class="linked-image" />In 2002, researches at Texas A&M discovered a shipwreck off the Louisiana coast. A coin stamped with the date of 1810 found in the wreckage placed the vessel somewhere around The War of 1812. New evidence from a different researcher, discovered accounts that suggest the ship may be a privateer that capsized in rough seas in the same area in 1813.
<blockquote><b>Arrrgh mateys, shipwreck could be pirate vessel</b> By MARY FOSTER Associated Press Writer © 2009 The Associated Press
March 9, 2009, 5:34PM NEW ORLEANS  In the deep dark waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the shipwreck artifacts were laid out atop the sandy bottom: French wine bottles, British beer bottles, shiny white dishes, and pewter utensils, in many cases looking little different than when the little two-masted schooner carrying them sank beneath the waves 200 years ago.Â
After pulling up more than 500 items as varied as a telescope, pottery, swords, muskets, English jars, hourglasses, and a Scottish cannon, scientists from Texas A&M University were left wondering if the vessel might have belonged to a pirate or privateer. During the 2007 excavation, scientists didn't recover anything that indicated the name of the ship or where it was from  distinguishing characteristics that a legitimate merchant ship would have had.Â
That possibility may have become more real on Monday when a researcher told the scientists that, in a separate effort, he had come across accounts of a privateer which capsized in the area.Â
"We haven't confirmed anything," said Jack Irion, of Minerals Management Service, which was in charge of preserving the wreck. "But a researcher has found a little-known wreck of a privateer that fits in many ways."Â
According to the accounts that the researcher discovered, the privateer  which differed from a pirate ship only because it received a grant from one country to prey on the ships of another  left south Louisiana in 1813, with the War of 1812 still raging. It was spotted by a British war ship, and in trying to escape, capsized on rough seas, Irion said. The eight seamen aboard were rescued, but the ship quickly plunged to the Gulf floor, near the spot Texas A&M scientists excavated.Â
The possibility of the ship being a privateer or pirate vessel is further backed up because it was heavily armed with a cannon, muskets, pistols and swords  although researchers said that could have also been to protect itself from pirates, which infested Louisiana waters during that period.Â
"We just don't know," said William Bryant, who headed up the Texas A&M effort. "It is a mystery, an intriguing mystery."</blockquote> You can read the full story <a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6301845.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>
<a href="http://piratesahoy.net/history/historical-news-article/253-shipwreck-could-be-pirate-vessel.html" target="_blank">View the full article</a>
<blockquote><b>Arrrgh mateys, shipwreck could be pirate vessel</b> By MARY FOSTER Associated Press Writer © 2009 The Associated Press
March 9, 2009, 5:34PM NEW ORLEANS  In the deep dark waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the shipwreck artifacts were laid out atop the sandy bottom: French wine bottles, British beer bottles, shiny white dishes, and pewter utensils, in many cases looking little different than when the little two-masted schooner carrying them sank beneath the waves 200 years ago.Â
After pulling up more than 500 items as varied as a telescope, pottery, swords, muskets, English jars, hourglasses, and a Scottish cannon, scientists from Texas A&M University were left wondering if the vessel might have belonged to a pirate or privateer. During the 2007 excavation, scientists didn't recover anything that indicated the name of the ship or where it was from  distinguishing characteristics that a legitimate merchant ship would have had.Â
That possibility may have become more real on Monday when a researcher told the scientists that, in a separate effort, he had come across accounts of a privateer which capsized in the area.Â
"We haven't confirmed anything," said Jack Irion, of Minerals Management Service, which was in charge of preserving the wreck. "But a researcher has found a little-known wreck of a privateer that fits in many ways."Â
According to the accounts that the researcher discovered, the privateer  which differed from a pirate ship only because it received a grant from one country to prey on the ships of another  left south Louisiana in 1813, with the War of 1812 still raging. It was spotted by a British war ship, and in trying to escape, capsized on rough seas, Irion said. The eight seamen aboard were rescued, but the ship quickly plunged to the Gulf floor, near the spot Texas A&M scientists excavated.Â
The possibility of the ship being a privateer or pirate vessel is further backed up because it was heavily armed with a cannon, muskets, pistols and swords  although researchers said that could have also been to protect itself from pirates, which infested Louisiana waters during that period.Â
"We just don't know," said William Bryant, who headed up the Texas A&M effort. "It is a mystery, an intriguing mystery."</blockquote> You can read the full story <a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6301845.html" target="_blank">HERE</a>
<a href="http://piratesahoy.net/history/historical-news-article/253-shipwreck-could-be-pirate-vessel.html" target="_blank">View the full article</a>
