Warship Excavation in Maryland

From the April 26th Gazette.net Maryland Community News Online "Warship excavation planned near Upper Marlboro: Ship believed to be flagship of fleet scuttled prior to War of 1812 battle" by Erich Wagner.

Archaeologists from the State Highway Administration, the Maryland Historic Trust and the Navy believe that the USS Scorpion was scuttled at a site on the Patuxent River near Upper Marlboro and plan to begin work on it next spring.

Right now, they are preparing their plans and obtaining environmental permits.

They are hoping for artifacts and looking at ways of cutting the site off from the river with a cofferdam so they can work like on dry land.

The Scorpion was the flagship of Commodore Joshua Barney's Chesapeake Bay Flotilla built in 1814 to harass the larger British blockading ships.  Those ships chased the Americans up the Patuxent River where the ships were scuttled so the crews could join soldiers at the Battle of Bladensburg.  The British won that battle and burned Washington, D.C..

The project will cost $5 million and run through 2017. It is expected that the ship is well preserved because a week or two after the ship was sunk, a hurricane blew through and covered the wreck with sediment.

Always Neat When Something Old is Excavated.  --Brock-Perry