Archival Investigations for Potential Colonial-Era Shipwrecks in Ultra-Deepwater within the Gulf of Mexico

摘要

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, is charged with the responsibility of considering the effects of its actions on significant submerged cultural resources on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) of the United States, from State Waters to the limit of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). In an effort to protect submerged cultural resources from potential effects of oil and gas activity within the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), BOEMRE seeks to amass and assess primary archival material relative to early vessel losses (ca. sixteenth to eighteenth century) in Ultra- Deepwater (UDW) (>5,000 feet) within the GOM. To achieve project goals, BOEMRE requested that various repositories (international and national) be identified and visited in an effort to gather primary archival resources. Relevant documents were to be transcribed and translated to English by a professional paleographer then saved in PDF format. Historical data and imagery acquired under this contract was to be analyzed to identify each vessel casualty and establish its type, date of construction, nationality, ownership (past and present), use history, mission, and cargo (if any) at time of loss, as well as factors contributing to its loss. One of the goals of the analysis is to determine each vessels likely location and potential present condition. Ultimately, a greater understanding of the likelihood and presence of historic shipwrecks within the UDW of the GOM will enable BOEMRE to anticipate and protect these sites. More specifically, archival information relative to colonial-era shipwrecks will augment BOEMREs ability to utilize adaptive management strategies in its regulation of OCS oil and gas activities within the GOM, in an effort to minimize impacts to potentially significant submerged cultural resources. Archival repositories considered most relevant to the current investigation were identified by Southeastern Archaeological Research, Inc. (SEARCH).