• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Scientists baffled after finding mysterious shipwreck under 9/11 ruins

Home> Community

Updated 20:41 6 Feb 2024 GMTPublished 20:39 6 Feb 2024 GMT

Scientists baffled after finding mysterious shipwreck under 9/11 ruins

It wasn't for several years after the 9/11 attacks that the shipwreck was discovered

Jess Battison

Jess Battison

Scientists were left baffled by what they found under the ruins of the two World Trade Center buildings that collapsed during the devastating 9/11 attacks.

The terrorist attacks on New York City’s World Trade Center shook and horrified the world.

Over the years, a greater focus was homed in on terrorism from politicians and security specialist with military efforts ramped up.

People across the globe grieved the 2,996 lives lost, with the falling of the twin towers having a tragic impact.

Advert

And that’s probably why it wasn’t until several years later from the 11 September 2001 attacks that something rather mysterious was found beneath the ruins.

When construction workers were rebuilding the site in 2010, they stumbled upon an old wooden ship. Yes, a literal shipwreck beneath the World Trade Center.

In 2010, when construction workers were rebuilding the site, they stumbled upon an old wooden ship.
LMDC/Columbia University

Obviously the main question was just how did a centuries-old ship end up 22 feet beneath the New York landmark? Archaeologists immediately got investigating.

After four years of digging, analysing, and studying, scientists were able to determine that the ship had been built in the 1770s - around the same era as the Declaration of Independence.

Advert

Researchers also determined that the type of oak used to build the ship would have come from Philadelphia.

Strangest of all was that the rings on the wooden hull matched other samples of wood rings that had been used to build Independence Hall, where both the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were signed.

The wreck was found way below the World Trade Center.
Jeremy Walker/Getty Images

The mysterious ship was later identified as a Hudson River sloop, which would have been designed by the Dutch to carry cargo and passengers over the Hudson river's rocky floor.

So, how on earth did it end up there?

Advert

Well, it's believed that after 20 to 30 years of service, the ship was sailed to the lower Manhattan area where it sunk.

Historians still aren't sure whether the ship sank accidentally or was purposefully submerged.

In the decades that followed, the ship's remains were covered with rubbish, debris, and other materials like rock and soil that were used to expand the area of Manhattan.

Years after 9/11, the strange discovery was made beneath the rubble.
ABC

Oysters were also found on the hull of the ship, suggesting it was submerged for quite some time before it was buried with trash and landfill to form the land that the Twin Towers would eventually be built on.

Advert

Speaking to CNN about the discovery back in 2014, archaeologist Molly McDonald, who was among those who first discovered the ship, said: "It’s such an intense site already based on its recent history, so to be in the midst of this urban, modern, very fraught location, and then to be sitting on what was a river bottom, with clams and fish, and the smell of low tide, was really an amazing juxtaposition."

Today, the remains of the ship are being conserved and exhibited in Albany at the New York State Museum, so you can marvel at the bizarre discovery for yourself.

Featured Image Credit: LMDC/Columbia University/ABC

Topics: Science, US News, World News

Jess Battison
Jess Battison

Jess is a Senior Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include asking everyone in the office what they're having for tea, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021.

X

@jessbattison_

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

8 hours ago
a day ago
2 days ago
3 days ago
  • 8 hours ago

    Mother who lives with her new husband and ex to save money reveals how she makes bizarre situation work

    Her ex-husband is still around as it's an expensive world

    Community
  • a day ago

    Why seeing a pink flamingo on cruise could mean someone is a swinger

    The more you know

    Community
  • 2 days ago

    Relationship expert reveals what you should never say to a potential partner if you want them to like you

    Apparently it makes you come across as rude

    Community
  • 3 days ago

    Boxer left unconscious after freak electric shock accident in cannabis event

    Ivan Parshikov jumped straight into a swimming pool afterwards.

    Community
  • Agency responds over Brit's 'fake Disneyland wedding to girl, 9,' after casting for 'guests' to attend
  • Man releases new footage of 9/11 after 23 years showing Twin Tower collapse from 'unseen angle'
  • Man who released unseen footage of 9/11 23 years later explains what witnessing the attack was like
  • Brit who 'married 9-year-old girl' in Disneyland stunt revealed as convicted pedophile