Emily Chan
When an 18th-century warship ran aground in the shallow waters of the Florida Keys, it became stuck there for many years.
Recently, archaeologists discovered the ship’s remains in the waters surrounding Dry Tortugas National Park.
The British ship, which was called the HMS Tyger, was built in 1647 and sank in 1742 after it crashed into the reefs in the national park.
At the time, the ship had been on duty during the War of Jenkins’ Ear, a conflict between Britain and Spain that lasted from 1739 to 1748.
In 1731, Spanish sailors boarded a British brig off the coast of Cuba and sliced off the captain’s left ear.
This incident was used as a reason for the British to declare war on Spain. For almost a decade, the two countries fought over control of trade in the Caribbean.
The remains of the wreckage were found in 1993, but the identity of the ship was not confirmed until now.
In 2021, archaeologists from the Dry Tortugas National Park and the National Park Service’s Submerged Resources Center and Southeast Archaeological Center analyzed the wreck and determined that it was the Tyger.
At the site, they came across several important artifacts, including five cannons and logbooks detailing how the vessel went down.
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