Update on The Driftwood Beach Shipwreck
by Chris McCabe, Underwater Archaeologist, GA DNR
Archaeologists Andrea Marroquin (left) and Chris McCabe (right) examine the likely wreck of the 19th century steamboat Magnolia.
In August 2008, Tropical Storm Fay caused significant beach erosion along the barrier islands of coastal Georgia revealing the partial remains of a wooden shipwreck. After the storm passed, DNR’s underwater archaeologist Chris McCabe and Jekyll Island archaeologist Andrea Marroquin examined the newly exposed wreck. The amount of time spent onsite was limited by tidal surf and the resulting redeposit of sand over the remains. Nevertheless the two managed to get a reasonable picture of the vessel’s skeletal structure before it was reclaimed by the shifting shoreline.
Follow-up investigations linked the design, construction, and damage of the remaining timbers with the historical and environmental records. Collectively they point to a 19th century coastal steamboat named Magnolia, which exploded and sank in the Frederica River in 1852. Newspaper accounts of the day reported that a boiler explosion ripped the vessel in half, tragically killing fourteen passengers and crew. Several witnesses saw the steamboat’s forward section floating downriver “nearly five miles distant from the place of the disaster.” The partial remains uncovered by last summer’s storm are very likely those of Magnolia’s bow. Wood sample analyses should reveal additional pieces of the puzzle and help determine if this is indeed the case.
For more information on the Georgia Underwater Archaeology Program, visit www.gashpo.org/content/displaynavigation.asp?TopCategory=79.
