Experts Crack Mystery Of 250-Year-Old Ship Discovered In NYC

New York City experts have finally figured out the origins of a nearly 250-year-old ship that was discovered during excavations in downtown Manhattan four years ago, DNAinfo reported.

The wooden boat was found along with animal bones and outdated clothing 25 feet below street level during a dig at the World Trade Center site in 2010.

By using the rings found in the ship's wood, scientists from Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory determined the ship's wood came from a forest of white oak trees in Philadelphia dating back to 1773, according to DNAinfo. The same forest also provided wood to build Independence Hall.

Scientists focused on analyzing the rings in the wood that form in unique patterns when a tree grows, thus providing a tree's age. A sample from the ship's keel, which runs along the bottom of the boat, allowed researchers to further guess its geographic origin.

"The keel was actually made from hickory, which was only found in the Eastern United States or Eastern Asia, which meant we could really narrow down our search- East Asia wasn't really a possibility," Neil Pederson, a tree ring scientist who co-authored the report, told DNAinfo. "That discovery really put me in a good mood- and put us in good geographic zone."

The ship, which is currently at the Maryland Archeological Conservation Laboratory, is believed to have been a merchant ship of Dutch design, according to historians. It also probably transported food and wood to the Caribbean and returned with goods like rum and sugar, DNAinfo reported.

It was during one of its Caribbean voyages the vessel met its end due to an infestation of Teredo worms feasting on its wood.

The ship was most likely buried in a landfill meant to extend the Manhattan island's shoreline towards the west sometime around 1797, the news site reported.

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