Scientists say shipwreck near Patagonia is long-lost Rhode Island whaling ship from 1850s

Tree rings help identify remains about 10,000 miles from home

Wreck of what is believed to be a 19th-century Rhode Island whaling ship dolphin At low tide in Puerto Madryn, Argentina. (U. Sokolowicz)

Scientists surveying the wreckage of an old wooden boat on the cold and windy coast of southern Argentina say it is almost certain to be dolphin, a round-the-world whaling ship from Warren, Rhode Island, that disappeared in 1859. Archaeologists have spent years studying the ship’s origins without a definitive identification, but new analysis of tree rings in its wood may provide the most convincing evidence yet.A team of Argentine and American researchers has just Published research results in journals Dendrochronology.

“I can’t say with 100 percent certainty, but analysis of tree rings suggests that this is likely the ship,” said the lead author. Ignatius World IANIGLA-CONICET, Argentine Laboratory of Dendrochronology and Environmental History.Mondo and scientists at the Columbia Climate Institute Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Using a vast database of tree rings from ancient trees in North America to show that the wood was felled in New England and the southeastern United States before the ship was built in 1850. Other evidence includes artifacts found near the wreck, as well as from Argentina and Rhode Island. This appears to be the first application of tree-ring science to identify South American shipwrecks.

“It’s fascinating that people built this ship a long time ago in a small town in New England, and it’s on the other side of the world,” says the Columbia tree-ring scientist Mukund Raoa co-author of the study.

New England was a major player in the global whaling trade from the mid-1770s to the 1850s, when oil from blubber was popular for lighting and lubrication, and whalebone was used in many small household items now made of plastic . Hundreds of Yankees roam the backcountry, often sailing for years. In the 1860s, whale populations plummeted and the industry declined after oil entered.

According to an unpublished manuscript by local Warren historian Walter Nebiker, dolphin Built between August and October 1850, it is made of oak and other woods. Typically, the trees were felled in cold weather a year or so before the ship was built, in this case it would have been between late 1849 and February 1850. Measuring 111 feet long and weighing 325 tons, dolphin Launched on November 16, 1850. Nebbic called her “probably the fastest square fitter ever.”

Lead author Ignacio Mundo measured a rib from the ship in preparation for sampling. (Monica Grosso)

The ship sailed in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans for nearly two and a half years, returning in March 1853 with a full load of oil. Later trips took her to the Azores and the Seychelles, Zanzibar and Australia around the Horn of Africa. Her last voyage was from Warren on October 2, 1858. A few months later, the ship left Patagonia. A letter to the owner from her owner, Captain Nori, said she was devastated as she “laid on the rocks southwest of New Bay” – an apparent reference to New Bay, one of the few in Patagonia One of the many natural harbors. Whalers are known to throw themselves into it. The crew will sail about 10,000 miles to get there. Whalers usually carry a crew of 300 or 400, but only 42 were rescued, so unless many were already ashore when she sank, the loss of life must have been staggering.

Aside from temporarily docked ships, there was no real European presence along the coast of New Golf until 1865, when Welsh immigrants landed in the city that would later become Puerto Madryn.Local tradition holds that early settlers picked up material from one or more sunken ships, but it is unclear whether this came from dolphin Or some other ill-fated ship.

In 2004, moving sediment found the partial wreck of a wooden boat in the intertidal zone near Puerto Madryn. Locals knew it was there, but scientists didn’t. In 2006 and 2007, marine archaeologists, including Christian Murray of Argentina’s National Institute of Anthropology and Latin America, excavated the remains at low tide. They also documented several other shipwrecks nearby.

The boat is left with some lower rump or ribs, and some hull and ceiling panels.exist A paper from 2009, Murray and colleagues determined that the ship may have been built in the 19th century and was made mostly of oak and pine wood from the northern hemisphere. But they couldn’t tell what species it was and whether it originated in Europe or North America. There was nothing else to do—some brass nails, a leather shoe—and they speculated it might have been a fishing or merchant ship—or a whaler.

In deeper water near the wreck, next to the diver is the heavy shell of an iron pan, the upside-down wreckage, and the bricks of what may have been an oven used to heat blubber. The object on the right may be the hawse pipe on the deck, through which the hawse chain passes. (provided by PROAS-INAPL)

Other evidence eventually emerged.The remains of two wok and bricks are found near the wreck, it is recommended to use a boat “try” to boil blubber. Murray and colleagues also found that Argentine sailors Luis Piedra Buena rescued the crew of the ship dolphin; He took them to the small town of Carmen de Patagones, about 100 miles north, from where the refugees hoped to return home. Where will that be?This dolphin On Lloyd’s Register of Marine Insurance it shows from Warren. The researchers then contacted the Warren Preservation Society, which provided the Nebiker manuscript and other information.

Based on this, a local Rhode Island newspaper 2012 speculation that dolphin has been discovered. 2019 Murray finally Published papers Suggest this – but say it can’t be proven. Enter the annual ring scientist.

That year, Murray and colleagues re-excavated the wreck and invited Ignacio Mundo to inspect it. They freaked out when Mundo told them the only way to get a decent sample of wet wood was to use a chainsaw to cut off dozens of cross-sections of ribs and planks and then dry them. Eventually, realizing there was no other way, the archaeologists relented and picked the places they believed would be the least damaged.

After processing samples in the lab, Mondo turns to Ed Cookfounder Lamont-Doherty Tree Ring Laboratorya long time collaborators with South American colleagues, and was a pioneer in tree archaeology, the science of determining the age and provenance of old wooden structures.Cook analyzed Many old buildings in the Northeastern United Statesand objects include 18th century dhow It was accidentally unearthed during excavations after the destruction of the World Trade Center in 2001. (He found it built of oak near Philadelphia around 1773.)

A cross-section of a rib made of white oak (more specifically, the first). This sample has 156 rings; its last ring is 1845. The upper holes are made by wood-eating marine worms. (Ignatius World)

Cross section of a hull plate made of ponderosa pine. The top image shows the original sample; the next, polished to make tree rings stand out, contains 258 growth rings. (Ignatius World)

Cook’s secret weapon: North American Drought Atlas, a massive database he pioneered in the early 2000s. The atlas collates ring samples from about 30,000 standing trees of many species across the continent more than 2,000 years ago. Different amounts of precipitation cause subtle changes in the width of the rings, allowing researchers to map past climates to determine the exact years trees sprout and grow—for older wooden structures, often when and where trees are felled, as climate changes Placement varies from place to place, leaving a clear regional signature.

Dendrochronologists determined that the ribs were made of white oak, many of which grow in the northeastern United States. They could tell that the planks of the hull and ceiling were ancient ponderosa pine, the forest of which once covered much of the southeastern United States. The dowels that hold things together are made from the rot-resistant locust that is common in many eastern states.

Analysis of the oak rings showed that some of the wood came from trees that had sprouted as early as 1679.Most striking: the outermost ring indicates that the oak was felled in 1849 – the same dolphin’s Construction in 1850. The newest growth rings on pine boards are from 1810, but scientists don’t care; unlike thick ribs, boards are milled a lot, so no one can expect to find the outer rings.

The scientists then compared the rings to specific regional chronologies. Most of the pine samples matched well with chronologies collected decades ago from live trees in the Chocoloco Mountains, Alabama, and the Lake Louise region of Georgia, both regions known for exporting large numbers of pine trees to northern states in the 19th century. famous. The researchers couldn’t say whether the planks came from those locations specifically, but signatures suggest they must have come from somewhere in Alabama, Georgia or northern Florida.

As for oak ribs, these rings are most similar to the chronology of older trees grown in Massachusetts. Among the hallmarks: the 1680s-90s, the 1700s and the 1810s were marked by dry, low growth periods. The very narrow width of the rings suggests that these trees grew in dense old-growth forests—most of which were felled in New England in the early to mid-1800s as loggers swept across. There is no doubt that many Massachusetts oaks end up in the shipyard in Rhode Island next door.

The new paper is still hedging its bets, saying the ship is likely to be dolphin, but without some unique artefacts associated with the vessel, it is conceivable that it may have been other American whaling vessels of the same period. “There were a lot of whaling ships in that area during that time,” said Murray, a co-author of the paper. “So I don’t want to say it’s dolphin until we get more evidence. “

However, Lamont dendrochronologist Mukund Rao says he is completely convinced. “Archaeologists are conservative — they prefer a slightly higher standard, and I don’t blame them,” he said. “It’s true that we don’t have such a thing as a ship clock. But for me, the story is in the rings.”

The paper was also co-authored by Monica Grosso of the National Institute of Anthropology and Latin America. Ignacio Mundo is also an adjunct professor at the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences at the National University of Cuyo.