What an amazing discovery on the coast of Pascagoula, Mississippi:
Researchers find 207-year-old whaling ship in Gulf of Mexico.
With the help of a remote-controlled vehicle, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, together with scientists from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the private archeology company “SEARCH”, makes this sensational find.
The shipwreck is the “Industry” which was built in Westport in 1815.
The ship was mainly used to hunt sperm whales in the Atlantic to extract oil from the fatty tissue of the marine animals. At that time, the oil was mainly used as a fuel.
However, during a storm in 1836, the ship went down.
According to crew lists from previous voyages, the crew consisted of Native Americans, blacks, and whites. The ship’s navigator was the son of Paul Cuffe. Cuffe was not only an entrepreneur and sailor, but also campaigned against slavery and for equal rights for different races. Because he himself is descended from an indigenous woman of the Wamapnoag tribe and a black freed slave.
An indication that Native Americans have thrived in the offshore economy despite injustice and discrimination, according to Rick Spinrad of the US Meteorological and Oceanographic Administration.
A librarian found out what happened to the crew on the day of the accident: An article published in 1836 reveals that the crew of the Industry was picked up from Westport by the whaling ship Elizabeth and returned safely to Westport, in the more liberal north of the USA. Luckily for them, had they tried to land in Mississippi, local regulations would have made them enslaved.
The discovery of the shipwreck aims to help learn about the lives of Black and Indigenous sailors and their communities.
The exact location will not be disclosed to discourage onlookers.
NOAA plans to leave the Industry site untouched because it is illegal to remove artifacts from the ship.