Cape Fear’s Forgotten Fleet:
The Eagles Island Ships’ Graveyard, Wilmington, North Carolina

Sami Kay Seeb
MA Candidate
Program in Maritime Studies
East Carolina University
Greenville, North Carolina

Research Methodology:

The research for this thesis will be conducted in three main sections. Primarily, a thorough historical background will be explored to create a framework to assess conditions through time. Next, archaeological research will provide a means of obtaining accurate data from the archaeological remains in the Cape Fear River. Finally, using the historical background to supplement findings from the archaeological data, a detailed analysis of Eagles Island Ships’ Graveyard will answer questions pertaining to themes associated with abandonment, economy, technology, site formation and salvage.

I. Historical Research

A full analysis of the history of Wilmington is methodologically relevant to aid in answering archaeological questions. Historical analysis will create a framework of events indicative of the causes that led to watercraft abandonment. In order to get a complete understanding of the history of Wilmington, specific questions relating to society, politics, economics, and technology will be researched from a variety of sources. In addition to gaining a broad historical background of the region, it will be necessary to research the history of the vessels themselves, including identifying the vessels, to gain a better understanding of the contents of the graveyard for later analysis. Both primary and secondary sources will be sought from collections in the New Hanover County Public Library, the Lower Cape Fear Historical Society, and the five branches of the Brunswick County Library System. Additional sources throughout North Carolina will come from the Joyner Library at East Carolina University, the Davis Library at UNC Chapel Hill, the William Madison Randall Library at UNC Wilmington, the North Carolina state archives, the government records office of North Carolina. Other information, including customs records and annual lists of merchant vessels, will be retrieved from the National Archives.

Another source for historical analysis of the Wilmington area will come through archival documentation that has been integrated into existing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) datasets. The growth and change of regional and national history had an effect on the changing commercial face of Wilmington. These changes can also be seen in the historic Sanborn insurance maps dating from 1884 to the 1950s (available online at www.sanborn.umi.edu). Using these maps, along with modern maps and ESRI ArcGIS sofware, an analysis will be made concerning land-use and industry change in Wilmington and on Eagles Island.

II. Archaeological Research

The archaeological research will also come from a variety of sources. The Underwater Archaeology Branch of North Carolina in Wilmington will provide previous research and reports and will possibly provide assistance for field work conducted on the river. Additionally, other information, including vessel identification based upon physical features, history, and location will come from previous reports in the area. Also, previous remote sensing studies will provide information about the location and composition of submerged remains. Information that can not be gained from previous archival and archaeological research will come from conducting non-disturbance surveys using standard archaeological techniques on the vessel and possibly structural remains in Wilmington and on Eagles Island. The goal of performing field work will be to fill in gaps in previous research. The author and additional students will inspect the remains at suitable times when the tides expose the vessels. Methodology will consist of measuring for dimensional recognition, looking for signatures of abandonment and salvage present on the watercraft, photography, and photogrammetry. Diving will not be a component of the fieldwork; however, snorkeling might be necessary depending upon circumstances.

III. Analysis and Interpretation

Analysis will be conducted using both the historical and archaeological data. Regional, national, and international trends and correlations will be analyzed based on the work conducted at Eagles Island and previous work conducted from other, similar sites. A relational database created in Microsoft Access will assist in analysis of the remains. The database will also be imported into ESRI ArcGIS to incorporate the abandoned sites with modern maps to aid in spatial analysis of the watercraft remains both for evidence of discard patterns and to determine connections to land use and industry in the Wilmington area. The thematic secondary questions will be answered using historical research, archaeological data, and computer based analysis. The answers to the secondary questions will aid in creating the context to answer the primary question.

Previous Research:

The history of Wilmington is well documented since the settlement of the town. There are a number of written histories pertaining to society, politics, and the economy of Wilmington, New Hanover County, the Southeastern United States (Hall n.d.; Hartzer 1984; Jackson 1996a; Johnson 1977; Lee 1971; Randall 1965; Sprunt 1896, 1916; Watson 1992; Wilmington Chamber of Commerce 1914). In addition to the historical studies of Wilmington, there are a number of archaeological surveys of the Cape Fear River Channel, and specifically, the Eagles Island area, performed for various purposes over time (Hall 2004; Jackson 1996b; Lawrence 1985; Triebe and Wilde-Ramsing 1992; Watts 2000, 2002; Wilde-Ramsing 1986). The archaeological reports will supplement the analysis of the area, but will not be the singular source of archaeological information for the study.

Previous studies, both archaeological and historical, indicate that watercraft abandonment is internationally widespread temporally and geographically, and reasons for abandonment are characteristically diverse (Richards 2002: 52). A number of categories of vessel abandonment exist in the archaeological record. These abandoned vessels relate to Eagles Island because of the similarities in abandonment causes and effects (Christensen 1972, 1987, 1997a, 1997b; Delgado 1979, 1983, 1997; El-Baz 1988; Evans 1997; Jenkins 1980; Marsden 1974, 1994; Merrifield 1983; Reiss 1987, 1997). Few investigations on the topic of ships’ graveyards exist. The most comprehensive work on the topic thus far is an examination of deliberately discarded watercraft throughout Australia (Richards 1997, 1998, 1999a, 1999b, 2001, 2002). Richards (2002: 72-73) outlines specific criteria to classify a ships’ graveyard and further suggests two types of graveyards. The classification and typologies from the Australian study will be tested in the analysis of the Eagles Island remains. Richards also suggested that the formation of ships’ graveyards stem from catastrophic, consequential, and deliberate abandonment (Richards 2002: 7-10). He concluded that non-catastrophically discarded vessels are not shipwrecks, and the thought processes that define their discard reflect their role as an indicator of technological and economic circumstances associated with their abandonment. His causal factors are clear and definitive, but will be tested. In his analysis of the signatures and causes of abandonment, Richards tested his hypotheses with a uniformly Australian dataset. The study in Eagles Island will be an extension of his work by testing his hypotheses in a different geographic region with varying cultural, economic, and technological history, both regionally, and nationally.

A topically similar study is that of Mallows Bay, Maryland, the largest ships’ graveyard in the United States (Shomette 1995, 1996; Hopkins 1996). The graveyard consists of nearly 160 wrecks, most of which the government built and deliberately sank during World War I as a response to Germany’s unrestricted submarine warfare. In performing their study, the researchers answered additional questions pertaining to abandonment behavior and salvage behavior, in addition to addressing issues of economics, technology, and politics. The study in Mallows Bay consists of an extremely different collection of vessels from Eagles Island, yet, the study asked similar theoretical questions. In addition to Richards’s work, it will be a framework upon which the Eagles Island investigation can build.

Other studies relating specifically to the theoretical framework of this thesis are another important source to examine. Schiffer performed extensive studies archaeological site formation processes, including behaviors associated with abandonment (Schiffer 1972, 1996; Schiffer, Downing, and McCarthy 1981). In his studies, he concentrates on various cultural site transformation processes and explains their relevance not only to the analysis of the sites individually, but also their relevance to spatial analyses, both of which are undertaken as part of the site formation process studies. Cameron and Tomka 1993 also addressed a theoretical topic with validity to the study of Eagles Island ships’ graveyard in their work assessing abandonment of settlements and regions. In understanding the causes and effects of abandonment, regardless of the entity being abandoned, a theoretical framework can be established, which can help to explain characteristics of abandonment.