Highborn Cay: 
INA's Shipwreck of Discovery
Donald H. Keith, Director

hc2.jpg (75633 bytes)

 hc1.jpg (122422 bytes)
Excavation: 1986, Institute of Nautical Archaeology
 

Discovered at Highborn Cay in the Bahamas in 1965 by sport divers, the shipwreck began to be salvaged with many of the artifacts winding up in the United States.  Some of the armaments found their way to the Mariners Museum at Newport News, and a few were acquired by the Smithsonian Institution.  Other artifacts found their way into private collections.    From 1967 until INA conducted a survey of the site in 1983, the wreck lay forgotten.

INA personnel determined via a test excavation that the ballast mound preserved the bottom of the ship despite the ends of the vessel having been destroyed by the salvors in the 1960s. 

Ordinance removed in the 1960s included bombardetas, versos, 18 breach chambers (one still loaded with black powder), shot, and an iron harpoon or spear.

 

The cross-section trench revealed much about the hull's construction.

photo: INA

 HC 4.jpg (49270 bytes)

hc6.1a.jpg (128607 bytes)

  The timbers of the hull.

photo: INA

                       

Specific areas of the wreck were targeted for excavation, these included the two ends of the wreck and a cross-section through its middle.  Loose ballast stones were recorded and moved and overburden cleared off to reveal not only artifacts, but the remains of the ship itself.

The team uncovered the remains of the ship's keel, keelson, garboards, strakes, floor timbers, and ceiling planking.  The post was also found, scarphed to the keel.  Additional bow timbers had vanished but rows of nails indicated their original positions in the sand.  The mast step was also found as was the master couple, the mid-ship frame at the vessel's widest point.

The mast step had a large mortise for the mast's heel.  The step was reinforced laterally by three large timbers set to either side.  These were, interestingly, not fastened to underlying frames but simply notched to fit over the stringers lying at their outboard ends.

 

The mast step revealed by the cross-section cut through the ballast pile.  Note the buttressing timbers to either side of the step. 

HC 6.jpg (71736 bytes) Photo: INA
The positions and types of ordinance on the site pointed to similarities between this vessel and the one excavated by INA at Molasses Reef in the Turks and Caicos.  There were no personal effects among the artifacts found.  Ceramics of various utilitarian types were excavated, all indicating an early 16th century manufacture.  It is possible this is one of the ships lost by Pinzon in 1500.

 

hc12.jpg (50506 bytes)

Site plan of the Highborn Cay shipwreck.

INA

Armaments from the wreck site raised in the 1960s.

hc13.jpg (38344 bytes)
 

Bibliography:

D.H. Keith, "Shipwrecks of the Explorers," in Ships and Shipwrecks of the Americas.  George F. Bass, editor.  (Thames and Hudson, 1988): 46-68.
R. C. Smith, et al., "The Highborn Cay Wreck: Further Exploration of a 16th-Century Bahamian Shipwreck," International Journal of Nautical Archaeology (1985). Reprint available
D.H. Keith, "Three Goals Set, Reached During Three Weeks at Hcay," INA Newsletter 14.3/4 (1988) 6-7.
T. J. Oertling, "The Highborn Cay Wreck: The 1986 Field Season," International Journal of Nautical Archaeology (1989).Reprint available

 
Edited and designed by Ralph K. Pedersen, December 2002. 
 

Citation Information:
Ralph K. Pedersen, editor
2002, Highborn Cay: INA's Shipwreck of Discovery
URL: http://ina.tamu.edu/highborn/highborncay.htm
©Institute of Nautical Archaeology, 2002

Reproduction Information