AH-WR-1467

Rapid (tentatively identified; also known as the Mardi Gras Shipwreck)

Privateer Schooner · United States · Lost 1813 · The Gulf of Mexico

A small schooner capsized while fleeing a British blockading warship in 1813 has been tentatively identified, through a deep-water archaeological excavation, as the privateer Rapid.

Become Captain of Record

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Interpretive Reconstruction, drawn to convey the vessel's era, type and general form. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

In 2002 an oilfield survey crew discovered a well-preserved early 19th-century schooner wreck about 4,000 feet deep in the Gulf of Mexico, later nicknamed the 'Mardi Gras Shipwreck.' A 2007 Texas A&M excavation recovered an octant, ceramics, and other artifacts pointing to a vessel lost between 1810 and 1820. Researcher Jack Irion has argued the wreck is the American privateer schooner Rapid, which capsized in a squall in November 1813 while being chased by a British blockading warship; all eight of her crew were rescued and put ashore near the mouth of the Mississippi. The identification remains a proposed match rather than a settled fact.

Vessel

Built: Not established
Builder: Not established
Yard: Not established
Material: Wood
Length: 60 ft
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Sail, schooner rig
Owners: Private owners, South Carolina (per identification proposed by researcher Jack Irion)

Loss

Date: November 1, 1813
Cause: Enemy action
Location: About 35 miles off the Louisiana coast, northern Gulf of Mexico
Water: Gulf of Mexico
Voyage: New Orleans, Louisiana → Havana, Cuba
Cargo: Flour (per one account of the pursuit)
Aboard: 8
Lives lost: 0
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: 4000 ft
Condition: Well preserved wooden hull remains at great depth; deep water has limited disturbance.
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: 2002
Protection: Not established

Position

Coordinates: Not established
Accuracy: Position withheld to protect the site
Nearest: About 35 miles off the Louisiana coast
Region: The Gulf of Mexico

Precise coordinates of the archaeological site have not been made public by the researchers or the managing federal agency.

Evidence

Overall confidence: Sparsely documented (40/100)

The identification of this wreck as the privateer Rapid is a researcher's proposed match based on circumstantial and artifactual evidence, not a confirmed identification.

Jack Irion, 'The Case for the Privateer Rapid'
Proposed identification of the Mardi Gras Shipwreck as the privateer Rapid, and circumstances of Rapid's loss.
Ford, Borgens and Hitchcock, 'The Mardi Gras Shipwreck: Results of a Deep-Water Excavation, Gulf of Mexico, USA', International Journal of Nautical Archaeology
Discovery, excavation, depth, and archaeological description of the wreck.
Nautical Archaeology Program, Texas A&M University
Excavation history, dating of artifacts, and note that the ship's identity remains unconfirmed.