AH-WR-0552

Storm Wreck

Sailing Vessel · United Kingdom · Lost 1782 · Florida's Atlantic Coast

A Loyalist refugee ship lost in a storm off St. Augustine at the close of the Revolutionary War, one of sixteen ships in a fleeing evacuation fleet.

Become Captain of Record See Shipwreck on Map

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

The Storm Wreck is the remains of an unidentified British ship that sank off St. Augustine on 31 December 1782 while carrying troops and Loyalist refugees evacuating Charleston, South Carolina, at the end of the Revolutionary War. It was one of sixteen vessels reported lost in the same storm. Discovered by magnetometer survey in 2009, the site has been excavated annually since 2010 by the Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program, yielding muskets, uniform buttons, tools, and personal effects.

Vessel

Built: Not established
Registry: Site number 8SJ5459
Builder: Not established
Yard: Not established
Material: Wood
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Sail
Owners: Not established

Loss

Date: December 31, 1782
Cause: Storm
Location: About one mile offshore of St. Augustine, Florida
Water: Atlantic Ocean
Voyage: Charleston, South Carolina → St. Augustine, Florida
Cargo: Ordnance, firearms, ship's equipment, tools, and personal effects of evacuating Loyalist refugees and soldiers
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: Not established
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Buried hull remains and scattered artifacts on the seabed
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: 2009
Protection: Not established

Position

Coordinates: 29.89° N 81.31° W
Accuracy: General area only
Nearest: St. Augustine, Florida
Region: Florida's Atlantic Coast

General area only: coordinate of St. Augustine, Florida from the USGS Geographic Names Information System, marking the named place of loss recorded for this vessel ("about one mile offshore of St. Augustine, Florida"), not a surveyed wreck position.

Evidence

Overall confidence: Partially documented (70/100)

The vessel's specific name, builder, and dimensions have not been established; identification rests on artifact and archival evidence associating the site with the 1782 evacuation fleet.