Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-02-03
TWO OLD VESSELS.
Remains Recently Unearthed From Bed
Of Neabsco Creek.

The remains of two old vesSels-how
old no one living at the present time
can tell-have recently been unearthed
from the bed of Neabsco creek, a small
tributary of the Potomac, in Virginia, by
the workmen engaged in building the
for the railway line between this city
and Richmond. In building the high
embankment across the creek tons of
solid earth have been dumped on the bed
of quagmire, the mud being thirty or forty
feet deep, the solid material soon sank out
of sight. For many weeks this has been
going on, and it is only recently that the
foundation for the embankment began to
form. Throughout the progress of the
work it has been noticed that the solid
material sank down into the bottom of the
creek it forced the soft mud up on the oppo-
site side, and a day or two ago the work
men were surprised to see timbers begin to
show above the surface of the soft muck
forced up from the bed Of the creek. No
particular attention was paid to the timbers
at first until a workman with more curiosity
than his fellows made an examination of
them, and found that they were the remains
OF two vessels, which. lying side by side,
had been forced from their bed in the mud
on the bottom Of the creek by the pressure
of the solid material dumped into it.
The vessels are only partially uncovered,
they are of ancient construction. One was
q tWo-masted vessel about seventy-hve feet
long, and carried possibly $50 tons cargo.
Inc other Is somewhat smaller. but its size
cannot be determined until further excava-
tons are made Only the framework of the
vessels remains. but the carpenters employed
on the railway work say the timbers are
of live oak. From their long burial in the
mud the timbers had become black and
hard as ebony, but as they dry in the sun
light and winds they are gradually be-
coming softer. In the construction Of the
larger vessel no nails were used the frame
W ROO v.in
The outside sheathing on both vessels was
evidently held in place by wooden pins as
no trace OF iron has been found about either
boat. The larger vessel seems to have been
burned before she sank. as the timbers
show the charred wood and are pointed as
left by the fire. In the bottom of the
smaller boat lot Of roofing slate. in an ex-
cellent state Of preservation, has been
found. From this circumstance it is
thought the vessel when she sank had
loaded the slate at quarry which is known
to have existed on Neabsco creek in the
early days Of the colonies. and was on her
way to Europe with her cargo.
The vessels must have sunk long before
any one now living can remember. for
vessels the size of the ones discovered for
over century. When Virginia was first
settled tradition says large ships traded in
the creek, taking away tobacco and other
products OF the soil and bringing In ex
change clothing, farming implements. hard
ware and other articles the colonist farmer
needed.
Capt c. c. Faunce. who is quite an old
man, in speaking of the finding of the YES
sells yesterday, said that as hoy he had
played within a few feet of where they
came up land that large trees grew almost
directly over where they lay. As fast as
can be ascertained there is no record as to
who or what they were, but they are evil
IDENTIFY the product Of some old English
shipyard. as evinced by the shape Of the
hull and the method OF putting the timbers
together. They sank In the stream many