Yorktown's Sunken Fleet

When British General Cornwallis established a fortified base at Yorktown in August 1781, his forces included a squadron of four warships and about 50 merchant and transport vessels. When the British surrendered on October 19, much of the fleet lay on the bottom of the York River. Some ships were sunk by enemy artillery fire, but about 12 of the merchant ships were intentionally sunk by the British to form a barrier against a possible assault from the river. The French salvaged some of these vessels, but the others remained underwater. In the 1930s, many objects, including bottles, ceramics, and cannon were recovered from some of these sunken ships using a barge, clamshell buckets, and a hard-hat diver. From 1975 to 1981, Virginia Department of Historic Resources archaeologists surveyed the river bottom using remote sensing technology. Nine vessels were located by 1981 and the best preserved site was selected for intensive excavations. This later proved to be the brig Betsy.

Yorktown, Virginia · United States