Divers confirm wreck off North Carolina coast is steam ship

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Divers have found proof that a shipwreck off the North Carolina coast is a steam ship that sank in 1838.

The Charlotte Observer reports Keith Webb of Blue Water Ventures International says a candlestick recovered from the wreck bears markings that indicate it came from the Pulaski. Blue Water Ventures and Endurance Exploration Group are leading the recovery effort.

The wreck is 40 miles off the coast, more than 10 miles farther out than historians originally believed the Pulaski went down. A 1919 account in “The Georgia Historical Quarterly” says a boiler explosion caused the ship to split in half. About half of the roughly 200 people aboard died.

Bottom of candle stick holder reveals name of a ship missing for more than a century.
(Photo: Blue Water Ventures Int.)

North Carolina Maritime Museums Director Joseph Schwarzer says historians want to know whether the boiler really caused the Pulaski to sink or whether there was another reason.

(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)