Cape Henlopen, Lewes , Delaware , British Brig of war, about 1800

[jeff of pa]

The Yazoo City Whig and political register. (Yazoo City, Miss.), 22 Sept. 1843.



https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/...=&proxValue=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=70

 

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[Darren in NC]

This is the DeBraak, raised in 1986. She had no such treasure as reported. The poor recovery sadly led to the Abandoned Shipwreck Act one year later.

 

[Alexandre]

188 YEARS AFTER SINKING, H.M.S. DeBRAAK IS RAISED


By William K. Stevens, Aug. 12, 1986, The New York Times Archives



One-hundred and eighty-eight years after she sank in a squall, the British warship H.M.S. deBraak rose from the bottom of Delaware Bay tonight.


Boat horns blasted and onlookers gasped in awe as a huge crane dramatically lifted the remains of the 18th-century raider's hull out of the depths and into the sudden glare of spotlights.


Then the relic, part of what marine historians consider a major archeological and historical find, was deposited gently on its side on a waiting barge, while workers on the barge raised their arms in triumph.


''The deBraak is home,'' Kevin McCormick, the manager of the salvage project, said over an observer boat's bullhorn at 10:25 P.M., and the celebration began.




Search for Treasure Next


The relic was only part of the two-masted brig's hull, including much of the after section, principally the starboard side. The exterior planking and copper sheathing gleamed in the night.


The remains were to be taken ashore tonight. On Tuesday, the next stage of the salvage operation is to begin: the search for any gold, silver or jewels that may be left on the bottom where the ship rested, or in a ''concretized'' mass chemically fused to the hull by the interaction over nearly two centuries of sea water and materials aboard the ship.


In her time, the 85-foot deBraak preyed on Spanish ships in the New World. When she sank here off Cape Henlopen in 1798, it is said that sailors who survived paid for their rooms ashore with gold doubloons. Ever since, the sunken two-masted brig has been the object of treasure speculation.


But Robert Steuk of New Hampshire, a principal investor in the venture, said archeological and historical artifacts would be ''our salvation.''


''The only sure way it pays is if we come up with a good collection of artifacts that tells a story,'' Mr. Steuk said. Artifacts Already Retrieved


Divers employed by the salvage concern Sub-Sal Inc. of Reno had already brought up hundreds of artifacts from the wreck that were said to amount to perhaps 20 percent of all the salvagers expect to recover.


Among the most intriguing were a gold ring belonging to James Drew, the ship's captain; a man's wig made of human hair, complete with 18th-century queue; all the ship's 18 cannon; china from the officers' table; two black-glass bottles full of rum; a long-barreled pistol; a scabbard; two styles of shoes, one with buckles and one with laces; toothbrushes, minus bristles; pulleys from the rigging; a bootjack; a scrub brush; hundreds of buckles; a pewter spoon engraved with the nickname Mitch, and a small glass bottle marked Ketchup.


In those days ketchup was a mushroom extract that was put on meat, according to Claudia Melson, a Delaware state archivist who for the last year has been helping preserve and catalog the artifacts. ''What's fascinating,'' she said, ''are all the things that made up everyday life.'' State's Share Is 25%


The state, which has cooperated in the salvage operation that began to bear fruit in 1984 when Captain Drew's ring was found, has laid an uncontested claim to 25 percent of whatever artifacts and treasure might eventually be recovered.


So there was great anticipation here earlier today as, with a thunderstorm brewing, the time for raising the remaining 40 percent of the deBraak's hull approached. But a cold front kicked up waves high enough to delay the final attachment of eight cables under the hull that were to be rigged to a crane capable of lifting 300 tons mounted on a barge.


The hull was raised from its grave, 90 feet down, at a rate of one and one-half feet per minute so that nothing would wash out, according to Kevin McCormick, the project manager. He said It might take two weeks to know whether there is any treasure, and if so, how much. Lawsuit Over Treasure


How any treasure will be divided after Delaware receives its share is the subject of a lawsuit in Federal District Court in Wilmington. Worldwide Salvage Inc. of Rhode Island contends in the suit, filed in 1984, that it helped Sub-Sal and its president, Harvey Harrington, to locate the deBraak. Worldwide says that once the wreck was found, Mr. Harrington broke an oral agreement to share the treasure and formed a new company to salvage the deBraak. Worldwide seeks punitive damages and a share of any treasure found.


The deBraak, originally a single-masted Dutch cutter built in 1781, was in the harbor at Falmouth, England, in 1795 when the Dutch aligned themselves with France, with whom Britain was at war.


The British took over the ship, converted her to a two-masted brig and fitted her with new armament. Some of the cannon on display here, in the shed of a former seafood processing plant, bear the symbol of the switch: the royal insignia of George III.


As the deBraak was entering Delaware Bay on May 25, 1798, she was sunk by a sudden squall off Cape Henlopen.


Captain Drew, a Royal Navy officer, went down with her along with the harbor pilot, about half the ship's 38-man crew and several Spanish prisoners.

 

[whydahdiver]

Check out " The Hunt for HMS de Braak" by Donald Shomette. Very interesting story for sure the salvage was a disaster.


WD

 

[Boatlode]

Check out " The Hunt for HMS de Braak" by Donald Shomette. Very interesting story for sure the salvage was a disaster.


WD

Great book.