Haunting slave ships found off coast of national park 300 years later: Very convincing

Archaeologists recently made a startling discovery: They found that two 18th-century shipwrecks off the coast of Central America were actually two Danish slave ships.The ships, named Fridericus Quartus and Christianus Quintus, are located in shallow waters off Costa Rica’s Cahuita National Park.The 18th-century vessels were shipwrecked in 1710, according to the National Museum of Denmark.“Fridericus Quartus was set ablaze, while Christianus Quintus had its anchor rope cut, following which the ship was wrecked in the surf,” the museum’s press release noted.

“Until now, it has not been clear exactly where the ships were lost.”Pictures show divers carefully examining the shipwreck, which shows signs of significant decay from the past 315 years.Though the ships were excavated in 2023, researchers didn’t know that they were slave ships until recently.The vessels were long believed to be pirate ships.The excavation involved, in part, taking samples from the wood of the ships, as well as yellow bricks that were part of the ship’s cargo. Researchers also conducted dendrochronological analyses — tree-ring dating — to determine where the wood came from.

They found it came from Northern Europe.“The timbers originate in the western part of the Baltic Sea, an area that encompasses the northeastern German province of Mecklenburg, as well as Schleswig-Holstein, Denmark and Scania — and that the tree was cut down sometime during the years 1690-1695,” the release said.“The wood is, moreover, charred and sooty, which confirms what historical sources say about one of the ships being set ablaze.”Divers also found clay pipes, which the museum describes as “ordinary, Dutch-produced pipes that were also used onboard Danish ships.”“The size, shape and patterns of the pipes suggest that they were produced in the period right before the ships became wrecked in 1710,” the press release added.“Clay pipes were rarely used for more than five y...