SITKA — Archaeologists want to pay another visit this summer to a more than 200-year-old shipwreck near Sitka in a push to uncover more clues about what caused it to run aground.
A team of Canadian, Russian and American researchers discovered artifacts on Kruzof Island last July, including musket balls, gun flints and pieces of sheet cooper. The discovery led researchers to believe that survivors of the 1813 wreck of the Russian-American Company frigate Neva had set up camp there, The Sitka Sentinel reported Friday.
Dave McMahan, who has been leading the research efforts, spoke about the group’s findings at a Sitka Chamber of Commerce meeting Wednesday. The ship’s crew endured many challenges before they eventually wrecked.
“It was fraught with problems from the very beginning,” McMahan said of the ship’s final voyage from the Siberian port of Okhotsk. “They got blown around and battered for a time, but they almost made it.”
Strong winds along the Aleutian Islands made it difficult to replenish the water supply, and storms reportedly forced the Neva into Prince William Sound. Crew members decided to keep sailing toward Sitka because of concerns about surviving the winter’s frigid temperatures, McMahan said.
In addition to the artifacts, researchers have used accounts from the survivors’ journals and pieced together information from Russian and English historical records to learn more about the Neva.
Further research in London has determined that the ship’s hull was sheathed in copper in 1803, which will help guide the researchers’ next steps in investigating the shipwreck. McMahan is working with metal experts on the copper dug up from the site.
The ship was built in London and sold to Russia, becoming the first Russian ship to sail around the world.
The Sitka Historical Society runs the research project, which is funded through a $440,000 National Science Foundation grant.
