1100 Year Old Saltwater Dugout Canoe Discovered

Saltwater canoes usually don't survive as drifting up on shore allows the elements to take hold or the ocean simply chews up the vessel.

Harry Koran found the canoe after walking up the shorline of Pinellas County in Tampa Bay. Koran knew it was man made because of the straight lines, slopped sides, and evidence of burning. Dug our canoes were made by the Native Americans by using controlled burns inside the tree. Afterwards, the remains are dug out.

Archaeologists underwent exploratory excavations and sent a piece to the lab for radio carbon dating. The resulting date was 890 AD.

Watch the full video of the history of this vessel and where it's future will be.

ECU Maritime Archaeology survey of the "Oriental"

ECU Maritime Archaeology graduate students have been mapping and documenting the Oriental, a Civil War Federal transport vessel that ran aground and sunk in the waters off Pea Island in 1862. Locally known as the "boiler wreck", the engine of the Oriental can been seen above water some 400 yards off the beach of Pea Island in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Oriental 1862 (Courtesy of Coastal Guide)

 A Federal transport during the Civil War, the steamship Oriental has been grounded in her present position since 1862. Local rumor has it that some of the area's largest fish make their home in the Oriental's rusty remains. You can sometimes see the exposed boiler and smokestack in the ocean surf off Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. Directions: Seven miles south of Oregon Inlet campground, or 30 miles north of Buxton. Park at turnout for Pea Island Comfort Station. Board walk leads to wooden remains which are occassionaly exposed on the beach nearby. A wooden bow is located on the beach 1 mile north.

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