The Blake Ridge Wreck: A Deepwater Antebellum American Fishing Craft

Abstract

An early to mid-nineteenth century wreck off the Atlantic seaboard of the United States, discovered during deep-sea research in 2015 and subsequently documented by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ship Okeanos Explorer, is likely a wet-well smack employed in Atlantic seaboard fisheries from New England to the southern coast of the United States. This article describes the site, the historical and archaeological context of early American fishing craft, and the African American context of fishing and the fisheries of the period.