In 2010, archaeologists monitoring excavation at the World Trade Center redevelopment site made an extraordinary discovery: the remains of an 18th-century wooden gunboat buried deep beneath Manhattan’s historic landfill. Likely built near Philadelphia in the early 1770s, this Revolutionary War-era vessel once patrolled shallow waterways before being abandoned along the Hudson River. Preserved for over 200 years in oxygen-poor soil, the ship measured about 50 feet long and featured a raised deck.

More than 600 pieces of timber and 2,000 artifacts—including musket balls, buttons, and ceramic tankards—were recovered from the site. Evidence suggests the vessel was likely captured by the British and traveled south, perhaps as far as the Caribbean, before arriving in New York. How it ended up buried in New York City remains a fascinating mystery.

Stabilized and studied for over a decade under the direction of Dr. Peter Fix, Associate Research Scientist of Archaeological Watercraft and Aircraft Conservation at Texas A&M University, the ship returned to New York in the spring of 2025. It is now being reconstructed for permanent display at the New York State Museum by Dr. Fix and his team.

As one of the few documented American-built Revolutionary War vessels, the gunboat offers a rare, tangible link to the nation’s fight for independence and highlights New York’s enduring role in shaping American history.

The Gunboat at Ground Zero : A Revolutionary War Mystery exhibit is on display at the New York State Museum from May 14, 2025 to January 31, 2026. Details online at the New York State Museum website.

IN-PERSON SPEAKERS

Michael Lucas is Curator of Historical Archaeology at the New York State Museum where he oversees a collection of over 4 million objects including the World Trade Center ship remnant and associated artifacts. He received a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Maryland in 2008, focusing on 17^th century town development in Maryland. He broadly studies rural production, labor, and community formation during the 17^th through 19^th centuries. His current field research program focuses on the contributions and struggles of African American farmers in the Hudson River Valley from 1780 to 1880. His collections research includes comparative analysis of tobacco pipes, and artifact assemblages associated with enslaved people and wage laborers.

Michael T. Lucas, Ph.D.
Curator of Historical Archaeology
New York State Museum
CEC Room 3049
Albany, NY 12230

Michael Pappalardo is a Registered Professional Archaeologist and a Senior Technical Director at the environmental planning firm AKRF, Inc. Pappalardo has more than 30 years of experience in cultural resource management, working in the context of both national and state level historic preservation legislation, and has directed numerous excavations across New York and other states dating from the early Precontact through the Historic Periods. Pappalardo led the multidisciplinary team of archaeologists, ship experts, conservationists, and other specialists that discovered, documented, and excavated the Gun Boat at Ground Zero in 2010 and 2011.

Michael Pappalardo RPA
Archaeologist
AKRF
500 Summer Street, Suite 400, Stamford, CT 06901
www.akrf.com

VIRTUAL PARTICIPANT
Peter Fix
Assistant Research Scientist
Watercraft Conservator

Dr. Fix grew up on the coast of southeastern Connecticut where he fell in love with watercraft of all types. An avid sailor from the age of six, growing up he spent half the year sailing and racing sailboats on Fishers Island Sound, and the rest of the year reading about history. In 1981 he began his career in the field of historic maritime preservation at Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, CT working first for the Education Department and later for the Museum’s Henry B. du Pont Preservation Shipyard. It was this love of watercraft, and the encouragement of several prominent marine archaeologists and preservationists, that led him to enter the graduate program in Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University in September of 1996.

In January 1997, he began working for the Conservation Research Lab where he has served in several capacities over the last two decades. He has directed field work and developed archaeological and conservation plans for sunken aircraft in Irian Jaya, Indonesia and in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Dr. Fix was the principal conservator for the 17th-Century French ship La Belle and head of her reconstruction in the Texas State History Museum in Austin, TX. He oversees the conservation for large artifacts, including: two disarticulated 18th century ships from New York City and Alexandria, VA; two dugout canoes from Louisiana; and the Gunboat Philadelphia.

The Nautical Archaeology Program (NAP) at Texas A&M University is the oldest academic degree-granting graduate program in the U.S. devoted to the study of boats and ships and the cultures that created and used them. NAP Faculty provide instruction in the history of seafaring and wooden ship construction; maritime commerce and cargoes; the skills needed to record, excavate, analyze, and conserve the archaeological remains of these activities.

To see the video, click here https://nysm.nysed.gov/exhibitions/gunboat-at-ground-zero