
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, May 23, 1994                   TAG: 9405230064
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: TOANO                                LENGTH: Short

MUDDY RIVER HOLDS WEALTH OF ARTIFACTS

The remains of two ships that were scuttled during the Revolutionary War are being examined by archaeologists who are having to overcome muddy conditions on the Chickahominy River bottom to find objects.

Jeff Morris, an East Carolina University graduate student who is the organizer of the project, said the river bottom and nearby farmland - the site of Virginia's major shipyard during the Revolutionary War - hold an archaeological cornucopia.

"There's so much here, and it's so significant," said Morris, who is conducting a survey with help from the Maritime Archaeological and Historical Society and approval of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. "You could probably employ two or three archaeologists for five or 10 years out here."

The area about seven miles southwest of Toano is one of only two or three undisturbed Colonial shipyards in the mid-Atlantic region.

The entire shipyard site and adjacent river bottom were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, Morris said.

Silt and muddy water have made it difficult for divers to see the ships, and they have relied largely on sonar from the surface.

For the past two weeks, Morris and a rotating crew of about 30 volunteer divers and researchers from North Carolina and the Washington area have made careful measurements of the underwater wrecks.

Morris said he was surprised at how well both warships have held together.

"For vessels 200 years old, they're in exceedingly good condition," he said.

by CNB