Origins
Of Mysterious World Trade Center Ship Determined
A wooden ship was found beneath the wreckage
of the World Trade Center while workers were
digging out the foundation to make wave for
the new 9-11 memorial park. Workers found a 9.75m long oaken partial hull 7m below what is now street
level. This ship was built before or during, the American War of Independence.
Hickory wood indicates the ship was most
likely of North American origin, but the age and place of construction were initially a mystery.
Researchers from Columbia University used the tree
rings to determine age and other pertinent
information.
“Our results showed the highest agreement between the WTC ship chronology and two chronologies from Philadelphia and eastern Pennsylvania,” the paper reports. The last rings indicate the ship was built from trees felled in 1773, confirming previous theories.
"Philadelphia was one of the most — if not the most — important shipbuilding cities in the U.S. at the time. And they had plenty of wood so it made lots of sense that the wood could come from there,” Martin-Benito told
Livescience.
