19th century shipwreck discovered in the 1970s, finally identified by NOAA

A 19th century shipwreck off the New Jersey coast was identified as the Robert J. Walker by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The shipwreck was first discovered in the 1970s by divers, but it was never identified until recently, according to NBC News. The Robert J. Walker was a pre-Civil War ship used to survey the Gulf Coast.

Rear Adm. Gerd Glang, director of NOAA, said, “Before this identification was made, the wreck was just an anonymous symbol on navigation charts.”

Nature World News reports that the ship was finally identified because of its size, unique engines, rectangular portholes, location and the direction it was pointing.

The ship sank in 1860 after being struck by a commercial ship as it was beginning its return to New York. Twenty sailors died in the sinking.

The crash was reported in the New York Herald, which said, “heavy sea was running, and many of the men were doubtless washed off the spars and drowned from the mere exhaustion of holding on, while others were killed or stunned on rising to the surface by concussion with spars and other parts of the wreck.”

Commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Robert J. Papp commented that the ship is of historical significance as the country moved to steam from sail as “the enduring need of the United States to harness the power of new technology to promote its maritime interests.”

image: Wikimedia Commons