Date - late 18th century
Vessel Type - Trading Sloop
Location - St. Ann’s Bay, Jamaica
Director - Gregory D. Cook
“The Rastafarian fisherman watched me through dangling dreadlocks as I exited the water after a two-hour dive on the wreck. "What you find 'pan de boat today, mon?" he asked. I showed him the pipe stems, ceramic sherds and a few pieces of lead shot that I had retrieved while excavating. He and his son, David, peered intently at the artifacts as he explained to the boy in patois, the local dialect, that people used to smoke from white clay pipes. Johnny and his son frequently came to visit our site, walking the mile or so from the nearby fishing village, following the sound of our compressor and pumps. Some local fishermen believed that the old vessel we were excavating must have been laden with gold. Why else would we have come so far to work so hard on the site? Others were concerned that we would disturb the duppies, ghosts of dead sailors. This was so worrisome to our Jamaican staff that we performed a traditional ceremony in which we placated the duppies by pouring white rum on the site as a gesture of respect to them. But many, like Johnny, harbored a sincere interest in the project. They appreciated the artifacts not for their dollar value, but for their ability to tell us about life on board a ship from 200 years ago. We had many memorable discussions about Jamaica's history with visitors to our site, shaded by mangroves on the shore of St. Ann's Bay.” - Gregory D. Cook