Sunken Ships of the Hudson River

Benthic Mapping Identifies Sites

In 1996, New York State established the Hudson River Estuary Action Plan, a blueprint for protecting the river's natural resources, cleaning up contaminants, and promoting the use and enjoyment of the river. One part of Estuary Action Plan is to map the entire river and tidal wetlands to establish baseline data and information about habitat, vegetation, and water quality.

Benthic or river-bottom mapping used sound waves bounced off the river's bottom to develop a very detailed map of the floor of the Hudson River. For example, the new map of the river near Cruger Island in Dutchess County unexpectedly shows 10 foot high sand waves on the river's bottom.

Another unexpected result of mapping the river's bottom is the discovery of what appear to be sunken ships. Not just a few ships, but hundreds of ships, revolutionary war structures, and unidentified objects.

The Hudson River contains an archeological treasure of historic vessels, and the State announced in September it has contracted with divers to investigate several interesting sites to determine if they are historically significant.

Shipwrecks are time capsules of history and can tell a lot about life during the early years of New York. The Hudson River has been an active commercial waterway for almost 400 years. Beginning with the early Dutch settlers in Albany during the 17th century, ships and barges have traveled the river. In the 18th century, major battles of the Revolutionary War took place along the river.

The most famous sailing vessel on the Hudson River was the Hudson River sloop of the 19th century. This hybrid craft evolved from its early European ancestors, built by the Dutch and the English, into a ship specifically suited to the demands and quirks of the waterway.

Although sloops were the most common and well known of the sailing ships on the river, they were far from being the only ones. Fluyts and wijdschips, schallops and schooners, gundeloes, frigates and hoys ... they came in all sizes and shapes they were designed for commerce, pleasure and war.

To date, four areas totaling 35 miles of the 150-mile estuary have been mapped. This includes a portion of the Tappan Zee south of Croton Point (Area 1), Newburgh Bay just north of West Point (Area 2), an area stretching from Kingston north to Saugerties (Area 3), and the stretch north from the City of Hudson to the southern end of Schodack Island (Area 4). The plan is to map the complete Hudson River Estuary from the Troy Dam to New York Harbor.

When this work is completed in 2004, New York will have a detailed map of historic shipwrecks on the bottom of the Hudson River. There is a tremendous amount of New York history in these shipwrecks waiting to be explored and studied.

Shipwrecks of the Hudson
Albany Times Union

Hudson River Sloops in the Age of Sail
Hudson River Maritime Museum

The Hudson River - New York's Water Highway
Hudson River Maritime Museum

The Hudson River Estuary Program
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

Lambent Doherty Earth Observatory
Hudson River Mapping Project

Charting the Bottom of the Hudson River