Shipwreck

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Contrary to the urban myth, this is not the wreck of a WWII German U-boat.
Only part of the ship's lower hull remains, a section about 35 feet long and 9 feet wide.
"The wreck lies in the shallows along the western edge of the Lynnhaven Inlet's entrance channel, and no one is sure exactly what the ship was. Its surviving fragments have raised more questions.
Researchers guess the ship was a sloop or schooner, built sometime in the late 1700's or early 1800's. The sailing vessel might have been a merchant ship that ferried goods along the coast, or perhaps a lightship used to guide mariners. It could have been a Navy gunboat or armed privateer licensed by the government to raid British vessels during the War of 1812.
No one is sure. The surviving fragments have raised more questions, frustrating researchers hired to conduct the underwater detective work.
Researchers estimated the vessel's age by comparing architectural and construction details of the remaining hull and keel with known shipbuilding methods. Iron fasteners, saw marks and framing techniques point to the first half of the 19th century.
The most significant feature, was a "complex structure" of timbers in the hull's center. It may have served as a platform to support a deck-mounted swivel cannon, he said, bolstering the theory that the ship was a gunboat. It also could have supported the base of an oil-fueled lantern mast, raising the possibility that the vessel was used as a lightship to aid in navigation in an era before lighthouses.
Complicating matters, were reports that several cannons, including one dating to 1782, had been scavenged from the wreck. One is displayed at Rebel Marine Service, a marina at Norfolk's Willoughby Spit. Lane Briggs, the marina co-owner, said he pulled up several cannons from the inlet in the early 1970's.
"I know of at least 13 barrels that came off of that wreck," he said."
-excerpt from an article in the The Virginian-Pilot, Sunday, June 27, 2004
www.roanoke.com/roatimes/news/story168915.html