In 2023, NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries and East Carolina University initiated a reinvestigation of the HMS Looe shipwreck in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. This 1744 shipwreck was the focus of early underwater archaeological research amidst treasure hunting activities in the early 1950s, when Mendel Peterson of the Smithsonian Institution linked a shipwreck’s artifacts to the location’s name, Looe Key. Surprisingly little archaeological research followed in the subsequent decades indicating to the research team that the site warranted another look. In concert with their archaeological investigation, researchers began to examine the HMS Looe artifact collection once held by the Smithsonian, but now housed at a local museum. Initial findings from the research indicate that the site and its artifacts have much more to offer.

In July of 1559, the Spanish crown funded an ill-fated expedition which attempted to seize a colonial foothold in what would one day be Spanish Florida. Spain’s efforts were thwarted by a hurricane in September of that year which wrecked seven of the expedition’s vessels in modern-day Pensacola Bay, Florida. Survey operations undertaken by the University of West Florida in the summer of 2023 revealed a scatter of Spanish bricks (Ladrillos) near EPII, one of the three vessels from the expedition whose archaeological remains have been recovered. Investigation of the Ladrillo assemblage was undertaken during the summer of 2024 to explain how the bricks came to rest under the seafloor and to characterize the site formation processes of EPII. This paper aims to review what is now known about the Ladrillo assemblage within the greater context of the 1559 wrecks while contributing to the growing understanding of Florida’s Spanish history.

Indiana University (IU) is conducting underwater archaeological investigations on the Punta Espada Shipwreck in the Dominican Republic, a mid-16th century Iberian merchant vessel which was carrying commercial goods for the colonization of the Americas. Artifacts representing this cargo are being conserved and examined at the IU Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Ongoing laboratory conservation is uncovering makers’ marks, with research focused on portable x-ray fluorescence (pXRF), light microscopy, and photogrammetric modeling. Analysis is also being conducted on organic artifacts such as ivory, faunal bones, and nuts recovered from the shipwreck, including species identification via collagen. Analysis by pXRF is focused on ceramics, glass, and alloys such as brass and pewter. These scientific applications are revealing unseen elements of the shipwreck artifacts, with implications on the origins, quality, and manufacturing techniques of 16th century European products.

The XRF analysis of 100 “calico” buttons recovered from the steamship Arabia, which sank in the Missouri River in 1856, provides the foundation for research into Prosser manufacturing practices. The Prosser brothers patented their button manufacturing process in England in 1840 and in the United States in 1841. Innovations made by Felix Bapterosses in France accelerated production, and by 1850 these porcelain buttons were used in clothing across the North American continent. Widely found in historic archaeological contexts, researchers know little about different manufacturing origins, generally assuming French production. Elemental analysis using XRF may reveal distinctions between manufacturing locations and raw material sources, providing insight into button production and movement through commercial networks in the 19^th century.

Sailmaking is among the most central, but least studied facets of historic seafaring. Extant information is scarce and although iconography illustrates general sail plans, the actual structures of sails from antiquity to the Industrial Revolution are largely unknown. The Historic Sail Research Project, started by master sailmaker Louie Bartos and carried on by nautical archaeologist Nathaniel Howe, strives to uncover the elusive details of traditional sailmaking. This presentation spotlights key discoveries and new research from the HSRP, presently exploring Spanish and Mediterranean sailmaking practices by uniting historical and archaeological evidence with the insights of the sailmaker.

During the construction of a sheet-pile seawall along Route-35 on the New Jersey shore, contractors discovered the remains of a shipwreck by disabling a 20-ton piledriver upon it. After removing much of the material in what could be charitably called an uncontrolled excavation, agencies mobilized maritime archaeologists to conduct a damage assessment and chart a way forward. That launched a feverish two-year odyssey that saw the recovery, recordation, and stabilization of nearly 100 artifacts (only three of which were articulated) while testing, to complete the urgently needed seawall prior to the next big storm. Agencies joined a chorus of historical societies, and media outlets calling to put a name to the wreckage, while the team pored over databases, museum collections, and national archives. When faced with thousands of potential names along a coastline festooned with the wreckage of maritime history, can 95 disarticulated fragments point the way to positive identification?