[centurion316]

A Royal Navy sloop of the Swan Class of this period would measure about 96 feet on the gun deck. This vessel appears to measure about 82 feet on the gun deck, so a little small for a three masted sloop. Probably an unrated brig with two masts. If so, it will be a remarkable find, very few of these wrecks exist and this one seems to be in great condition with even the deck beams still in place. The deck beams rest on clamps that are tied into the frames. For the deck beams to appear like they do on the sonar, the clamps and frames must also still be in their original position. Quite extraordinary outside of the Baltic.

The fleet at Yorktown was scuttled on 9 October 1781 and included the Charon (44), the Guadeloupe (28), and the Fowey (24). These ships are too large to match the sonar, but HMS Vulcan, a fireship might be a possibility. She was 91 feet on the gun deck. She was used in an attack on the French on 23 September, but her hulk might have been towed back and scuttled.

[Pharmboy]

Thank you for adding that excellent information.

[Gondring]

Though my first impression was of a brig, I'm not sure how you get the 82 feet. It always surprises me how these hulls are oriented. I wish there were more transects shown, and some indication of how far offshore it was. Although I hope for it being RevWar, I'm hesitant to expect that.

Also, was not the Guadeloupe recovered already?

[HANG THE EXPENSE]

Wow, you know your stuff.Great read.

[decimon]

Current caption for that picture: “A digital sonar image of a different vessel on the floor of the York River.”

Different vessel.

[ntnychik]

It’s interesting to learn the fate of the Fowey, which captured one of George Washington’s schooners in 1775, the Washington. My fourth great-grandfather was among the crew and was transferred from the Fowey to the Tartar for imprisonment in England. He returned to America in 1783. A good reference is George Washington’s Schooners: The First American Navy, by Chester G. Hearn.