By Michaela Gleeson | mgleeson@alextimes.com
The 18th-century ship found at the site of Hotel Indigo in 2015 has gotten the
attention of the National Park Service.
The NPS, in conjunction with the U.S Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration, awarded Alexandria The Maritime Heritage Preservation Grant, worth $97,117, the city announced in a news release Wednesday.
This is the second grant the ship has been awarded; it also received $4,000 as the second place winner in the Virginia Association of Museum’s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts Competition back in February.
The ship is at Texas A&M University’s Conservation Research Laboratory, which the
city contracted with to take on the preservation effort. The vessel was shipped off to Texas in June 2017.
The university plans to carefully document the conservation journey through
advanced techniques such as x-ray analysis, wood degradation analysis and high-definition laser scanning. Due to the delicate nature of dealing with the ship’s wooden timbers, the project is expected to span multiple years. After completion of the project, the ship will be returned to Alexandria.
The historic ship was the first of four 18th-century vessels of the kind to be uncovered on Alexandria’s waterfront.
It’s still unclear what the city’s plans are for the remaining three ships, which were discovered this year.
“The city is coordinating efforts to determine a longterm plan for the historic
ships,” City Archaeologist Eleanor Breen said in a news release.