Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory - Maryland
Maryland
The Tree-Ring Dating of Shipwreck at Martinak State Park, Denton, Maryland (38.859649, -75.839187)
Felling Dates: After 1825
Site Master 1717-1818 (oak) MWMDx1 (t = 10.27 MDOAK; 10.12 CALVERTF; 9.90 DCAREA).
The shipwreck at Martinak State Park was found in the 1960s in Watt’s Creek Caroline County Maryland. In his report "The Markinak Boat (CAR-254, 18CA54) Caroline County, Maryland" Bruce F. Thompson noted that the ship looked earlier than the Pungy style of ship built on the Chesapeake from the 1840s to around 1920. It has flatter floors, stem post and stern post display a much longer run, and that the fasteners, construction details and tool marks also suggest an earlier date.
Dendrochronological analysis has shown that the ship was constructed from oak timbers sourced from the Chesapeake Bay on the western shore of Maryland. They were felled sometime after 1825 suggesting that the ship is a pre-Pungy type of ship.
Worthington, M J and Seiter, J I 2019 “The Tree-Ring Dating of Shipwreck at Martinak State Park, Denton, Maryland”, unpublished Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory archive report 2019/10
Link to Bruce F. Thompson's report for Maryland Department of Planning here
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Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory
ProprietorsMichael Worthington
Jane Seiter, Ph.D
25 E. Montgomery St.
Baltimore, MD 21230
410-929-1520