#onthisday 🔔⚓️ On December 31, 1782, a large fleet of British Loyalist ships, part of the final evacuation from Charleston, South Carolina, encountered a severe storm off St. Augustine, Florida, resulting in the loss of at least 16 vessels, including the one known as the “Storm Wreck,” carrying Loyalists fleeing the newly independent United States to British East Florida. The Storm Wreck was discovered in 2009 by underwater archaeologists with the Lighthouse Archaeology Maritime Program, the research arm of the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum. They excavated and unearthed scattered remains of the ship and its contents on the ocean floor from 2010-2015. The conservation team has preserved thousands of artifacts, many on view in the Wrecked! Exhibit, located in the Keepers’ House basement at the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum. See cannons, muskets, pewter plates and spoons, caldrons, the ship’s bell, buttons, coins, clothing irons, a tea kettle, navigation...