History does not just exist in books, sometimes lies in wait for centuries buried in mud and water until someone comes across it. Like La Fortuna, a Spanish privateer that archaeologists from the East Carolina University program in maritime archaeology might have unearthed in the shallow water of the Cape Fear River in North Carolina. According to the experts the ship exploded and sank during the War of King George in the year 1748.
The discovery took place at Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson, a historic location connected to the Civil War and colonial times. Of the 63 ship timbers the team removed, 47 might be La Fortuna’s. It’s like solving a puzzle that has been missing for nearly three centuries for researchers.
While diving in the murky river, graduate student Cory van Hees was the first to notice something strange. He initially believed it to be nothing more than wood lodged in clay. With the help of researcher Jeremy Borrelli and his professor Jason Raupp, it was later determined that these timbers were from a sunken ship. La Fortuna, a Spanish privateer was suddenly back in the news.
A ship lost to war
Back in the mid-18th century, the War of King George was raging, and Brunswick Town was a bustling colonial port. La Fortuna didn’t survive. It exploded near the docks and vanished from history. Until now.
Cory van Hees described the moment he realized what he’d found as “overwhelming and a little emotional.” Imagine diving in low visibility, thinking you’re just mapping a dock, and then discovering pieces of a ship that fought in a war almost three centuries ago. That’s the kind of discovery that makes archaeology feel alive.
The timbers themselves are incredibly well preserved. As Jeremy Borrelli explained, many still show the marks of the shipbuilders’ tools, like fingerprints left behind by craftsmen of the 18th century. And alongside the beams, divers also found fragments of Puebla Blue-on-White majolica, a type of Spanish pottery traded widely in the colonial era. These shards help confirm the identity of the ship as La Fortuna.
More than one shipwreck
The Cape Fear River didn’t just reveal La Fortuna. The ECU team also located three other vessels:
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A flatboat, which gives clues about everyday trade in colonial North Carolina.
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Another ship likely sunk intentionally to strengthen the harbor.
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And a third wreck whose story is still a mystery.
They also found hundreds of objects like glass bottles, barrel staves, ship tools, leather shoes, scraps of clothing, clay tobacco pipes, and even animal bones with butchering marks. Every object gives a new dimension to the narrative, showing what life was like nearly three centuries ago.
For archaeologists like Jason Raupp, finds like these are goldmines. They don’t just confirm events we already knew—they reveal how people lived, traded, and worked in colonial times.
Protecting the past for the future
Fort Anderson, also known as Brunswick Town, is now a recognized historic district. One of North Carolina’s most intriguing heritage sites, it maintains both the colonial waterfront and Civil War fortifications. Archaeologists are able to continue their explorations in safety while making sure that these treasures aren’t lost again because of state and federal protection laws as well as permits given to East Carolina University.
Dr. Raupp summed up the importance of the site, for him, every new discovery helps them understand the role Brunswick Town played as one of the state’s first colonial ports. For his students, this isn’t just schoolwork—it’s hands-on adventure to see from up-close, to touch for reel.
For us, a reminder of how much there’s still to know about our own past stories.