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Boat in Hillsborough River appears to be Civil War sloop

By Elisabeth Dyer, Times Staff Writer
In print: Saturday, May 24, 2008

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ADVERTISEMENT [Special to the Times] The remains of a ship believed to be the Civil War’s Kate Dale are visible in the Hillsborough River at low tide.

TAMPA — This is as close as it gets for the Kate Dale.

Marine archaeologist Billy Ray Morris says he's 98 percent certain that the boat lodged in the mud of the Hillsborough River near the Lowry Park Zoo is the Civil War blockade runner.

"It's classic ship construction for mid 19th century ship building," he said Friday, after ending his examination of the sloop.

Less than 30 percent of the boat remains, Morris said. He examined 2 percent of it during the three weeks he and volunteers from the Florida Aquarium have devoted to the find.

Morris based his conclusion on the framing pattern, how the futtocks, or planks, of the frame come together and attach to the floor across the center line.

He didn't expect to find anything that would unequivocally identify the single-masted sailing vessel owned by Capt. James McKay, Tampa's sixth mayor.

That rarely happens.

Morris said the organic detritus of the river bed and the tannin in the water preserved the wreck pretty well.

The dive team dug out cinder blocks and chunks of asphalt that had lodged inside.

"The hull is shattered and splayed apart," Morris said.

"Kate was not an elaborately built sloop," Morris said. "She was a cargo-carrying, working class boat doing the job she needed to do, literally the backbone of maritime commerce and enterprise. She was not designed to be a blockade runner, and just happened to be what was on hand for McKay to use."

Now, Morris will sift through his recordings and measurements to draw out Kate Dale's dimensions.

He sent wood samples for analysis. He says they look to be live oak and pine, "quintessential southern shipbuilding woods."

Next week the crew will turn its attention to the waters surrounding Egmont Key.