A recent Facebook post featuring an image of a ship has gone viral, amassing over 19,000 shares since Wednesday. The post claims the vessel is “a fully intact 1700s-era ghost ship that washed ashore near St. Augustine,” leaving locals and experts puzzled.
Some commenters have expressed skepticism, noting that the ocean water around St. Augustine doesn’t appear as vibrant as shown in the image, while others have expressed excitement about the potential opportunity to explore the ship.
According to the post, the “mysterious vessel” washed ashore following Hurricane Milton, which was described as a “Category 4 storm” stirring up the Atlantic Ocean.
However, experts have determined this claim to be false. Chuck Meide, a maritime archaeologist and director of the Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program at the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum, stated that a ghost ship from the 1700s would not be fully intact as depicted in the post. He explained that ships in Florida waters typically do not remain intact due to marine life that consumes the wood of shipwrecks. Instead, it is common for only the lower portions of vessels to remain.
Meide indicated that fully intact ships typically only emerge from the depths in colder environments, such as the Baltic Sea or the Great Lakes. He noted that while pieces of a ship could wash ashore after a hurricane, the specific claim in the viral post is implausible.
Additionally, flaws in the post include the coloration of the water, which is more characteristic of South Florida than Northeast Florida, inaccuracies regarding the hurricane’s category, and that the posting account has a satirical nature.
Robert Speta, a meteorologist from First Coast News, clarified that Hurricane Milton was classified as a Category 1 storm when it entered the Atlantic after passing over Central Florida, although it was indeed a Category 5 hurricane at its peak in the Gulf of Mexico.