In wrak-restanten van de Maria Celestia, die op 6 september 1864 zonk, hebben archeologen in een houten krat vijf flessen wijn geborgen, die na 147 jaar onder water met de kurk erop tevoors chijn kwamen. Na een fikse storm werd de bovenkant van de kist zichtbaar. Wat er precies in de flessen zat en in welke conditie de wijn zich bevindt, is nog onduidelijk. The Wine Club meldt er vandaag over:

‘An international team of archaeologists working with Bermuda’s Department of Conservation Services has discovered a secret stash of wine inside storm-tossed remains of an American Civil War blockade runner. The wreck of the Mary Celestia, which lies immediately offshore from the Fairmont Southampton Princess, has emerged from the sand and silt which had shrouded it since the ship struck the reef and sank on September 6, 1864. Five bottles of wine, securely packed inside a wooden crate, remained corked with their contents intact even after spending 147 years underwater.

The top of the crate emerged from the sand inside the bow after a series of winter storms swept over the site in January 2011. Dr. Philippe Rouja, Bermuda’s Custodian of Historic Wrecks, secured the bow of the wreck after recovering a loose bottle of wine, also still corked, and immediately reached out to National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Waitt Foundation in order to create an expert team with experience in marine heritage management and the excavation of shipwrecks of this period to explore and potentially rescue this unique find.

Carefully removing all of the sand and silt from inside the broken but still intact bow of the wrecked blockade runner, the team found an wooden crate, intact wooden paneling and shelves, and a corroded metal wash basin rusted fast to the inside of the hull. As Dr. Delgado gently removed the silt from the crate with Dr. Rouja, the tops of the bottles inside slowly emerged with their corks still in place.

“The promise of the one bottle found this past January was realized in that moment,” said Dr. Rouja, “To reveal even more of this lost cargo standing lined up in their wooden crate as if they were waiting for their owner to return is a great reminder of how archaeology adds excitement and value to our shared historical narratives.

Mary Celestia is a wreck with historical significance to the United Kingdom, where she was built, Bermuda, where she operated out of and where she wrecked, and the United States, where she ran to as a blockade runner during the U.S. Civil War’.