Scientists find the stumble on centuries-old shipwreck

While searching for a mooring from a previous trip, researchers off the coast of North Carolina discovered a well-preserved shipwreck and artifacts that may date to the American Revolution. A sonar scan in the area by the robotic autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) named Sentry revealed a dark line and a fuzzy dark area. The scientists on the mission thought the anomaly could be the mooring they had been looking for from a 2012 expedition.
A dive to the spot, more than a mile deep, inside the manned submersible Alvin showed no
such mooring. "Our accidental find illustrates the rewards — and the challenge and uncertainty — of working in the deep ocean," expedition leader Cindy Van Dover, director of the Duke University Marine Laboratory, said in a statement. "We discovered a shipwreck but, ironically, the lost mooring was never found." The ship is resting in the Atlantic Ocean along the Gulf Stream, a warm current known by mariners who have used the route for centuries to travel to North American ports, the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico and South America, according to Duke University. As such, several shipwrecks have been found along the route.