RARE – Piece of wood from a sunken Revolutionary War ship, still has the original tag

This a very unique relic being offered, it is a piece of wood from a sunken Revolutionary War ship. It measures 11” x 1” x 5/8” and has its very old string tag still attached, which reads “Part of American ship sunk at Whitehall 1776”. Also, on the wood itself you can barely make out the first word in pencil “Piece ….”. It was recovered at Skenesborough, New York (present day Whitehall).

In the summer of 1776, General Benedict Arnold supervised the rapid construction of a small fleet of gunboats, row galleys, and gundalows at Skenesborough, which was later renamed Whitehall, New York.

Because this fleet represented the first warships built by the rebellious American colonies to confront an enemy fleet, Whitehall is widely celebrated as the "Birthplace of the United States Navy".  These ships fought bravely against a superior British force at the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain on October 11, 1776.

While the battle resulted in a tactical defeat—with many of the American gunboats heavily damaged, captured, or purposefully burned and sunk to keep them out of enemy hands—the effort effectively delayed the British invasion from Canada by a full year. This extra time allowed the Continental Army to rebuild and ultimately win the pivotal Battle of Saratoga.

While retreating from Mount Independence, Col. Pierse Long’s force of mixed Continental troops and families joined forces with Capt. James Gray’s soldiers at Skenesborough. The British navy pursued and engaged the Americans at Skenesborough, while three regiments attempted and failed to cut off the route of escape for the Americans. The American forces fled south and burned their ships and supplies while retreating.

In capturing Skenesborough and other small settlements between Fort Ticonderoga and Albany, Gen. John Burgoyne intended to cut off all communication between the coast and inland New York. Burgoyne was also attempting to maintain control of the Lake Champlain region. Gen. Burgoyne’s victory at Skenesborough only added to his belief that his campaign would be a complete success.

I show a photograph of the sunken “Spitfire”, which was built at Whitehall, but another interesting piece of history is that the famous “Philadelphia”, which was sunk further north in Lake Champlain during the Battle of Valcour Island on October 11, 1776, was also built at Whitehall. Similar pieces from that ship have sold for thousands of dollars.

Obviously, this is a historical piece of Revolutionary War history, as well as U.S. Naval history. Fragments of these historic vessels, such as wood, personal items, iron spikes, or structural framing salvaged from the waters around Whitehall and Lake Champlain, were frequently preserved as highly prized historical relics of early American naval heritage. It comes in the 8 ½” x 12 ½” glass display case.