A piece of Lower Manhattan's nautical history has been uncovered at the World Trade Center site, where crews found a preserved section of a ship's hull dating back more than 200 years.

 Port Authority workers discovered the remains of the buried ship-a 32-foot chunk of curved timbers and floorboards believed to have been part of its stern-Tuesday morning while excavating on the south side of Liberty Street for the new Trade Center's underground Vehicle Security Center. Archaeologists hired by the Authority to monitor the excavation said the ship was likely filled with dirt and submerged as landfill in latter part of the 18th century.  

"They would build piers and moors and bulkheads along here, and gradually fill it in with earth and garbage and anything else they could throw in," said Elizabeth Meade, an archaeologist for AKRF, a firm hired by the Port Authority as consultants on historical artifacts found at the site. According to old maps, Meade said, Lower Manhattan's shoreline began to creep westward from Greenwich Street in the late 1790s. "Sometimes, as we believe is the case here, they would use an old boat."  

A nautical expert, Norman Brouwer, confirmed for their team that the ship was likely an ocean-going vessel, based on its construction and estimated size, Meade said.   Molly McDonald, another AKRF architect working at the site, was the first to spot the boat's curved timbers sticking out of the mud Tuesday morning. She said there is evidence to suggest that the boat was sawed in half before it was covered over by the landfill, and estimated its full length to have been approximately 60 feet.   McDonald said the boat is the most significant discovery the AKRF team has made at the site, but certainly not the only one. A 100-pound anchor was found on Monday, just a few yards from where the ship was discovered.  

"That may or may not have been associated with this ship," McDonald said. "There's a part of some sort of metal cylinder in the middle of the ship that someone commented might have been where its anchor chain was attached. If that were the case, that would suggest in a pretty compelling way that the anchor belongs to this ship."  

Other items unearthed so far have included glass bottles, shoes and animal bones, McDonald said.   Michael Pappalardo, the archaeologist's team leader, said further study is needed to determine where the ship was built or exactly how old it is. He said he expects there will be a fair amount of interest in the ship from museums and historical societies, but was uncertain if the ship would be preserved in tact or analyzed in pieces.  

"There's probably a variety of options, including total conservation all the way down to simply conducting an analysis and disposing of the majority of the vessel," Pappalardo said. "I think this is the kind of compelling find that museums are interest in, and the research value is pretty substantial."   What is to become of the ship will need to be resolved in the next few days.

The Port Authority's excavation for the Vehicle Security Center must remain on schedule, as it is integral to the completion of the rest of the World Trade Center site. Steven Coleman, a spokesman for the Authority, said the AKRF team will stay under contract with the agency in case crews stumble upon any other significant artifacts.   "We still have to excavate another 30 to 40 feet down, plus we have to dig out from underneath the 130 Liberty Street site," Coleman said. "We're really not sure what we're going to find."