The survey identifies and evaluates shipwrecks and other vessel remains in three different marine environments in Chatham County , Georgia, and applies this data to predict the locations and conditions of these resources in similar areas of the coastal counties. The survey included the sound/offshore area, a saltwater segment of the intracoastal waterway (Skidaway River) and a small freshwater creek once associated with tidal rice culture (Augustine Creek).
The survey included archival research, interviews with local shrimpers, divers and others familiar with the areas and a shoreline survey of Skidaway River and Augustine Creek. Archival research revealed about 160 vessels lost in the survey areas for which no record of recovery or removal could be documented. Informant interviews and additional archival research identified shrimp net hangs in the sound/off-share areas which could either be identified as vessel remains or whose identification as such was open to question. The low-water surveys revealed the remains of a number of vessels, one of which appears to meet criteria for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places, and a variety of eroded terrestrial sites.
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