Captain Kidd's treasure: Wood discovered, "living museum" in the works

The U.S. Agency for International Development has awarded Indiana University $200,000 to turn the Captain Kidd shipwreck site and three other underwater preserves in the Dominican Republic into no-take, no-anchor "Living Museums," where cultural discoveries will protect precious corals and other threatened biology in the surrounding reef systems under the supervision and support of the Dominican Republic's Oficina Nacional de Patrimonio Cultural Subacuático (ONPCS).

The news comes just months after the unexpected discovery of teak wood on the Captain Kidd site, a discovery that IU archeologists say confirms that this is the Cara Merchant, the ship Captain William Kidd commandeered and then abandoned in 1699 as he raced to New York in an ill-fated attempt to clear his name of piracy charges.

"When we removed a cannon this summer for future identification, we exposed the keel of the ship," said Charles Beeker, director of the Office of Underwater Science in IU Bloomington's School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation. "I'm just shocked that the keel is still there but the reason it's probably there is because it was teak, which is resistant to decomposition."...[Indiana University]