Tampa shipwreck explorer maps buried vessel

TAMPA — Seafarer Exploration Corp., a Tampa-based company that explores and recovers historic shipwrecks, says it has compelling evidence that a ship is buried in a compact area near Lantana Beach.

The company now seeks digging permits to locate artifacts and try to identify the ship, off Florida's east coast. The firm conducted a mapping survey of the site after it received a permit from state officials for its first phase, according to a release from the company. Seafarer used underwater video to learn more about the wreck, which is believed to be a French or Spanish ship from the 1600s, although the origin has not yet been verified.

Seafarer has begun collaborating with paleographer John de Bry, director of the Center for Historical Archaeology in Melbourne Beach, in its attempt to identify the ship. The site is one of the most interesting that Seafarer (Symbol: SFRX; recent price: $0.03) has explored, according to CEO Kyle Kennedy.

"While we have dig sites currently under permit, the Lantana Beach site represents one of our more intriguing ventures. In many cases historic shipwrecks are spread out over wide areas which can cause exploration and recovery to be very time consuming and expensive but this particular site looks very compact,” says Kennedy in a statement.

The company needs the permission of the Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before it can move into the second phase of digging at the site.

Seafarer also is working on sites near Juno Beach and in northern Florida.