Wyandanch firm does high-tech scan of 18th century ship

A Wyandanch company applied 21st century technology Friday to the hull of an 18th century wooden ship that is slowly disintegrating after it was discovered by World Trade Center construction workers on Tuesday.

Archeologists are working nonstop to examine the wooden vessel before it crumbles from exposure, said Peggy Rosenblatt of AKRF, the archaeological firm hired to excavate the ship.

"These guys are really working hard to beat the clock," she said.

On Friday, the ship's 32-foot hull was being scanned by Corinthian Data Capture, a Wyandanch company that uses state-of-the art infrared lasers to digitally capture a precise image of the mystery ship for posterity. The scanner captures every detail and space in the structure to produce a computer file that can be studied later and that could be used to create a 3-D model, Corinthian president John Smits said.

The result of Friday's work will be "a comprehensive image of the whole site," said Caitlin Uihlein of Corinthian. "It can tell us the distance between beams and its length." The laser data, after being processed, can also show archeologists the different planes and elevations on the ship, she said.

Construction crews are digging to build an underground parking garage, which will be the only parking facility for the 9/11 Memorial and World Trade Center.

"This area has never been excavated," Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman said. "Not even when they built the Trade Center" in the 1970s, he said. "They still have to dig 30 feet more so you don't know what else is under there," said Coleman.

Above the garage will be Liberty Park, a pedestrian walkway, he said.

Archeologists hired by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and employees of Corinthian were examining and picking through pieces of the wreck into Friday afternoon.

"We're carefully pulling up the hull to scan underneath to document the finding," Uihlein said, adding that the slightest touch or movement has the hull falling apart.