The Betsy

The Betsy. . , The marker is made up of two panels., Panel 1: , The Betsy was built in the port of Whitehaven in 1772 for use in the coal trade. During 1780, the British Navy leased her as a transport assigned to a convoy bound for North America, where she joined Cornwallis’s fleet at Yorktown. The British sunk nearly 50 ships between Yorktown and Gloucester during the Revolutionary War to impede the French fleet. The Betsy, one of these, was scuttled by her British crew on September 16, 1781, about ½ mile east of this site., This model of The Betsy was built entirely from recycled materials. There are many creative ways to protect the Chesapeake Bay’s natural resources and this model illustrates one of these ways – re-using materials that might otherwise pollute the Bay, Constructed and donated to the Watermen’s Museum by Tim Rindfleisch, Biologist, York County, VA, May 16, 2001, Panel 2: , In the mid eighteenth century the Chesapeake bay, and ports along the rivers leading to the Bay, were areas of great shipping activity between England and the colonies. The Bay offered great access to the many navigable rivers that could carry cargo ships and troop ships to the region’s towns and cities, including the nation’s capital. , The Betsy was a collier, a unique style cargo ship with a rounded bow and shallow draft. , A team of underwater archaeologists from the Virginia Department of Conservation and Historic Resources, led by John D. Broadwater excavated The Betsy in the mid 1980’s. Her hull still lies in place, filled with sand to protect her from further deterioration. , Both photos of The Betsy carry captions of “©1995 John D. Broadwater”