maritime archaeology

Confirmed Le Dragon is the American Privateer Washington!

The latest exciting news from the excellent research conducted by Florence Prudhomme, is that Le Dragon, the last French warship lost in action during the American Revolutionary War in 1783 on the north coast of the Dominican Republic, was in fact an English privateer Dragon and before that an American privateer Washington! So this ship fought under three flags.

The ex-voto model from 1783 presumed to be a three-dimensional representation Le Dragon, in the nave of the Capuchin Church at Ostend

The ex-voto model from 1783 presumed to be a three-dimensional representation Le Dragon, in the nave of the Capuchin Church at Ostend

Florence Prudhomme, who is a PhD student in her final year at the Sorbonne University in Paris, has devoted her PhD Thesis to the story of Le Dragon and the captain of the ship. Large amounts of excellent research have been undertaken by Florence who is one of the core members of ADMAT-FRANCE which is based at the Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, Institut de Paléontologie Humaine, in Paris.

Florence has published a paper in the Nautical Research Journal, which goes into some of her work on the change over from American to French. Please click here for the paper.

ADMAT will be conducting a maritime archaeological survey on Le Dragon during July 2018. For information on this historic survey and your chance to join the Team and take part click here Le Dragon.