The conservation lab in southern Maryland near the Chesapeake Bay specializes in the treatment of shipwrecks.
A team from the lab is helping to safely extract the ship piece by piece. The timbers are being individually wrapped for transport to the Maryland lab. The recovery is scheduled for completion by the end of the week.
Lab officials said Thursday the conservation work will begin as soon as possible.
Historians believe the ship had been junked when it was used around 1810 as landfill to extend the shores of lower Manhattan.
The exact age will be determined by lab analysis.
