Thieves are making off with pieces of a century-old Louisiana shipwreck after an intense drought unearthed the boat on the banks of the Mississippi River.
So far, Baton Rouge-based newspaper The Advocate reported Monday that two of the four missing pieces of the Brookhill Ferry have been recovered — a 30-foot-long hull plank and a smaller hull plank.
“We sent out a demand letter to the person whose license plate someone had taken a picture of — that person called Friday. He was incredibly apologetic,” Ryan Seidemann, the assistant attorney general for Louisiana, told the newspaper on Monday.
The shipwreck, which first became visible in early October, is protected by state law.
But an 18-inch framing timber and a 5-inch sieve are still missing, and there are no leads on who may have the pieces, according to The Washington Post.
The ship parts come from the Brookhill Ferry, a wooden boat that was used to transport people and carriages between Baton Rouge and Port Allen.
This ship was thought to have started sailing in the late 19th century until it sank in 1915 during a storm over the Mississippi River, Fox Weather reported.
The last time the ship was visible was in 1992, but state archaeologist Charles McGimsey told The Post that the boat was so mud-covered that it wasn’t easy to observe.
State prosecutors said they won’t seek legal action against whoever has the missing Brookhill pieces if they return them voluntarily.
“If someone comes forward with the pieces, we will treat them the same — we won’t seek any civil or criminal charges,” Mr. Seidemann said.
Correction: In a previous version of the story, Ryan Seidemann’s name was misspelled.
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