Eta, the hurricane that hit Central America and became a tropical storm as it passed through Florida, left flooding and victims ... but on Florida's coasts it also left a welcome surprise.
Sand erosion by strong winds and waves uncovered the remains of a more than 200-year-old boat, which was found by a local and is now being investigated by archaeologists on Crescent Beach.
"It is most likely an American merchant ship," said Chuck Meide, director of the maritime and archaeological program for the St. Augustine lighthouse.
Researchers are rushing to finish their analysis before the ocean can hide the remains again.
[A bottle with ashes is returned to the sea after being found in Florida. Her story made those who found her cry]
Research group personnel believe the wreckage belongs to the ship Caroline Eddy, which sank in the area in August 1880 when it was carrying wood to Pennsylvania or New York.
That shipwreck is in fact mentioned in the historical archives of the San Agustín lighthouse.
The Caroline Eddy was built in 1862 and was used primarily to transport supplies for Union soldiers (made up of the anti-slavery states) during the Civil War.
He also made transatlantic trips before his last trip.
Archaeologist Nicholas Budsberg of the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum said the ship was most likely wrecked due to a storm, but it is believed that there were no deaths.
"The crew weathered the storm" for about two days "until they were able to build a makeshift raft and get to shore," Budsberg told Efe news agency.
A shipwreck that seems to be frozen in time
Aug. 29, 201900: 30
Crescent Beach is near San Agustín, Florida, a city founded by the Spaniard Pedro Menéndez de Avilés more than 500 years ago.
Many Spanish and British merchant ships arrived at that port during the colonial era as well as during American Independence.
That is why shipwrecks are often found in Florida with some regularity.
In recent years, this group of researchers has discovered or worked on more than twenty sites where vessels from the 18th and 19th centuries have been discovered.