A construction crew in Brick, New Jersey may have found a shipwreck while building a sea wall. As the employees were attempting to push a steel sheet into the sand, debris that was buried about 20 feet down broke the head of the pile driver.

A construction crew in Brick, New Jersey may have found a shipwreck while building a sea wall. As the employees were attempting to push a steel sheet into the sand, debris that was buried about 20 feet down broke the head of the pile driver.

Staffers replaced the head only to have it break again once the drilling efforts resumed. While nothing has yet been confirmed, experts believe the objects might be from a 19th-century shipwreck.

Contractors who were hired by the state have spent the past four months installing a steel wall along the coastline in New Jersey to protect against storms and hurricanes.

The sturdy timbers of the vessel have been uncovered. One shipwreck expert suspects the debris is from the Ayrshire; a vessel that ran aground on a beach in the midst of a severe storm in 1850.

In addition to the debris and timber, a contraption used for releasing anchors and pulling lines was also found by the crew. A spokesperson for The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection said “A ship has much more historical value than a barge. It could very well be a ship, but we don't know yet.”

Ground-penetrating radar will be used to see if anything else is hidden under the sands.