It’s been 15 years since the remains of an 18th century ship were discovered 22 feet below of the surface of the World Trade Center site, and at long last it has arrived at its new home: the New York State Museum in Albany. It will be the centerpiece of the museum’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Built near Philadelphia in 1775, the ship is a gunboat that patrolled the shallow waterways of the northeast. The discovery of shipworms in the timber indicate it traveled to the warm, wormy waters of the Caribbean, and British regiment buttons found inside the boat may mean it was captured by the British and sailed south before making the journey back up north to New York. It was deliberately abandoned along the Hudson River shoreline.

It was originally about 50 feet long with a raised deck. A section 30 feet long was preserved in the muddy soil of the shore. As soon as it was discovered in the excavation of Ground Zero before construction of One World Trade Center, the timbers were exposed to oxygen and began to deteriorate. Archaeologists worked feverishly in shifts over two weeks to disassemble the ship and recover more than 600 pieces wood so they could be stabilized for eventual reconstruction.

The first year after the excavation, the timbers were studied and conserved at Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory. They then moved to Texas A&M University’s Center for Maritime Archeology, the country’s foremost experts in nautical archaeology, where the remains were conserved in a multi-stage process 14 years long. It was soaked in fresh water for five years to desalinate the wood. The timbers were then freeze-dried to ensure there was no water left in them. The team laser-scanned each timber to create a 3D model of the ship, and removed every piece of iron, every nail, to keep the wood from being damaged by rust.

The stabilized pieces of the ship have now been transferred to Albany where they are being reassembled on public view in the South Lobby alongside a selection of the artifacts found in the excavation. The reconstruction is being led by Dr. Peter Fix, Principal Conservator of the World Trade Center Ship and expert in Archaeological Watercraft Conservation at Texas A&M University, who estimates reassembly will be complete by the middle or end of June. Visitors are encouraged to ask the team questions and there will be a series of lectures and talks given by the conservators while they put the ship back together.