MASHPEE (CBS) – They’re working to solve a shipwreck mystery on the Cape, and it’s college students who are doing the maritime archaeology. Bridgewater State has a unique field study going on in Mashpee, and the young people are definitely getting their feet wet.

“What we have is an unidentified shipwreck, maybe late 19th century, early 20th century, but we have no records of this. So we have a mystery at our fingertips,” says BSU Cape Cod professor Calvin Mires who leads the one week field class. “This is a great educational shipwreck,” he says.

Five students are taking measurements of the small pieces of the ship’s ribs sticking out of the muck and sea grass at Sage Lot Pond in Mashpee. “We’re measuring the center line right here, and we’re just mapping it out,” says student Ed Bajercius.

From the data they’ll create a site map they hope leads them to the origin of the ship, and how it got here. Did a storm push it into the pond or was it abandoned for some reason?

“We can look through the records for a vessel 60 to 70 feet, maybe 12 to 18 feet wide, and see if there are actually some historical documents here,” Mires explains.

“We’re water detectives trying to figure out the story and see what the boat tells us about itself,” says student Michaela Brennan.

“We don’t know what it is, where it came from, who owned it. Nothing. And that’s why we’re here,” adds Bajercius.

The student researchers hope their work in Mashpee will lead to more archaeological exploration of the coastline.