More remnants from Northeast Florida's nautical past have revealed themselves on Ponte Vedra Beach.

But while experts think they know when the wreck occurred, what ship it was is still a mystery.

St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum archaeologists waded into the waves last week to look at 80 feet of iron and timbers revealed during a New Year's low tide near Mickler's Landing. It appears to be a schooner from the 1860s into very early 1900s. It apparently met a tragic end during a 1947 storm if a fuzzy photograph of a two-masted ship beaching there proves to be this wreck, Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program chief archaeologist Chuck Meide said.

"A schooner most certainly could have an iron frame and wooden planking," Meide said. "It does have some iron plating on its bow, and that is a little strange. We haven't seen any ship construction like that."

Shipwrecks have been cropping up along Ponte Vedra's coastline, including this one investigated by Meide's crew when a bit of it surfaced in 2008. The program investigated a 19th-century sailing vessel uncovered in 2001 by Tropical Storm Gabrielle off Ponte Vedra Boulevard south of Solana Road. Another wreck surfaced in mid-October at the Guana preserve, apparently a 1940s-to-'60s shrimp boat.

This shipwreck resurfaced New Year's Day and much more of it was revealed in stormy weather the next day.

"Looking at the drawings we did in 2008, we had five ribs," Meide said. "This time we had 42 ribs and that gives us a lot better picture. We have a nice schooner look. It looks ship-shape with the arc of the ribs sticking up."

Meide said ships this old could have been part of the "last heyday of sail" during World War II, replacing more modern ships being pressed into war service. This wreck seems to sit at the same angle as the one that grounded in 1947, a "pretty sizable" ship that is the right size to be a schooner.

Unfortunately, no one knows what it is. A National Weather Service list of 1947 storms doesn't name any wrecks there and neither do old issues of The St. Augustine Record.

As for the wreck itself, Meide said its cargo and equipment probably were salvaged long ago.

The archaeological program was founded in 1996. Its major finds have been the British sloop Industry, sunk in 1764 while entering St. Augustine's harbor, and a 1782 British wreck. Both have yielded many artifacts on display at the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum (staugustinelighthouse.com).

Dan Scanlan: (904) 359-4549