St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum's newest exhibit "Wrecked!" is far from its destructive title.

It tells the story of American Revolutionary War refugees rowing to St. Augustine's shores from their sinking ship, and the life they left behind. The ship is part of a fleet that evacuated British loyalists from Charleston, S.C., in 1782 to find a new life and refuge in St. Augustine. While the people survived, their belongings fell with the ship to the bottom of St. Augustine's inlet.

Now, 230 years later, these belongings write the newest chapter of the city's history. Chuck Meide, director of the St. Augustine Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program, said the wreck is one of the most important discoveries off of Northeast Florida and will become the museum's largest exhibit.

Meide and others on the underwater archaeology team first found the shipwreck in August 2009. They spent the next six summers diving and recovering artifacts, including the ship's bell, cannons, Revolutionary War military buttons, muskets and cauldrons.

"The thing that's extraordinary about these artifacts is that they're so ordinary. They were things from everyday life, but everyday life 230 years ago," said Meide. "We have clothing irons, cookware, plates, just things that we take for granted in our everyday lives, but someone 300 years from now would be fascinated to see. They just give a slice of life."

Through grants from the Department of State, Division of Historical Resources and the state of Florida, the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum began to uncover artifacts and put together an exhibit around them in 2012. It teamed up with the Chicago-based design firm Architecture is Fun to put together the design and concept for "Wrecked!"

It will tell the story of the shipwreck and its survivors, as well as the journey the underwater archaeology team took to uncover the ship and its artifacts. "Wrecked!" will also be the most interactive exhibit, giving children the chance to take on the role of an underwater archaeologist.

"This really goes into another level," said lighthouse public relations and graphics coordinator Shannon O'Neil. "There's games that kids can play where they can actually search for shipwrecks, they can find an artifact and put it through an X-ray just like our archaeologists would do so they can see what's inside the concretion. So, it really gives them a better insight through technology what the process is of underwater archaeology."

The museum will have a soft opening of the exhibit in late March, and officially open to the public May 5.

The artifacts on display only scratch the surface of what the underwater archaeology recovered. Even after the exhibit opens, conservators will still be taking years of salt and rust off of artifacts to reveal the item underneath. Visitors will be able to watch this process at the museum.

The team has uncovered half of the artifacts they brought up from the shipwreck site, but gains more details about the wreck and the lives of its survivors with each new uncovered piece.

For Meide, piecing together the ship's story is half the fun.

"It involves that thrill of discovery and that basic sense of human curiosity. You want to solve the mystery. You want to know what it is," said Meide. "The more we explore, the more we piece together. It's really all come together with this museum exhibit."

Tiffanie Reynolds: (904) 359-4450