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ORMOND-BY-THE-SEA - Scientists are set to use ground-penetrating radar this weekend to search for the lost mass grave of 67 passengers of a steamship that sank in 1880 in a hurricane.
No one knows where the victims of the City of Vera Cruz disaster lie, although neighbors have long believed they rest underneath a vacant 7-acre parcel between Sandpiper Ridge and Beau Rivage drives.
"This is a challenge, even though it's frustrating," said archaeologist Brian Parker, who was hired by developer Richard Friedman to look for the burial site. Friedman is planning to buy the multimillion-dollar property and build 29 homes.
The ship, on a voyage to Cuba and Mexico, sank Aug. 27, 1880, 30 miles off the coast of Cape Canaveral. Only about 10 of the approximately 80 people on board survived.
Sixty-seven bodies washed up on the sands of present-day Ormond-by-the-Sea and were buried by residents. The mass grave was marked with a tree stump that no longer exists.