188 years ago, in the night on February 11, 1823, the whaling ship Two Brothers was cruising in the waters of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands when it suddenly slammed into a shallow reef. The boat’s hull split open and the vessel sank quickly.

Today, on February 11, 2011, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced the discovery of the Two Brothers shipwreck in waters surrounding the French Frigate Shoals, which is the first confirmed find worldwide of a sunken whaling ship.

Researchers were able to recover multiple artifacts from the ocean floor, including a cooking pot, a ginger jar and a grinding stone. Some of the artifacts will be temporarily displayed in Hilo, but since there is no maritime center in Hawaii, they will probably be taken to a museum in Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Picture credit: Courtesy Grec McFall / NOAA

Map: Courtesy of USGS