Captain Morgan's Pirate Ship Found...Rum Maker Celebrates

Well this should make for good cocktail party conversation. And be good for the rum business. U.S. archaeologists, funded in part by the makers of Captain Morgan's rum, have discovered the long-lost wreckage of a ship belonging to the actual 17th century pirate and spirit's namesake, Captain Henry Morgan. The wreckage was found near the mouth of the Chargres River in Panama.

The river is reportedly near Lajas Reef where Morgan allegedly lost five ships in 1671 including his flagship "Satisfaction."

Captain Morgan USA, purveyors of the spiced rum reportedly funded part of the research after the team at the Center for Archaeological Studies at Texas State University were allegedly short on funding. The team, headed by Fritz Hyanselmann, had reportedly found a collection of iron cannons off the Panamanian coast, prompting the rum maker to dive in  and offer its assistance:

"When the opportunity arose for us to help make this discovery mission possible, it was a natural fit for us to get involved. The artifacts uncovered during this mission will help bring Henry Morgan and his adventures to life in a way never thought possible," said Tom Herbst, brand director of Captain Morgan USA, in a statement.

During the excavation, Hyanselmann and his team allegedly uncovered a portion of the starboard side of a wooden ship's hull and a series of unopened cargo boxes and chests encrusted in coral. KENS5 reports:

"Captain Morgan was a privateer," said Fritz Hyanselmann, an underwater archaeologist. He's the faculty and chief underwater archaeologist with Texas State. He says one man's privateer is another man's pirate, especially since in the 17th century, England did not have a navy to patrol the western hemisphere.

Before Morgan could raid Panama City, five of his ships, including his flagship ran aground near the Lajas Reef. In 2010, Hanselmann led an exploratory team near the site. Another search required money and that funding came from a unique source. That being from the Captain Morgan Rum Company got wind of the team's first expedition and gave them a grant to continue the research.

"There's definitely an irony in the situation," said Hanselmann. The funding allowed the team to do a magnetometer survey, which looks for metal by finding any deviation in the earth's magnetic field.

"It can detect things that are very, very small, like bullets or it can detect things that are very large, like cannons and anchors that might be part of a historic shipwreck," said Bert Ho, the project survey archaeologist.

Watch the report below;: