Danish slave ships wreckage found off coast of Costa Rica, museum confirms

Two 18th-century shipwrecks off the coast of Costa Rica, previously thought to have been pirate ships, have been confirmed to be two Danish slave ships, a museum said Sunday.

"Investigations of ship timbers, bricks from the cargo and clay pipes found during underwater excavations" had determined the identity of two vessels shipwrecked in 1710, Denmark's National Museum said in a statement.

Marine archaeologists identified the slave ships Fridericus Quartus and Christianus Quintus, which, according to historical sources, were wrecked off the coast of Central America in 1710, said the museum. The museum also released images of Andreas Kallmeyer Bloch and David Gregory digging underwater and excavating bricks and wood from the wreckage.