In 1812, Joshua Barney, a retired Revolutionary War naval hero, proposed creating a fleet of American barges to defend the Chesapeake Bay against British ships. In August 1814, Commodore Barney was forced to destroy and sink his fleet of 15 vessels in Maryland’s Patuxent River to prevent their capture. One of these barges was discovered in 1979 under the river mud and partially excavated. Now, underwater archaeologist Robert Neyland of the Navy History and Heritage Command is leading a team to further study the wreck. American History TV traveled up the river to learn about the project and visited the Navy’s Underwater Archaeology lab in the Washington Navy Yard where artifacts from the ship are studied.