At the aft end of the main hold, a rectangular wooden enclosure straddled the keel of the ship. The walls of this box formed the pump well, the lowest spot in the center of the ship where any water inside the hull would collect. Two pumps, consisting of vertical wooden tubes with internal plunger rods, were mounted in the pump well. When the crew excavated the wreck, they found a piece of one pump tube in its original position; the other was missing. The pumps were vital for removing water from the ship during storms or following damage to the hull.
The pump tube in place after workers
removed the pump well walls and most of the interior hull planking.
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Photo: courtesy of the Texas Historical Commission.