Crews discovered a huge shipwreck underneath the foundations of the World Trade Center Towers after 9/11

Crews working on the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks stumbled upon a shipwreck that left them stunned.

In 2010, the site of the World Trade Center terrorism attack was still being excavated.

Among the rubble, archeologists discovered a ship which it was only about 22 feet below street level.

The old wooden ship which understandably left people with a lot of questions. How did it get here? Why was it here? What happened to the ship for it to end up in the middle of New York?

Archeologists made a shocking discovery beneath the buildings (Robert Giroux/Getty Images)

Scientists have since revealed the secrets lurking below the surface with the mysterious vessel.

They were able to analyse the tree rings on the wooden skeleton of the shipwreck to reveal its age.

They discovered the wood used to build the vessel came from Philadelphia circa 1773.

So how on Earth did a large, wooden ship come to be in the middle of the city?

Well, when Manhattan was first settled, the site where the World Trade Center was built was actually in the Hudson river.

Researchers aren't sure if the ship sank accidentally or due to some mishap.

As New York grew and expanded, Manhattan’s western shoreline moved westward until the ship was eventually buried by trash and other landfill.

Archaeologist Molly McDonald told CNN in 2014: "It’s such an intense site already based on its recent history, so to be in the midst of this urban, modern, very fraught location, and then to be sitting on what was a river bottom, with clams and fish, and the smell of low tide, was really an amazing juxtaposition."

By 1818, the ship would have vanished from view completely until the September 11 attacks in 2001.

Almost 3,000 people died as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attack (Jose Jimenez/Primera Hora/Getty Images)

And the ship was well and truly long-forgotten when New Yorkers, Americans, and people around the world watched on in horror as a Boeing 767 loaded with 20,000 gallons of jet fuel crashed into the northern tower of the World Trade Center on that fateful day.

The impact left a gaping hole in the 110-story skyscraper, killing hundreds of people instantly.

On a typical weekday, an estimated 50,000 people worked in the buildings.

A further 140,000 people were thought to pass through the Twin Towers as visitors on a daily basis.

The World Trade Center was so large it actually had its own zip code, 10048, which is simply mind-boggling.

In total, 2,977 innocent people were killed in the attacks while thousands more were injured.

And countless people have walked over the site over the years, completely unaware of the nautical treasure hiding underneath.