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The powerful nor’easter pummeling the East Coast has uncovered what may be the remains of a 19th century shipwreck on Nantucket’s shore.
Jason Graziadei, editor-in-chief of the Nantucket Current, spotted the wooden remnants on the Massachusetts island’s south shore Saturday and posted a video of them. He believes they likely came from the Warren Sawyer, a wooden schooner that wrecked near Miacomet Beach 142 years ago.
Nor'easter uncovers century-old shipwreck in Massachusetts
Fragments believed to be from the same ship first appeared in December 2022, when a Nantucket resident spotted them while biking along the island’s southern shore.
Researchers examined archival, photographic, historical and archaeological evidence and concluded that the wreckage was “most likely” from the Warren Sawyer, according to a 2023 report from the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources. The three-masted schooner wrecked there on Dec. 22, 1884, while traveling from New Orleans to Boston with 1,115 bales of cotton and 28 tons of scrap metal, the report said.
More wreckage believed to be from the schooner appeared in February 2023, about a half-mile west of the first find, according to the report.
“As far as I know, it’s the first time a piece of the wreck has resurfaced since 2022, early 2023,” Graziadei told NBC News on Sunday. “It’s certainly possible it could be from another wreck, but given the location and appearance, we said it is most likely the Warren Sawyer.”
Jascin N. Leonardo Finger, deputy director of the Maria Mitchell Association, which runs a natural history museum on Nantucket, said in an email Sunday the newly exposed remnants may be from the Warren Sawyer, but “more investigation is necessary” to confirm their origin.
The Egan Maritime Institute, which works to preserve Nantucket’s maritime history and assisted the board in previous efforts to identify Warren Sawyer wreckage, told NBC News in a statement on Monday morning that the organization plans to survey the site where the new wreck was seen this week and issue a report to the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources.
“We will work with the state as research continues to identify the wreck, but until then, we cannot confirm the ship’s identity with certainty,” the statement reads.
David Robinson, director and chief archaeologist at the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources, told NBC News that based on the initial information he received from the Egan Maritime Museum following their first site visit on Monday, the wreckage appears to be similar to the one “examined in 2022 and identified as likely to be Warren Sawyer’s hull remains,” though it could also “be from a different vessel.”
Shipwrecks near the island were not uncommon in the Warren Sawyer’s time, Leonardo Finger told The New York Times on Saturday. Nantucket residents commonly scavenge items that wash ashore from wrecks, she said.
According to the Egan Maritime Institute, Nantucket is one of the “graveyards of the Atlantic,” with more than 750 wrecks estimated in the surrounding waters.
Nicole Acevedo is a news reporter for NBC News.
Nollaig O'Connor is a senior reporter for NBC News' Social Newsgathering team based in New York.
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