A section of shipwreck exposed by a storm on Nantucket is not from the vessel that officials initially suspected, according to a state archaeological assessment announced in October. Researchers have yet to identify the ship.
The remains appeared along the Massachusetts coast in late September after a powerful nor’easter uncovered weathered wooden beams. Officials initially considered whether the wreckage was part of the Warren Sawyer, a three-masted schooner lost near Nantucket in 1884. Remains attributed to that ship had been documented in the area in 2022 and 2023, according to the Associated Press.
The Egan Maritime Institute said in an Oct. 8 release that archaeologists concluded the newly exposed material did not match those previously documented remains. The determination followed an Oct. 7 examination by state archaeologists. They described the find as a roughly 50-foot section of a large merchant vessel, likely dating from the late 19th or early 20th century.
David Robinson, director and chief archaeologist of the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources, told Fox News Digital that several construction features prompted doubt about the initial identification. The wooden ribs appeared larger than those in the known Warren Sawyer remains, he said. Robinson also cited differences in the woods used and iron fastenings that appeared to postdate the schooner’s 1884 loss.
Those observations led the team to conclude that the newly exposed section likely came from another vessel, Robinson said. He cautioned, however, that the evidence does not establish what ship it was.
One possibility is that the wreckage came from a schooner barge, a cargo vessel type used along the East Coast in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Robinson said that idea is uncertain: such barges were more likely to be towed through Nantucket Sound than across the open ocean south of the island. Researchers are consulting historical records and may be able to narrow the possibilities, he said, but identifying the vessel will require weighing documentary and archaeological evidence.
The scale of the exposed fragment is unusual, Robinson said. Shipwreck remains regularly surface along the Massachusetts shoreline, but the piece found on Nantucket measured about 50 feet by 11 feet and appeared to be part of a ship’s hull.
The Warren Sawyer’s history provides context for the original theory. The schooner was carrying 1,115 bales of cotton and 28 tons of scrap iron from New Orleans to Boston when it ran aground on Dec. 22, 1884, according to the state board. Its captain and seven crew members were rescued. Nantucket residents spent two weeks recovering hundreds of cotton bales, and a later storm broke the ship apart.
The newly found wreckage has also been added to a Massachusetts shipwreck monitoring program, Robinson said. It is the first wreck in the state to receive a tag through the program, which allows members of the public to help researchers follow remains as they shift along the coast.
Robinson said the remains should be documented and treated carefully because shipwrecks can preserve historical evidence. The identity of this vessel, and whether it was a schooner barge or another kind of merchant ship, remains unresolved.
