See it: Powerful nor’easter unearths 19th-century shipwreck on New England shore
As a powerful nor’easter lashed Nantucket, uncovering a piece of the island’s maritime history.
Nor’easter waves pull 19th century shipwreck from Nantucket sand
A powerful nor’easter lashing Nantucket with wind and rain has uncovered part of a 19th-century shipwreck along the island’s south shore. Credit: @ACKCurrent
THE TAKEAWAY
- Nor’easter erosion exposes long-buried shipwreck remains.
- The wreckage may be connected to a schooner that ran aground in 1884.
- The ship’s crew was rescued in a dramatic overnight operation.
NANTUCKET, Mass. - As a powerful nor’easter lashed the East Coast, relentless wind, rain and waves triggered colossal coastal erosion on Nantucket, unearthing a piece of the island’s maritime history.
A large section of a shipwreck was spotted Saturday along Nantucket’s south shore on the beach near Point of Breakers and the Sewer Beds, where relentless waves caused significant coastal erosion.
The wooden wreckage is believed to be part of the 19th-century schooner Warren Sawyer, which ran aground near Miacomet Beach on Dec. 22, 1884, the Nantucket Current reported.
The doomed ship was traveling to Boston from New Orleans, hauling a cargo of cotton and scarp iron when it was blown off course by gale-force winds.
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Coastal erosion along Nantucket’s south shore, visible in the background, uncovered a piece of history as a nor’easter sent crashing waves toward the East Coast. (Nantucket Current)
The Warren Sawyer wrecked on Massachusetts island on the night of Dec. 22, 1884, around 11 p.m., loaded with a cargo of cotton and scrap iron.
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A newspaper account chronicled the 1884 shipwreck and the heroic efforts that saved every member of the crew.
According to an account published in The Inquirer and Mirror in 1945, Patrolman Eugene Clisby spotted the schooner’s lights near Miacomet Rip and rushed to the Surfside lifesaving station to call all hands.
The Warren Sawyer wrecked off Nantucket around 11 p.m. on Dec. 22, 1884, while carrying a cargo of cotton and scrap iron. (Nantucket Historical Association / Nantucket Current)
The surf was raging, surrounding the schooner and leaving only its masts visible in the darkness. Capt. Veeder fired a line toward the vessel’s jibstay, but the crew was too weakened by the cold to move forward and secure it.
During a brief lull in the waves, Patrolman Williams ran down the beach and used a hand line to send another line over the schooner’s bow. The sailors crossed the sea-washed deck and secured it, allowing the lifesaving crew to attach a hawser and rig a breech buoy.
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The rescue was made more difficult by the schooner’s violent movement in the surf, but the experienced lifesavers worked through the night.
By the morning of Dec. 23, every member of the Warren Sawyer’s crew had been safely brought ashore, the newspaper article recounted.
This isn’t the first time the shipwreck relic has surfaced along Nantucket’s South Shore. The same area exposed pieces of the Warren Sawyer in December 2022. (Nantucket Current)
This isn’t the first time Nantucket’s historic shipwreck has made an appearance on the South Shore beach.
The storm uncovered a section of the Warren Sawyer in the same area where pieces of the schooner resurfaced in December 2022.
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More than a century after the schooner wrecked, the nor’easter’s powerful waves have once again surfaced the remnants of the lost vessel from beneath the Nantucket sand.