Nor'easter Exposes 1884 Warren Sawyer Wreck on Nantucket as 700 Shipwrecks Ring Island
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Sep 28
Nor'easter Exposes 1884 Warren Sawyer Wreck on Nantucket as 700 Shipwrecks Ring Island
3 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Sep 28
Summary
A newly exposed shipwreck fragment washed ashore on Nantucket after the weekend nor'easter, and historians say it is likely part of the Warren Sawyer, a three-masted schooner wrecked there in 1884.
Strong waves and currents from the storm uncovered decaying wooden planks and frames studded with nails, footage from Nantucket Current showed.
David Robinson of Massachusetts' underwater archaeology agency said the vessel was built in 1869 and was sailing from New Orleans to Boston with 1,115 bales of cotton and 28 tons of scrap iron when it wrecked.
The find surfaced in the same area where other fragments appeared in 2022 and 2023, suggesting more of the wreck remains buried offshore or under sand.
Nantucket's waters are known as a 'graveyard of the Atlantic' because storms and shoals caused about 700 shipwrecks around the island in the 19th century.