Storm peels back 19th century ship remains

Published on February 16, 2008 By mr.henry In Current Events

One hundred or more years ago, a sailing vessel wrecked on the sandbars off Wellfleet’s outer beaches.

This past weekend’s storm peeled back the sand, and the years, and freed the vessel. And for the first time in more than a century it was afloat on the ocean - or at least it’s skeletal remains. It drifted to shore, more than 50 feet long, and grounded on the sands of Newcomb Hollow Beach.

The large oak timbers of the ship’s ribs still rise from the keel, as they did when it was built in some unknown shipyard, only resembling more the ribs of a giant beached whale.

William Burke, the branch chief of cultural resources management for the National Park Service, said the vessel was at least late 1800’s era, possibly older.

Over 3,000 ships went down off the Outer Cape, most during the late 19th century, making it hard for him to identify the vessel.

Burke believed it might be connected to pieces of a wreck uncovered on Newcomb Hollow Beach the previous two winters. Those were pieces of large oak planking connected to ship’s ribs.

A similar piece of wreckage lies to the north of the Newcomb Hollow landing, and is about 26 feet long and 15 feet wide. It looks like the side of a large vessel. The main piece of the wreck is south of the landing.

Burke said that visitors could look at the vessel, but cautioned that it is not legal to take any of it. The park will be documenting it in photographs and measurements for their records, but would probably not excavate it.

Comments

No one has commented on this article. Be the first!

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!