Nor'easter erosion re-exposes what is likely a 142-year-old shipwreck on Nantucket's shore

All summer, cars drove across a Nantucket beach without knowing what lay beneath the sand. Then a nor'easter arrived, stripped the shore bare, and left a tangle of salt-blackened timbers jutting from the eroded bluff — the likely remains of a wooden schooner that went down in a gale 142 years ago.

The fragment surfaced Saturday at a drive-on beach on Nantucket's south shore, after the powerful storm pummeled the island with wind and rain and caused significant coastal erosion. Island resident David DeHart spotted it first and passed a tip to the Nantucket Current. Editor-in-chief Jason Graziadei drove out with his son, found the exposed timbers exactly where DeHart said they would be, and posted video of the find.

It was completely exposed and uncovered by the erosion that happened during this storm.— Jason Graziadei, editor-in-chief, Nantucket Current

On the night of December 22, 1884, a three-masted wooden schooner called the Warren Sawyer went down near Miacomet Beach while hauling 1,115 bales of cotton and 28 tons of scrap iron on a run from New Orleans to Boston, and the wreckage now visible is widely believed to be hers. Gale-force winds pushed the vessel off course until she ran aground at around 11 p.m. The crew of eight, including Captain Edwin L. Saunders, were rescued within an hour by the Surfside Lifesaving Station, according to the Nantucket Historical Association.

This is not the first time the storm-battered shore has given the Warren Sawyer back. A Nantucket resident biking the south shore spotted fragments in December 2022. More pieces emerged about a half-mile west in February 2023. Drawing on archival, photographic, historical, and archaeological evidence, researchers from the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources, the Egan Maritime Institute, and the Nantucket Historical Association determined in a 2023 report that the remains belonged 'most likely' to the lower bow hull of the Warren Sawyer, though an inconsistency in the fastening hardware kept them from making a definitive declaration.

After reviewing photographs and video provided by Graziadei, David Robinson — director and chief archaeologist at the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources — weighed in with his most direct assessment to date.

See how the wreckage extends from the base of the eroded bluff? That's exactly the same situation that the wreckage we saw in 2022 was in. And it's in the same place, so, yes, the logical conclusion based on what I've seen thus far in photos and your video is that this is the same wreckage we identified in 2022 as the partially preserved remains of the wrecked schooner, Warren Sawyer.— David Robinson, director and chief archaeologist, Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources

A preliminary site visit on Monday led Robinson to tell ABC News that the GPS location raises the possibility the wreck belongs to a different vessel — a note of caution that other experts echoed. Jascin N. Leonardo Finger, deputy director of the Maria Mitchell Association, which runs a natural history museum on Nantucket, said that "more investigation is necessary" to confirm the origin of the newly exposed remains.

While it's in the same area where pieces were discovered back in 2022, we cannot ascertain it is the same wreck just by looking at it like this. Investigations would need to be conducted — as were done in 2023 — to try and draw a more solid answer.— Jascin N. Leonardo Finger, deputy director and curator, Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association

The Egan Maritime Institute, which took part in the earlier identification effort alongside the state board, announced that its exhibits and collection manager would visit the site this week and deliver 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.— Egan Maritime Institute

Shipwrecks near Nantucket were common in the Warren Sawyer's era. The Egan Maritime Institute estimates more than 750 wrecks lie in the surrounding waters, earning the area a place among what mariners called the 'graveyards of the Atlantic.' More than 700 wrecks occurred in the island's surrounding waters in the 19th century alone, according to the Nantucket Shipwreck and Lifesaving Museum.

For Graziadei, the rediscovery carried a particular charge — the realization that the fragment had been there all along, hidden under a beach that locals and tourists had been crossing for months.

I just think it's fascinating to be able to see and touch a piece of Nantucket's maritime history from 1884, and also incredible to think that it is located in a spot on the shore that cars were literally driving over on the beach this summer.— Jason Graziadei, editor-in-chief, Nantucket Current

Robinson noted the broader scientific value of such finds. Speaking to ABC News, he called shipwrecks "one-of-a-kind types of resources" and said, "We can learn a lot as archaeologists from analyzing if we have an intact wreck." Officials are asking the public not to walk on the timbers, dig around them, or remove any material. The Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources has also recently joined a nationwide citizen science program that attaches QR codes to uncovered shipwrecks to track and document them along the coast.

Why it matters — The repeated re-emergence of the Warren Sawyer illustrates how storm-driven erosion is actively reshaping Nantucket's coastline and surfacing irreplaceable archaeological sites — raising urgent questions about how to document and protect them before the sea reclaims them again.

Sources differ on Whether the newly exposed wreckage is the same as the 2022 find or a different vessel: Logical conclusion based on location and appearance is that it is the same Warren Sawyer wreckage identified in 2022. (nantucketcurrent.com) vs After a preliminary site visit, there is a chance this is a different ship based on the GPS location. (abcnews.com)

Reported by nbcnews.com, deseret.com, nytimes.com, nantucketcurrent.com, bostonglobe.com, nypost.com, abcnews.com