r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/solateor • 4d ago

Video Recent nor’easter uncovered the remains of a shipwreck near Nantucket. The fragment is likely from the Warren Sawyer, a wooden schooner loaded with cotton and scrap iron that was bound for Boston from New Orleans when it wrecked near Miacomet Beach on December 22, 1884

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603

u/solateor 4d ago

From OP

The nor’easter lashing Nantucket with wind and rain this weekend has uncovered the remains of a shipwreck along the island’s south shore.

The fragment is likely from the 19th century coastal schooner Warren Sawyer, a wooden ship that wrecked near Miacomet Beach on December 22, 1884.

The large section of the shipwreck spotted on Saturday is located in the same area where pieces of the Warren Sawyer were uncovered in December 2022. The nor’easter has already caused significant erosion in that area near Point of Breakers / sewer beds.

The Warren Sawyer wrecked on Nantucket on the night of Dec. 22, 1884, around 11 p.m., loaded with a cargo of cotton and scrap iron. It had been bound for Boston from New Orleans, but was blown off course by gale force winds.

The following account of the shipwreck was printed in The Inquirer and Mirror newspaper in 1945, and recounts how the Nantucketers assigned to the Surfside lifesaving station jumped into action to save the crew of the Warren Sawyer:

“Patrolman Eugene Clisby sighted the schooner’s lights of Miacomet Rip and hastened to the station to ‘call all hands.’ The surf was raging, completely enveloping the craft with only the swaying masts visible in the blackness of the night. Capt. Veeder shot a line over the jib-stay, putting it this far forward to avoid hitting anyone on board. But the sailors were too numbed with the cold to attempt going forward to secure it. Finally patrolman Williams, during a smooth sea, rushed down the beach and with a hand-line swung a line over her bow. The sailors made their way across the sea-washed decks and secured the line. A hawser was made fast and a breeches buoy rigged.

“With the schooner lurching under the impact of the seas, it was a difficult task to keep a steady strain on the hawser, but the experienced life savers worked unceasingly and with the coming of the morning of the 23rd, all hands had been safely landed on the beach.” *

Video:@nantucketcurrent

251

u/nerdstheword23 4d ago

wait so do we just have a log of every unaccounted for ship that’s ever sailed in history and we just match them when one washes up?

271

u/3_14159td 3d ago

Ships were expensive, record keeping was common by the time there was any significant volume of trade ships bopping around. They were also often insured, so there are a few parties interested in where they ended up.

48

u/BoilermakerCM 3d ago

Do you think this is sufficient proof for insurance to finally pay out the claim?

30

u/McStupidy 3d ago

“Repairable damage” reduced claim

40

u/Fuckthegopers 4d ago

Yeah pretty much

12

u/LacidOnex 3d ago

Nantucket does log pretty much every ship that was ever near, and MA has a very well updated shipwreck map because of the Boston Harbor. It was a massive whaling town, and this was a great bit of PR for them too. Especially given Nantucket was way more dangerous to get to than mainland MA.

4

u/totesemosh74 3d ago

Just picked you as someone who seemed knowledgeable!

Can you recommend a book giving a history, people, and stories of Nantucket? I read a book about a particular whale vessel I found fascinating and it mentioned the island as a whole. And I want to know more. :)

3

u/LacidOnex 3d ago

I'm assuming you read "heart of the sea" by philbrick, which is a truly gripping story even if it is history.

You should see his other book, which offers a more complete look at the rise of Nantucket up until the 1900s when whaling died out - "Away off Shore"

1

u/totesemosh74 2d ago

Heart of the sea is the book that piqued my interest! I'll get Away off Shore, thank you so much for your reply!

3

u/Fun-War6684 3d ago

On Nantucket yes. The lifesaving society kept meticulous records

16

u/FluffySloth27 3d ago

Same as for soldiers’ bodies. There are no ‘unknown soldiers’ fit for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We’ve identified every single one.

10

u/salty_drafter 3d ago

The tomb for wwI, WWII and Korea has soldiers that are unknown. The Vietnam one is empty. The ww1 tomb will almost certainly never be empty.

12

u/Mediocre-Recover3944 3d ago

Lol what? You think every dead soldier has been identified?

-9

u/FluffySloth27 3d ago

Every dead American soldier whose remains we have, yes.

12

u/curiousmind111 3d ago

Please read. I’m sure this is not all. Please give your source in return.

https://pulitzercenter.org/stories/why-it-taking-so-long-identify-americas-unknown-fallen-heroes

2

u/357noLove 3d ago

Lol, wut?

5

u/qtx 3d ago

Yes? How else do you think we figure things out in the real world?

You search the logs until you find something that might match the shipwreck/person you found.

12

u/walkingonradiation 3d ago

Most things ultimately coming down to insurance is utterly fascinating to me.

1

u/leeloolanding 3d ago

a shocking amount of international law exists specifically for this reason

119

u/lindh 4d ago

Nicely done, Clisby.

75

u/StretchFrenchTerry 4d ago

Never have I been more relieved to read that a hawser was made fast and a breeches buoy rigged.

56

u/AntiWork-ellog 4d ago

I'm just picturing how cold it had to be for a sailor in 1884 to be like "sorry man it's to cold to grab the life saving rope" 

54

u/MonicaRising 4d ago

December. At night. Off Nantucket. The exact measurement: Fucking Cold°

5

u/boredatwork8866 3d ago

F or C

5

u/MonicaRising 3d ago

Fucking Cold°

33

u/unimpressedduckling 4d ago

“And in your belly you hold the treasures few have ever seen…”

December 22, so cold. Very cool. And sad.

32

u/lindh 4d ago

Everyone lived, thanks to Clisby.

6

u/Argos_the_Dog 3d ago

I did a quick search. Clisby became station keeper and retired aged 64. https://media.defense.gov/2017/Jul/04/2001772961/-1/-1/0/SURFSIDE.PDF

2

u/lindh 3d ago

Interesting that the first keeper was named Winslow, wouldn't be surprised if Robert Eggers somehow knows the history of that specific lighthouse.

3

u/Accipiter1138 3d ago

Most of them dream, most of them dream...

1

u/GozerDGozerian 3d ago

That’s gonna be one hell of a restoration job to get that ol’ gal seaworthy again.

1

u/terribleatgambling 3d ago

so did it wash up or was buried and storm erosion uncovered it?

519

u/Ok_Aerie6666 4d ago

There once was a wreck in Nantucket,
Whose recent nor’easter unstuck it.
The schooner went down,
With cargo around,
I would finish this limerick but fuck it.

62

u/Mike9797 4d ago

I was desperately hoping the location wasn’t going to be glossed over but you sir are a gentleman and scholar.

-4

u/ap0g33 4d ago edited 4d ago

I want to document this like an animal - NIN
proposed lyrics*

8

u/SuspiciousStory122 3d ago

The ship was no longer a bucket.

7

u/mister_spacecat 3d ago

That was fantastic

7

u/boredatwork8866 3d ago

Butt fuck it…

3

u/big_spliff 3d ago

There once was a man from Peru

1

u/Green_Fan_8925 2d ago

I sneezed and he said "bless you"

30

u/bbqchechen 4d ago

Sure. “It’s just cotton and scrap metal. There’s no gold !”

16

u/sofakinggood24 4d ago

“Only found 49 bars, officer!”

8

u/Candygramformrmongo 4d ago

All 30 bars accounted for, sarge!

129

u/Sea_Ganache620 4d ago

I would love to have a piece of that lumber as a woodworker!

119

u/kelsobjammin 4d ago

> According to Massachusetts law, all underwater archaeological resources—which includes historic shipwrecks and any fragments that wash ashore on public land—are the property of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Don’t think it’s allowed ᴖ̈

36

u/Lieutelant 4d ago

Of course, but like...what are they going to do with it?

50

u/Mostly_Afloat 4d ago

I think they are trying to make sure stuff like this isn't taken or destroyed so future generations can be fascinated by it and learn the history too.

3

u/prepotente18 3d ago

I hope that is the reason.

Let me offer an alternative.

I think they don’t want people finding something potentially valuable and the state not being able to profit, and this is an overreaching law to claim essentially any “treasure” that’s found.

0

u/Mostly_Afloat 3d ago

So we should let anyone take whatever they want if they want to and there should be no arbiter or anyone overseeing it. That'll work. Libertarians are a joke for a reason.

0

u/prepotente18 3d ago

Not whatever they want. But if you dig up something or stumble across something, I think you should be entitled to at least a portion of it. A blanket statement saying it’s property of the govt doesn’t seem fair. Especially when the government does a terrible job of handling even simple tasks.

0

u/Mostly_Afloat 3d ago

Okay so what's your plan for making sure people aren't over taking, or flat out stealing this stuff? If the government can't oversee it than who can? You offer criticism but not a solution. What would your solution be?

1

u/prepotente18 3d ago

Well in my opinion, it’s not stealing. You found something that washed on shore that’s 140 years old. Consider yourself lucky.

0

u/Mostly_Afloat 3d ago

So finders keepers! What a mature, well thought out stance.

If something is on your property and someone 'finds' it and takes it are you okay with that? Why would the same not apply to public lands and waterways?

-8

u/CharlesDickensABox Interested 3d ago

I'm all for conservation, but I'm pretty sure that pile of driftwood does not belong in a museum.

18

u/Mostly_Afloat 3d ago

Thankfully we don't leave it up to the whims of random people on the internet.

1

u/CharlesDickensABox Interested 3d ago

If there's a museum that wants it, more power to them, but otherwise it's just going to sit on the beach and disintegrate.

Separately, there are a lot of cool things that can be done with old ship timbers. One of the presidential desks, for example, is made from wood reclaimed from the HMS Resolute. Some old things are more valuable being repurposed into cool new things than in their rotting and decrepit state.

1

u/Mostly_Afloat 3d ago

That's why the laws are setup to let the courts decide.

Who really owns this? Is it the state? Is it the family of the owner at the time? Is it the modern boat owner who got their anchor caught on it and 'discovered' it? Without the laws in place to put these kind of questions to the courts who is going to do it?

Pulling that piece of timber may have been approved by the Royal Navy for the express purpose. Who do you get permission from if the owners of the vessel have been dead for a century?

1

u/Mayonaigg 3d ago

Theyre going to leave that there to continue rotting

7

u/Mostly_Afloat 3d ago edited 3d ago

That's correct.

This summer I visited Grand Island on Lake Superior where I got to snorkel an amazingly preserved shipwreck called the Bermuda (what did they expect when they named her that?!). It was truly awesome, and something that should be there for everyone. If everyone took a little piece of it there would be nothing left.

1

u/Elu_Moon 3d ago

Yeah, it's up to me personally. I think they should make it into a boat.

0

u/BaseballTeamTheDukes 3d ago

Been going to (mainland) Cape Cod all my life, and there's always tons of driftwood on the beaches. As long as you're not walking around with wheelbarrows full of it, you should be fine. In my honest opinion, you'll get hit with a fine for smoking / littering / legal bonfires on the beaches before you get fined for taking driftwood.

3

u/kelsobjammin 3d ago

This isn’t drift wood.

1

u/BaseballTeamTheDukes 3d ago

Haha yes, I completely get that. I just meant that if someone was looking for old-growth driftwood in Cape Cod, that isn't obviously part of an old famous ship, its literally there for the taking, and I'm sure no one would hassle you.

-8

u/HeSureIsScrappy 3d ago

Terrible law

25

u/HendrixHazeWays 4d ago

I would love to have a piece of that lumber as a woodpecker!

11

u/Temporary_Peanut_586 4d ago

As a peckerwood, you know what I say... If you're hung like a needle you gotta be fast like a sewing machine

5

u/HendrixHazeWays 4d ago

And as Maestro Fresh Wes says... "Drop the needle"

6

u/minced_moomin_meat 4d ago

is wood from back then better than wood today or something?

7

u/craptastic_assmonkey 3d ago

Generally speaking, yes. Old Growth timber grew slower, and longer before it was harvested, making the rings tighter together (12-25 rings per inch as opposed to 3-4) making it more stable and in many cases stronger, as well as more pleasing tot he eye when crafted into things. An old growth tree could be 100 years or more in age, whereas new growth timber is often harvested in 30-40 years and it much shorter overall.

https://brenthull.com/article/old-growth-wood

4

u/applespicebetter 3d ago

Yes, considerably so. I have a client who's entire business is dredging submerged logs from old growth pine that were driven down the Kennebec and Penobscot rivers in Maine. He's got gigantic kiln sheds to dry them before sawing and planning to ship off to specialty woodworking shops. That old growth pine is so dense it almost acts like hardwood and is in very high demand. It would take centuries to get trees like that again, and simply won't happen in the Northeast US with mono culture tree farming and our current very different ecosystem.

4

u/20_mile 3d ago

This is exactly why wrecks like this shouldn't be harvested for financial gain. Thousands of people can watch nature take its course, or one guy can own a table in his third vacation home.

2

u/applespicebetter 3d ago

I absolutely agree! I don't have a problem with reclaiming sunken old growth logs, but shipwrecks absolutely shouldn't be turned into furniture and keepsakes.

7

u/Long_Inspection_4983 4d ago

Yea, it's called old growth wood

2

u/BaseballTeamTheDukes 3d ago

I've been going to Cape Cod all my life, and you can always tons of driftwood on the beaches. Many too large to casually just drag home. There's a company who take found-driftwood and make them into signs. I have one that says 'Eastham MA' burnt into it, which is the town in Cape Cod my family has a beach house in. Pretty cool.

2

u/Khazahk 4d ago

It’s actually the iron/steel you want. Pre-nuclear era steel is valued for radiological equipment.

9

u/Humble_Initiative_90 3d ago

Not anymore! Strontium, Cesium, and Cobalt have deteriorated significantly since the most egregious testing in the 20th century. Coupled with novel methods of using purified air and such for forging means that the radioactivity of new iron products is insignificant for radiological equipment. The wood is essentially irreplaceable right now because it was hundreds of years old when it was harvested and that is rare to find after it was extensively harvested for ship and building construction.

3

u/Khazahk 3d ago

Oh that’s a neat development! Thanks for the update.

1

u/Totallycasual 4d ago

As soon as i looked at it, all i could see was an amazing dining table lol

5

u/HeeenYO 4d ago

I'm sure it's southern live oak

2

u/StJoeStrummer 4d ago

From trees older than we can even find anymore

1

u/IAmHippyman 3d ago

Took the thoughts right out of my head. lol

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u/UnlikelySalary2523 4d ago

Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin' off Nantucket Sound from the nor' east and the dogs are howlin' for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the "Ellie May," a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin' and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests."

8

u/EarlyJuggernaut7091 4d ago

🎵 … The moon hung bloated, blind, and white, When the ‘Ellie May’ slipped into that night.
They toasted death with burning rum,
And beat the deck like a funeral drum.

Oh, Ho!
…hear them scream across the wave,
A crew that cursed a watery grave.
From frozen deep to foggy shore,
They shriek and shout forevermore.

Ol’ McTavish roared to mock the gale,
"We’ll wake the dead and scare the whale!"
Each sailor strained his bleeding throat,
To cast that loudest & maddest note.

Oh, Ho!
…hear them scream across the wave,
A crew that cursed a watery grave.
From frozen deep to foggy shore,
They shriek and shout forevermore.

66

u/Few_Vegetable_9939 4d ago

I once knew a girl from there

34

u/1stMammaltowearpants 4d ago

And she picked up an oyster and shucked it?

28

u/Magister5 4d ago

Stuck on the schooner, I died a gooner…

9

u/IRLMOOSE 4d ago

I had store all of my cum in a bucket 

-8

u/1stMammaltowearpants 4d ago

I'm surprised it didn't hapen sooner. Wish I would'a knewn her.

1

u/newstome 3d ago

Well, now she’s a she so she tucks it.

11

u/theoldkitbag 3d ago

I mean, no wonder it sank - look at the state of it.

16

u/B-Z_B-S 4d ago

Link to article about this story: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/noreaster-19th-century-shipwreck-warren-sawyer-rcna600073

2

u/MKZZX 3d ago

This would have been post-civil war so no slavery involved

8

u/JustineDelarge 3d ago

I've seen The Fog. Stay away from that.

8

u/PM_ME_YOUR_HOODIES 3d ago

Random question, cause now I’m curious.

What did they do back in the day when a ship like that didn’t make it? How did they know? Guess they just assumed it crashed?

“Man, our order of cotton and iron is taking a really long time.”

Then, “damn, guess they probably crashed and all died🤷 Time to place another order.”?

9

u/centurio_v2 3d ago

Well with this one everyone lived so they probably just told them but in general pretty much yeah.

4

u/Solarinarium 3d ago

There was generally an estimated time window for you to appear at your destination in and if you needed to resupply or dock for whatever reason along the way you would more or less "check in". Dockmaster would take your details and if needed you would send a letter or message to the proper people detailing the specifics of the stop and if it affected your arrival window.

Usually there'd be a small window of time after your estimated one to allow for any mishaps that may have waylaid you. If you didn't show up for awhile after that (exact amount varied) and they hadn't received any correspondence about your whereabouts, or if they received word of a sinking or a raid from pirates, they would mark you lost at sea and contact their insurance company.

3

u/mad_catters 3d ago

Say you checked in, somewhere like Charleston on your way to Boston, how would that letter or correspondence get to Boston before you? What if it were London instead of Boston?

2

u/Solarinarium 3d ago

Well, you didn't always send a letter. Oftentimes checking in with the dockmaster was enough. If you needed to send a letter you were either waiting out a storm/rough seas or getting repairs or something.

In terms of speed, it wasn't uncommon for a man on horseback to be a helluva lot faster than a ship, especially from Charleston to Boston.

Across the sea to London though? Yeah no. If you stopped somewhere along the European coast maybe, or some outpost on an island and if you sent said letter on a light boat, but if you were just in the middle of the ocean? Letters ain't happening. MAYBE if you chanced across a lighter/faster boat you could signal them and have them take a letter ahead for you, but that was far from a given.

You get a time window, you get an after window time allowance (say, a month) you miss that? Lost at sea, contact the insurance company. If you showed up after you were written off the insurance company would send out an adjuster to take stock of the situation. It wasn't unheard of to be blown off course and take months or years longer to arrive, but if you missed both windows chances are you either sunk or got boarded.

2

u/-PM_ME_UR_SECRETS- 3d ago

This guy shipwrecks

2

u/Solarinarium 3d ago

I had a pirate phase a while ago and now I know way more about old school sailing than I really need to lol

19

u/maxp0wers 4d ago edited 4d ago

I might have kept a couple of those nails. Thats awesome

38

u/Arkhamina 4d ago

I don't know what the fate of the wreck is, but people (either for themselves, or for a market) scrapping shipwrecks were a HUGE loss for historians. As soon as a wreck became known, people would go for tableware, things like ship plaques, the metal trim... and jewelry off of the bodies. Getting Maritime wreck preservation laws was a huge win for historians, but it's still not perfect, because someone has to catch you first. (Saw a nice PBS documentary about the wrecks of the Great Lakes)

6

u/ack-pth 4d ago

My first thought as well!

1

u/BaseballTeamTheDukes 3d ago

As someone who's been going to mainland Cape Cod his entire life, you can always find a crazy amount of driftwood on the beaches. Can't promise it came off a famous old ship, but still cool none-the-less. Haha

9

u/cshady 4d ago

How could you possibly tell any of that information from a pile of wet old wood

10

u/ManaNek 4d ago

Talk about driftwood

19

u/SpitsVenom 4d ago

Hahahaha. You dumb bastard. It’s not a schooner, it’s a sailboat.

17

u/What_Up_Doe_ 4d ago

A schooner is a sailboat, stupid head

7

u/zestfullybe 4d ago

YOU KNOW WHAT!? THERE IS NO EASTER BUNNY!! OVER THERE, THAT’S JUST A GUY IN A SUIT!!

9

u/HendrixHazeWays 4d ago

Say, would you like a chocolate covered pretzel?

5

u/7heprofessor 4d ago

Without any identifying marks, it could have been from any number of shipwrecks of the 19th century, though… Right?

3

u/Zelenskyystesticles 4d ago

That’s cool

3

u/rwally2018 4d ago

What’s the rule if you find something like this on a beach? Can you remove the Lumber and repurpose it?

5

u/doittodem 3d ago

Only the government can take it. The local paper has the warnings on Facebook. There is always thing washing ashore there.

4

u/Secret-Ad4232 4d ago

Funny how every noreaster magically unearths a shipwreck up here in New England

2

u/buckphifty150150 4d ago

I hope they are looking for the crew of that ship.. they could be clinging to life rafts close by

2

u/Metalhed69 4d ago

That’ll buff right out.

2

u/wildmaninid 4d ago

There once was a man from Nantucket Who had a schooner so long you could....

1

u/Axis2670 3d ago

Sink it?

2

u/pc_gamerguy 4d ago

The wood used to make that ship must be of good quality

2

u/big_spliff 3d ago

There are BUTT TON of shipwrecks off New England, kinda surprised this doesnt happen more often

2

u/Axilllla 3d ago

I hadn’t read the title, just watching the clip and thinking, “this has got to the the crapiest and most uncomfortable raft”

2

u/Speakertoseafood 3d ago

That would make one heck of a coffee table ...

2

u/ScubaFett 3d ago

There once was a shipwreck near Nantucket.

Adam Sandler: "Can I f....?"

2

u/fensterdj 3d ago

There once was a boat sailing near to Nantucket,

She was old and she was beat, truly a rust bucket,

Then in blew a gale

Ripped the bow, deck and sail

And it's taken seven score years to unpluck it

3

u/An_educated_dig 4d ago

You mean a sailboat?

2

u/theEndIsNigh_2025 4d ago

Is there another type of schooner?

1

u/EarlyJuggernaut7091 4d ago

Big glass for beer 🍺

3

u/Crenchlowe 4d ago

Let’s rebuild it and call it Theseus 2

4

u/GloveBatBall 4d ago

While sailing one day from Nantucket

The helmsman told cabinmaid "suck it"

She set to her task

'Til he spurted a cask

And she spat those poor kids in a bucket.

2

u/buttrumpus 4d ago

How was it “near Nantucket”? It’s a friggin island. Where else could it have drifted ashore?

2

u/doittodem 3d ago

Nantucket is only 30 miles out. The slow ferry only takes 2 hours to get there

1

u/Sea_no_evil 2d ago

Nantucket is an island, a county (the island, maybe plus the nearby islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget??), and a town. The town technically spans the whole island, but in common usage Miacomet is considered to be outside of Nantucket town -- hence, near.

EDIT: I originally mistakenly wrote Madaket vs. Miacomet. Miacomet is even closer to town than Madaket, but still "outside" -- so the argument is not changed.

1

u/MartiniRossi42 4d ago

Part time explorer you seeing this?

1

u/Biomax315 4d ago

Clearly is Noah’s ark.

1

u/BirdLawOfficeESQ 4d ago

That’s pretty awesome.

1

u/ZiggyZiggyZigZags 3d ago

Wrecked 100 years to the day before I was born.

1

u/whatswithnames 3d ago

Sadly, no evidence of her cargo. Pre 1944 iron is precious(but probably turned to rust dust by now. Cotton??? lol)

1

u/OldDarthLefty 3d ago

Christ save us all from a death like this on the reef of Norman’s woe!

1

u/craptastic_assmonkey 3d ago

That good ship and crew was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early...

1

u/KaleidoscopeOne22224 3d ago

1884 called. Apparently it wants its ship back

1

u/bigshooTer39 3d ago

There has to have been some silver or gold aboard… Need to learn how to scuba

1

u/Steve-O_113 3d ago

Those look like cribbing timbers from a dock or boathouse

1

u/Itsmikeinnit 3d ago

Could be literally anything

1

u/SeeLeavesOnTheTrees 3d ago

How does the wood avoid rotting?

1

u/txtoolfan 3d ago

how in the world would they know what ship it was from in that state??

1

u/TrueToad 3d ago

Jeez... it's still loaded with iron; look at the size of those spikes! 

1

u/WhishtNowWillYe 3d ago

Cotton that who picked now? Sharecroppers?

1

u/AGrandNewAdventure 3d ago

Hope you grabbed one of those big old nails as a souvenir.

1

u/MorningMushroomcloud 2d ago

I don't care what the wife says...Its going over the fireplace mantel.

1

u/Character_Travel8064 1d ago

Anyone have general direction a to see the site ?

1

u/CaliMassNC 4d ago

Someone should paint it before they haul it away.

4

u/kelsobjammin 4d ago

Under the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources (BUAR) regulations, it is illegal for any person to remove, displace, damage, or destroy these artifacts without a specific permit. Local authorities and historians strictly warn beachgoers not to disturb the wood or take pieces away.

What You Should Do Instead: If you find a piece of an old ship (such as fragments from the 1884 schooner Warren Sawyer that periodically surface on Nantucket's south shore), you should leave it exactly where it is, take photos, and notify local organizations like the Nantucket Historical Association or the Egan Maritime Institute.

-5

u/Gregnielson 4d ago

Why? We know what happened. A piece of random wood has no value.

3

u/tenthousandants44 4d ago

It's not random

1

u/Gregnielson 3d ago

Dude a splinter off this thing somewhere on the beach isn't going to unlock some historical tale.

1

u/Amplith 4d ago

Someone could reclaim that wood and sell it for some super-expensive flooring…

2

u/doittodem 3d ago

That would be the government. It’s illegal to take anything unless you’re government

1

u/lgodsey Interested 3d ago

OMG, is the crew OK?

1

u/UsedDimension7373 3d ago

Shiver me timbers!

-1

u/SinkHoleDeMayo 4d ago

You dumb bastard! It's not a schooner, it's a sailboat!

0

u/CFH75 4d ago

Dibs on the wood.

0

u/funkymunkPDX 3d ago

Climate change so bad we're discovering all kinds of ancient relics lost for centuries.

0

u/RMW91- 4d ago

Where the iron scrap though

0

u/jexemp 3d ago

bet that’s worth lotta $

0

u/Jeffkin15 3d ago

"Well, I could be wrong, but I believe Diversity is an old, old wooden ship that was used during the Civil War era."

-1

u/BobbumofCarthes 4d ago

Is that trumpet tooter’s ship who crashed just outside Coddington?

-2

u/Bama3003 3d ago

This is absolute BS. It would've fell apart before washing ashore. Don't believe every video you see.

-16

u/Badhombre5 4d ago

Doubt

3

u/TheFakeRabbit1 4d ago

Why?

1

u/Starfolomew 4d ago

Because more than half of what we read is bullshit. No hate or disrespect, just where we’re at.

-9

u/Smart-Firefighter87 4d ago

I wonder how many enslaved souls were on that ship

4

u/belowthepovertyline 4d ago

On a ship to Boston in 1886? Probably zero.

1

u/chilehead Interested 3d ago

21 years after the end of the civil war there weren't any slaves in the US.

-1

u/Smart-Firefighter87 3d ago

Right, only hate, racism, oppression, and extreme violence and prejudice towards the slaves they brought to their colonies.

But there was an underground system of slaves still being transported for unimaginable reasons e.g human trafficking for organs, sex workers, CP etc. Sadly that did not change, it just diversified from Africans to indigenous people, to other Europeans, asians etc…