It’s winter on Cape Cod. You’re taking your daily morning walk along the beach, thankful that the ferocious nor’easter that struck over the weekend has passed. Beyond what’s clear in your field of vision you see a shadowy form. As you get closer, the fog-shrouded image comes clearly into view -it’s a shipwreck!
Visitors to Newcomb Hollow Beach at Cape Cod National Seashore this winter are having the unique opportunity of stepping back into the 19th century. On January 28 the hull of a ship was thrust ashore on this Atlantic-facing beach. The ordinarily winter-quiet beach has been transformed by summer-like crowds of people coming to look, ponder, and marvel at this piece of maritime history. On one weekend day over 1,300 people trekked the ¼ mile down the beach to see it. Although the date of the vessel has not been confirmed, the wreck is believed to be a schooner from the 1800s. Schooners were the delivery vehicles of their day, transporting coal, lumber, and other supplies along the coastline. An estimated 200 of the more than 3,000 documented shipwrecks off Cape Cod between the 1600s and modern times were schooners.
The exposed portion of the wreck is approximately 5 x 20 m. It is tilted on its starboard side. Substantial areas of interior and exterior planking remain attached to at least 51 oak ribs or main frames. Researchers, including NPS Northeast Region archeology staff, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archeological Resources, the University of Connecticut, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are working with the NPS to document the wreck and determine its age. Staff are monitoring the wreck, which is protected under federal law, and interpreting it for the public.
The Seashore intends to leave the wreck in place in anticipation that it will be covered by the summer beach or will be pulled back into the Atlantic. Maybe one day it will emerge again to capture the imagination of another generation of visitors.
