Storm reveals ship timbers

Heavy winds and seas battered Nantucket over the weekend, exposing wooden ship remains on a south shore beach called Point of Breakers.

A resident spots the wreck

David DeHart found the ship's remains and tipped off Jason Graziadei, editor-in-chief of the Nantucket Current, who drove out with his son Owen to confirm the discovery.

“I drove out there with my son Owen and sure enough, it was right there where David said it was.”

Timbers match a 2022 find

The newly visible wooden timbers jutting from the sand in the shape of a hull were in the same spot as ship fragments found back in two thousand twenty-two.

Likely the Warren Sawyer

David Robinson, director and chief archeologist for the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archeological Resources, determined in two thousand twenty-three that the remnants likely belonged to the Warren Sawyer, a cargo ship.

The ship's final voyage

The Warren Sawyer was traveling from New Orleans to Boston with bales of cotton and scrap iron when it crashed on the night of December twenty-second, eighteen eighty-four. The captain and crew were rescued within hours.

A piece of maritime history

Graziadei said it is fascinating to see and touch a piece of Nantucket's maritime history from eighteen eighty-four, especially in a spot where cars were driving over the beach this summer.

“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.”