The discovery came on Saturday, Sept. 26, as strong winds and heavy rains struck the Northeast
Credit: ACKCurrent/X
NEED TO KNOW
- A nor’easter uncovered what is believed to be a shipwreck fragment in Nantucket, Mass., on Saturday, Sept. 26
- A local news outlet reported that the fragment is “likely” from the 1884 wreck of the Warren Sawyer
- The nor’easter will continue to bring heavy rain, strong winds and flooding to the region on Saturday
A powerful nor’easter has brought heavy rain, strong winds and coastal flooding across the Northeast. In Nantucket, it also brought a piece of history to light.
The Nantucket Current reported on Saturday, Sept. 26, that as the rare, early-season nor’easter hit the Massachusetts island, a fragment from what is believed to be the shipwreck of a 19th-century coastal schooner washed ashore on the south shore.
The Nantucket news outlet shared footage of a portion of the shipwrecked vessel — several large, wooden beams held together with what appeared to be several large nails. In the background of the video, waves crashed in the Atlantic Ocean.
The newly surfaced fragment is “likely” a piece of the Warren Sawyer, a wooden ship that wrecked near Miacomet Beach on the night of Dec. 22, 1884, according to the Nantucket Current.
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 schooner Warren Sawyer, a wooden ship that wrecked near Miacomet Beach on December 22, 1884. pic.twitter.com/s7FNnXbhNr
— Nantucket Current (@ACKCurrent) September 26, 2026
Pieces of the ship were previously uncovered on Nantucket’s south shore in 2022 — in the same area of beach as Saturday’s wooden fragment, according to the Nantucket Current. Plus, the current nor’easter “has already caused significant erosion in that area,” the outlet noted on X.
The portion of the Warren Sawyer that washed ashore in December 2022 — discovered by a resident who was walking her dog — was likely a section of the hull from the schooner’s lower bow, the Nantucket Current reported in February 2023, citing the findings of David Robinson, a state archeologist.
But researchers with the Egan Maritime Institute — a historical organization dedicated to preserving Nantucket’s maritime heritage — cautioned at the time that they could not claim with “complete certainty” that the surfaced wreckage was part of the long-missing Warren Sawyer.
There had been other wrecks in roughly the same area of the island, and there was an inconsistency in the ship’s fastening hardware, the researchers said at the time, per the Nantucket Current.
PEOPLE has reached out to Nantucket city officials for comment.
The Nantucket Current said on X on Saturday that the Warren Sawyer was en route from Boston to New Orleans, carrying cotton and scrap iron, when the sailing vessel was blown off its course by gale-force winds.
The outlet previously shared an account of the shipwreck published in the Nantucket newspaper The Inquirer and Mirror in 1945, years after winds sealed the fate of the Warren Sawyer.
Credit: Scott Eisen/Getty
The captain and all seven others on board were saved, and some cargo was recovered, according to the account of the 1884 shipwreck.
“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,” read the The Inquirer and Mirror account.
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The rare September nor’easter currently bringing heavy rain and wind gusts of up to 60 mph to the Northeast has already caused extensive flooding along New Jersey’s shore and left tens of thousands in the region without power, according to CNN. Travel plans have also been disrupted, with more than 1,900 flights delayed as of Saturday afternoon.
Conditions are expected to further worsen around Saturday evening’s high tide, per CNN, bringing more heavy rainfall to areas including New York City.
Read the full article here
