Photo of the Day - The Tugboat Hammer

Sunday afternoon was a delightfully sunny, albeit a bit cold. I had heard that the bones of the tugboat 'Hammer' had become exposed on the beach at Cooks Brook Beach. The Hammer was permanently beached in February, 1965, on the beach between Cooks Brook and South Sunken Meadow Beaches. The tugboat's remains get periodically covered and uncovered by the shifting sands.

This tugboat ended in the conviction of the Tommy Dennison, the only man in Massachusetts in the 20th century to be convicted of piracy. It's an interesting story ... found here.

Lastly, here is a summer photo of the Hammer.

Three years, 3,500 miles - Neat Story

A story that no one expected to actually end has had a sort-a happy ending.  Apparently a boat lost at sea off Nantucket Island during the summer of 2008 has been found off the coast of Spain. That was almost 3 years ago. The 'good' part of this story is that nobody lost their life when the boat 'got away'.

Read this story in the Boston Globe's bostom.com website..... Here.

Shipwreck on Nauset Beach - The Montclair?

Shipwrecks seem to come and go on the Outer Cape. This one, thought to be the Montclair, has recently reappeared on Nauset Beach. Another piece of the Montclair washed up this past May. The Montclair sank in March 1927 just off-shore. Five men perished in the wreck. Watch the video from the Cape Cod Times.

Another Shipwreck on Nauset Beach

Another large piece of an old shipwreck has 'surfaced' on Orleans' Nauset Beach. It's believed to be a piece of the three masted schooner Montclair that sank in a storm in 1927.  Another, larger, piece was unearthed last November just a short distance south from this finding.  Unfortunately, there is really no way to be sure which ship this piece is from since there were over 5000 known shipwrecks off Cape Cod.

Check out the story and photo gallery on the Cape Codder's website...Here.

Photo of the Day - Ship's Ballast On Wellfleet Beach

CNN's iReport website ran a very interesting photo of a pile of rusted, twisted, iron found about a mile north of Wellfleet's Marconi Beach. The photo was taken by Christopher Seufert, of http://www.capecodphoto.net/. Take a look, below.  The best guess is that it's old anchor chains, used as ballast in the hulls of sailing ships, from the 1700's to the early 1900's.

  

Ground Zero Shipwreck Examined

A few a weeks ago remnants of a large wooden ship were found in the excavation for the new buildings to be built on the site of the World Trade Center. As you might expect, the folks who do forensic history (is that the right term?) are having a field day. And they should, since this ship was probably dumped (sunk?) as part of the landfill as they extended Manhattan Island south toward what is today Battery Park.  Read this article about the ongoing work of preserving and understanding the history behind these interesting findings.

Ground Zero Shipwreck Found

Does it get better than this?  My fascination with 18th century shipwrecks and my interest in the construction at NYC's ground zero have come together in a recent discovery of a 30 foot section of wooden hull, presumably of a 1700's ship. The excavation has just begun, but one theory is that the ship was used as part of landfill when New York's Manhattan Island was extended southward.

Read about this discovery, and check out the photos, on the New York Times website.

HMS Somerset III Resurfaces After 232 Years

The British warship HMS Somerset III, which played a key role in the Revolutionary War, has washed ashore (more correctly - resurfaced) after 232 years. The ship sank in November 1778 off the Cape. Parts of the ship's hull are evident in the sand off Provincetown. In 1775, Paul Revere slipped past the ship before beginning his ride to Lexington to warn the colonials that the British were on the move. (Remember - '1' if by sea...?).

One new aspect of this 'find' is that the National Seashore is using satellite mapping and digital imaging to preserve both the location and design of the Somerset III for future study.

Go to the article in the Boston Globe to read this fascinating story.

Whale Bones Rise From Beach

After the recent storms six complete pilot whale skeletons were uncovered on the beach off Lieutenant Island in Wellfleet. The Turtle Journal blog ran a long story, with photos and videos that is a good read. Take a look!

As sands shift we are often treated to a history lesson. Last year, and in 2008, we saw the remnants of a schooner from the 1800s. Check out these photos from my website.

Wellfleet Shipwreck Returns

The shipwreck that first was seen on Newcomb Hollow Beach, in Wellfleet, seems to have reappeared. As the sand comes and goes it seems to have washed up a small portion of the large keel section that we saw in January and February of 2008. Check out a few photos from last year on my website, at http://shipwreck.robertsheldon.com/. The video below, from the Cape Cod Times. shows how it looks today.

A New Shipwrecked Hull Washes Ashore in Truro

The 40 foot section of timbers and planking of a wooden hull of a ship from the early 1900's, or earlier, has washed ashore in Truro on the outer beach. Although opinions differ, many think this is not the shipwreck that washed up in Wellfleet in January of 2008 and has since been reclaimed by the ocean. Read the story in the Boston Globe Online.

A few of my photos of the January, 2008, shipwreck, thought to be of a late 1800's schooner, converted to a coal tender, can be found on my website at http://shipwreck.robertsheldon.com/. Enjoy.

Shipwreck At Newcomb Hollow

A blogger from Wellfleet has taken a few new photos of the remains of an 1800's schooner that apparently sank off the Wellfleet beach and washed up over the winter of 2007-2008. I took a bunch of photos in February of 2008 ... Here. The photos from the blog were taken over the last few days. His new photos are .. Here. What you'll see as you compare the sets of pictures is that the sand has a way of burying and unburying the wreck, which is easy (and fun) to visit, just a few hundred yards south of the Newcomb Hollow parking lot.