Storm reveals 19th-century shipwreck fragments on Nantucket beach

A nor'easter that swept New England over the weekend uncovered large timber and rusted-iron fragments on Nantucket’s Miacomet Beach, near the historic wreck site of the three-masted schooner Warren Sawyer. The vessel ran aground on December 22, 1884, while carrying cotton and scrap iron from New Orleans to Boston, and broke apart after weeks on the shoreline.

The Egan Maritime Institute, a Nantucket-based educational nonprofit, said it will send staff in the coming days to study the newly exposed material and will prepare a report for state archaeologists to confirm its origin. In a statement to the Associated Press, the institute noted that it is too early to determine definitively whether the debris is from the Warren Sawyer.

Journalist Jason Graziadei, editor of the Nantucket Current, reported that he and his eight-year-old son visited the beach during the storm after receiving a tip about possible wreckage. He posted video of the wooden beams found near the town’s wastewater facility, describing the discovery as a reminder that the historic wreck remains beneath the sand.

"Given where it was and where it emerged, it means that everyone who was driving onto the beach this summer was just directly over this," Graziadei said.

State archaeologists have previously examined sections of hull exposed in 2022 and 2023, concluding they were likely part of the Warren Sawyer. Massachusetts law prohibits the removal or disturbance of underwater archaeological resources, and the Egan Institute has urged visitors to leave the newly revealed wreckage untouched.