Nor’Easter Uncovers 1884 Shipwreck Remains on Nantucket Shore
A powerful nor’easter battering the Massachusetts island of Nantucket on Sept. 26, 2026, exposed the remains of a 19th-century shipwreck along the south shore. A local resident discovered the wooden timbers jutting out of the sand at Point of Breakers, prompting local reporting and state-level maritime confirmation that the wreckage belongs to the schooner Warren Sawyer.
Discovery Along Nantucket’s South Shore
Heavy winds and rough seas eroded the beach access near the sewer beds over the weekend, revealing ship remains in the same area where fragments were previously uncovered in December 2022 and early 2023. Jason Graziadei, editor-in-chief of the Nantucket Current, received a tip from David DeHart regarding the newly visible wooden timbers shaped like a hull.
“I drove out there with my son Owen and sure enough, it was right there where David said it was,” Graziadei told NPR via email.
David Robinson, director and chief archeologist for the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archeological Resources (BUAR), reviewed photographs and video of the site provided by the Nantucket Current. Robinson confirmed that the newly exposed timbers match the location and condition of the wreckage documented four years prior.
“See how the wreckage extends from the base of the eroded bluff? That’s exactly the same situation that the wreckage we saw in 2022 was in,” Robinson told the Current. “And it’s in the same place, so, yes, the logical conclusion based on what I’ve seen thus far in photos and your video is that this is the same wreckage we identified in 2022 as the partially preserved remains of the wrecked schooner, Warren Sawyer.”
History of the Warren Sawyer Shipwreck
The Warren Sawyer was a cargo schooner traveling from New Orleans to Boston carrying a load of cotton and scrap iron when it crashed on the night of Dec. 22, 1884. Gale-force winds blew the vessel off course before it struck the water near Miacomet Beach around 11 p.m.
According to an account printed in The Inquirer and Mirror newspaper in 1945, patrolman Eugene Clisby sighted the schooner’s lights off Miacomet Rip and summoned the Surfside lifesaving station. Captain Edwin L. Saunders and his seven-man crew were rescued within an hour by the station’s crew using a hawser and breeches buoy while the ship rolled violently in the surf.
Over the subsequent two weeks before the ship broke apart, islanders salvaged the cargo and equipment. The dramatic rescue and ensuing scene inspired local artist Wendell Macy to paint at least seven versions of the shipwreck.
Maritime Significance and Future Monitoring
The periodic reemergence of the Warren Sawyer highlights the dynamic coastal erosion patterns along Nantucket’s south shore, where shifting sands occasionally lay bare decades-old maritime history. Graziadei noted the striking reality of the site’s accessibility.
“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,” Graziadei said in his email.