A powerful nor’easter storm battering Massachusetts over the weekend uncovered 19th-century shipwreck fragments on a Nantucket beach. Local observers believe the wooden timbers belong to the Warren Sawyer, a cargo schooner that ran aground and crashed near the island in December 1884.
Nor’easter Storm Unearths Timbers on Nantucket Shore
Severe winds and high seas driving across the Massachusetts coast exposed the wooden remnants on a south shore beach known as Point of Breakers. The rough weather was part of a powerful nor’easter that pounded Nantucket on Sept. 26, 2026, producing heavy rainfall and dangerous coastal flooding across parts of the northeastern United States, knocking out power to more than 160,000 households.
The newly visible wooden timbers, jutting out of the sand in the shape of a hull, appeared in the same spot where ship fragments were found back in December 2022 and 2023. Jason Graziadei, editor-in-chief of the Nantucket Current, who was covering the storm, rushed out to inspect the site over the weekend after receiving a tip from an island resident named David DeHart. 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.
Graziadei noted the striking location of the historical exposure, pointing out that vehicles were literally driving over on the beach this summer through the very spot now holding the exposed framing. Graziadei, who covered the discovery of the wreck several years ago, believes it’s extremely likely these remains are from the same ship. “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.
Tracing the History of the Warren Sawyer
Reporters and maritime historians tie the exposed framing to the Warren Sawyer, a wooden schooner that crashed near Miacomet Beach 142 years ago. Historical records show the vessel was operating as a cargo ship traveling from New Orleans to Boston, carrying bales of cotton and scrap iron when disaster struck on the night of December 22, 1884.
Despite the violent wreck, local archives from the newspaper The Inquirer and Mirror record that the captain and crew were rescued within hours, and island residents later salvaged much of the cargo. When smaller pieces of the wooden vessel washed ashore in late 2022, David Robinson, director and chief archeologist for the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archeological Resources, launched an inspection of the site.
Robinson spent several months conducting archival work alongside the Egan Maritime Institute and the Nantucket Historical Association. His team examined documentation to determine whether the scattered timbers belonged to the 19th-century schooner. He later determined that the remnants likely belonged to a schooner called the Warren Sawyer.
“As with most historical archaeological research, exploring the available literature, archival, photographic, and archaeological evidence we collectively assembled for the site to try to arrive at a conclusive determination as to whether or not the wreckage is from the tern [sailing vessel], Warren Sawyer.”
David Robinson, director and chief archeologist for the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archeological Resources, via the Current
Current Assessments and Uncertainty Over the Remains
While local journalists and observers express high confidence that the storm-battered framing belongs to the long-lost cargo ship, institutional experts emphasize that formal verification requires further study. The deputy director of a natural history museum on Nantucket noted that more investigation is necessary to confirm whether the newly exposed remnants definitively connect back to the historical wreck.
With coastal storms continuing to shift sand along the Massachusetts shoreline, experts and local observers are watching to see how long the timbers remain exposed before shifting tides rebury the century-old maritime structure.