As heavy winds and seas battered the Massachusetts island of Nantucket over the weekend, island residents discovered ship remains that may trace back to an 1884 shipwreck. A resident of the Massachusetts island discovered the remains during the Nor’easter that pounded Nantucket on Sept. 26, 2026.
The discovery began when Jason Graziadei, editor-in-chief of the Nantucket Current who was covering the storm, received a tip from an island resident named David DeHart. DeHart had found the ship’s remains on a south shore beach called Point of Breakers. The newly visible wooden timbers, jutting out of the sand in the shape of a hull, appeared in the same spot as ship fragments found back in 2022.
Discovery at Point of Breakers
When similar fragments were found in 2022, David Robinson, director and chief archeologist for the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archeological Resources, inspected the findings. Following several months of research conducted alongside the Egan Maritime Institute and the Nantucket Historical Association, Robinson determined the remnants likely belonged to a schooner called the Warren Sawyer.
The Warren Sawyer operated as a cargo ship traveling from New Orleans to Boston carrying bales of cotton and scrap iron before it crashed on the night of Dec. 22, 1884. Local newspaper The Inquirer and Mirror reported that the captain and crew were rescued within hours, and islanders subsequently salvaged much of the cargo. Graziadei, who covered the previous discovery several years ago, believes it is extremely likely the newly exposed remains belong to the same vessel.
Historical Maritime Context
Graziadei expressed fascination with the exposed site. 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,
he said.
