Massive shipwreck emerges from Nantucket beach as powerful nor’easter strips away coastline

The powerful coastal storm brought another round of flooding Sunday after pounding the region through the weekend. In New Jersey, some communities along the shore were inundated. Manahawkin residents saw streets turn into waterways, with water reaching garages and vehicles; some residents told News 12 the flooding was the highest they had witnessed in more than a decade. Long Beach Island also experienced significant coastal flooding. Across the region, the combination of strong onshore winds, heavy rain and unusually high tides intensified flooding. In New York, fallen trees caused damage on Long Island, while flooding was reported in places including Rye.

While New York and New Jersey were dealing with flooding, the same nor’easter was dramatically reshaping Nantucket’s south shore. The Nantucket Current shared images and video of large wooden timbers exposed near Point of Breakers after the storm stripped sand from the beach. “The large section of the shipwreck spotted on Saturday is located in the same area where pieces of the Warren Sawyer were uncovered in December 2022,” the outlet wrote on X, adding that the nor’easter had caused “significant erosion” near Point of Breakers, also known as the sewer beds.

The Nantucket Current said the wreckage was “likely” from the Warren Sawyer, the wooden schooner that ran aground near Miacomet Beach on December 22, 1884. The outlet also noted on X that the vessel was carrying cotton and scrap iron when gale-force winds blew it off course. Archaeologist David Robinson subsequently told the Current that the location and appearance of the timbers made it logical to conclude that this was the same wreckage identified in 2022 as the partially preserved Warren Sawyer.

The wreck's reappearance during a nor’easter carries a striking historical parallel. The Warren Sawyer was traveling from New Orleans to Boston carrying cotton and scrap iron when gale-force winds blew it off course. It ran aground near Nantucket's Miacomet Beach on December 22, 1884. The captain and crew survived after being rescued, and islanders later salvaged much of its valuable cargo. More than 140 years later, another powerful coastal storm has exposed what researchers believe is part of the same vessel.

The shipwreck discovery came as communities elsewhere in the Northeast began assessing the damage from the slow-moving nor’easter. In Sea Bright, New Jersey, 67 people were rescued, including 45 from homes, and flooding was still affecting some areas Monday morning. Elsewhere along the Jersey Shore, repeated high tides inundated streets, damaged dunes and pushed boats ashore. New York was also hit hard. Floodwaters covered streets in Rockaway Beach, while strong winds brought down trees and disrupted transportation across the city and Long Island. By Monday, September 28, the nor’easter was weakening and gradually moving northeast, with drier conditions expected later in the day around New York and New Jersey. Its effects, however, stretched far beyond flooded streets: hundreds of miles away on Nantucket, the storm had literally peeled back the coastline to expose a piece of maritime history buried beneath the sand.