Nor’easter lashes east coast with rip currents, wind and heavy rain
A nor’easter lashed the east coast, disrupting travel and leaving tens of thousands of residents without power. At least one person died in New York.
- A powerful nor’easter uncovered the wreckage of a 19th-century shipwreck on Nantucket’s south shore.
- The remains are believed to be from the Warren Sawyer, a schooner that ran aground in December 1884.
- This is not the first time the shipwreck has been exposed by storms, with previous sightings in 2022 and 2023.
- The storm’s strong winds, powerful waves, and high tide caused significant coastal erosion, revealing the buried wreckage.
A powerful nor’easter that battered the Northeast over the weekend also uncovered a piece of maritime history on Nantucket.
Erosion along the Massachusetts island’s south shore exposed a large section of wooden wreckage near the sewer beds, according to the Nantucket Current. The remains are believed to be from the Warren Sawyer, a 19th-century schooner that ran aground near Miacomet Beach in December 1884.
The wreckage was spotted Saturday, Sept. 26, by Nantucket resident David DeHart in the same area where portions of a shipwreck surfaced in 2022 and early 2023.
What do we know about the shipwreck?
The Warren Sawyer has emerged from the sand before. Portions of the shipwreck surfaced along the same stretch of Nantucket’s south shore in December 2022 and early 2023, when Massachusetts maritime archaeologists examined the remains.
David Robinson, director and chief archaeologist for the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources, told the Nantucket Current that the newly exposed wreckage appears to be part of the same ship.
The Warren Sawyer was a wooden schooner carrying cotton and scrap iron from New Orleans to Boston when gale-force winds blew it off course.
The ship ran aground near Miacomet Beach around 11 p.m. Dec. 22, 1884, the Nantucket Current reported. The Surfside Life-Saving Station responded, eventually rescuing Capt. Edwin L. Saunders and his seven crew members from the battered schooner, according to the Nantucket Historical Association.
The ship remained on the beach for about two weeks as islanders salvaged its cargo and equipment. It later broke apart during another storm in January 1885, scattering more wreckage along the shore.
Now, more than 140 years later, another storm has pulled part of the Warren Sawyer back into view.
How the nor’easter exposed the wreck
The nor’easter spent much of the weekend pounding Nantucket with strong northeast winds, heavy rain and powerful waves. Winds of 45 to 55 mph were common across Cape Cod and the islands, with some coastal locations recording gusts above 60 mph, according to the National Weather Service in Boston/Norton.
Offshore, seas grew to 15 to 25 feet as the storm churned the Atlantic. Nantucket also saw about 2 feet of storm surge during an overnight high tide, pushing water levels into minor coastal flooding.
That combination of high water, strong winds and large waves is especially effective at reshaping Nantucket’s sandy coastline. Much of the island is made up of sand and other loose material left behind by glaciers, so waves can move large amounts of sediment during powerful storms. The south shore has also historically experienced some of the island’s highest erosion rates.
During a storm like this, waves repeatedly pull sand away from the beach and carry it along the shoreline or farther offshore. The longer the storm lasts, the more opportunity there is for that process to reshape the beach.
That’s what appears to have happened near the sewer beds. As the nor’easter eroded the south shore, it stripped away enough sand to uncover wooden wreckage that had been buried beneath the beach. Once the storm passes, waves and currents can move sand back over the wreck, hiding it again until another major storm reshapes the shoreline.
Why is Nantucket so vulnerable to erosion?
Nantucket is essentially a giant pile of sand. The island was formed by glaciers, which left behind layers of sand and other loose material that make its shoreline especially vulnerable to waves and storms. Unlike a rocky coastline, there is no bedrock holding much of the island’s shoreline in place.
The town’s erosion monitoring data shows some areas of the south shore have lost an average of more than 12 feet of shoreline per year, while others have changed much more slowly. According to Nantucket’s Coastal Resilience Plan, some portions of the South Shore have lost more than 100 feet inland over the past decade.
Major storms can accelerate that process. In 2020, Hurricanes Paulette and Teddy passed hundreds of miles offshore but still contributed to the loss of more than 140 feet of beach along Nantucket’s south shore in just one month, according to the town.
Brandi D. Addison covers weather across the nation as the Weather Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network and contributes to Texas Connect coverage across the state. She can be reached at baddison@usatodayco.com. Follow her on Facebook here.