Centuries-old shipwrecks don’t tend to suddenly appear, if anything they require a great deal of exploratory searching to find. So the mysterious arrival of a wreck near Cape Ray in Newfoundland, Canada, has baffled the tiny town.
The Guardian reports that local resident Gordon Blackmore spotted the wreck while hunting seabirds on Jan. 20. He had seen nothing in the same spot just a few days before.
Freed by a storm?
However, the area around Cape Ray does have a history of wrecks. Nearby island “The Rock” features the remains of at least eight ships. Still, a previously unknown boat turning up in shallow water is extremely strange.
Neil Burgess, president of the Shipwreck Preservation Society of Newfoundland and Labrador, told the outlet that coastal erosion and a recent storm may have freed the ship from its previous resting place.
But those same strong swells and stormy weather now threaten the wreck’s integrity. Locals worry that the ship will wash back out to sea before experts can investigate it. A few have taken the initiative and attached ropes to secure the wreck to the beach.
A centuries-old wreck
Though experts have not yet examined the wreck in detail, a few features suggest the ship is from the 1800s. The wreck features trunnels, a sort of wooden nail commonly used in the construction of boats in the era, and copper pegs. It’s also a fairly large ship, the wreck measures around 24m and is incomplete.
“It was a fairly substantial sailing ship, bigger than a schooner, I think,” Burgess told CBC.
While they await experts, the Cape Ray community is banding together, diving to explore the wreck, and documenting the find in a lively Facebook group for residents.
