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Storm Exposes a Shipwreck in Maine

News March 12, 2013

(Maine Maritime Museum)
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Sloop-1
(Maine Maritime Museum)
YORK, MAINE—On a Maine beach last weekend heavy seas exposed the hull of a shipwreck that could date from 1750 to 1850. The 50-foot-long hull probably belonged to a sloop, a single masted vessel used for fishing or transporting cargo. One of 1,595 shipwrecks known on the coast of Maine, the vessel first appeared after a storm washed sand away from the timbers in 1958. It has been periodically exposed by storms a few times since, but archaeologists have always allowed sand to reclaim the ship. "It's often best just to leave them in the ground," says Leith Smith, a historical archaoelogist who works for the Maine Preservation Commission. "When it's covered, it's fairly well preserved."  

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