Author: Marty Luster

As reported on Monday, (here) the Coffins Beach Wreck has been undergoing a painstaking examination to determine its identity and history.

At the site on Monday, Harold Burnham speculated that the vessel might be a chebacco boat, named for the parish that predated the Town Of Essex. Chebacco boats were known to fish north-easterly to Newfoundland and were first constructed at about the time of the American Revolution. Most of these small schooners were destroyed by the British during the War of 1812. A modern replica of a variant of a chebacco boat is the Lewis H Story, flagship of the Essex Shipbuilding Museum. Carved in the heavy stem of the wreck are the figures VI, indicating a fully laden draft of 6 feet. Buried in the sand is a V, or 5 foot marking.

 Adding to the mystery is this chunk of coral found among what is believed to be the ballast rocks discovered deep in the boat’s hull. What is a tropical specimen doing in a boat that presumably fished the Northeast coast?

As previously reported on GMG here a mysterious old shipwreck has been discovered on Coffins Beach. On September 8, a team headed by Victor Mastone of the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaelogical Resources returned to the site. They were aided in their efforts by Harold Burnham, 11th generation boatbuilder of Essex and builder and skipper of the pinky schooner Ardelle.

Working during this month’s astronomical low tide, the team excavated the hull remains and found a number of interesting artifacts. Ballast stones were removed from the depths of the approximately 40 foot vessel. Much to the surprise of the team, some of the ballast were coral fragments, indicating that the boat had spent some time in the tropics.

Among other team members, Harold speculated that the boat might be as old as 240 years, placing its construction during the Revolutionary War era.

The site will be left to nature over the winter and the investigation will resume in the spring.

Vic Mastone reminds us,”While there is really nothing to take, most people do not realize that the site is protected by state law. It is my hope people respect the site and completely refrain from removing any of it or otherwise disturb or damage the site when they visit.”

 Vic Mastone, State Archaeologist.

Harold Burnham and team member.  

That was, indeed, some storm last night. Poor Lucy, our 7 year old pup, has seen plenty of thunderstorms and usually she barely notices. But last night she grew more and more agitated as the frequency and intensity of the strikes increased. She jumped from my lap to Barbara’s and back again a few times, tried hiding under tables and stared at us as if to say, “make it stop, make it stop.”

Finally, she pulled her favorite quilt from a couch, nosed it under a table. fluffed it up and curled up on it for the duration.

Our last dog, Fletch, used to howl incessantly throughout the duration of thunderstorms. Then once, during a storm in his twelfth year, he remained quiet. That’s how we discovered he had lost his hearing.

                                                                       Fletcher

 Several years ago I taught Lucy how to meditate. She became pretty good at it. However, now she often dozes off while counting her breaths. Last night when I reminded her of the calming effects of that practice she responded with something like, “meditation,schmeditation, THIS IS SCARY!!!”

Here’s a rare look at the incredible two day preparation for the massive fireworks display at the 2014 Schooner Festival.

Thanks to American Thunder Fireworks for granting us access and to Barry Pett for showing us around the staging area at Stage Fort Park.

Welcomed by the Thomas E Lannon . . .

and Ardelle 

See previous posts on this subject here and here.

I’ve been touch with Victor Mastone of the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaelogical Resources and he has provided this further update:

“Right now, nothing conclusive from background research or initial fieldwork except the wreck remains extend much deeper into the beach than we anticipated from our visit in July. We initially thought perhaps 2 feet of sand over the keel. However, we found waterline markings on the stem (“VI” and “V” meaning 6 feet and 5 feet respectively). So, we anticipate more ship structure buried in the sand. We could not definitively find the stern despite probing and digging. Further, no metal fittings were observed.”

Vic also told me that he expects to be back at the site in September. Stay tuned as this mystery continues.Photo by Jim Salem