THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 22, 1994 TAG: 9411220624
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SARAH MISKIN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
Lying partly buried in the sand and pounded by the high surf Monday, the large, rotting piece of wreckage did not look like much.
But in its heyday 90 years ago, this 45-by-25-foot chunk may have formed part of the hull of a huge schooner plying cargo along the East Coast.
During the havoc of Hurricane Gordon, this piece of Virginia's maritime history surfaced a half-mile south of Rudee Inlet.
Fielding Tyler, executive director of the Life-Saving Museum of Virginia, was excited by the find, reported to the museum Sunday by an anonymous caller.
``This is the biggest piece of ship-wreck we have found here in 10 years,'' he said. ``From my point of view, the portion that is there is very well-preserved. If you are a 16-year-old, it looks like a hunk of junk.''
Because of the drift of other debris from Hurricane Gordon, Tyler thinks the wreckage is from a sailing vessel that went down early this century off Dam Neck, just to the south.
As yet, Tyler can't say what ship the fragment is from, only that it was part of a turn-of-the-century, wooden-hulled schooner.
His prime suspects are the 568-ton Nellie W. Howlett, lost Oct. 10, 1903; the 550-ton D.M. Anthony, lost Feb. 3, 1905; or the 2,258-ton Fannie Palmer, lost Jan. 9, 1906. All three sank, without loss of life, in the general area of the wreckage.
These dates are near the end of an era when the Virginia coast served as a graveyard for many ships. Between 1875 and 1915 more than 600 ships went down off the state's coastline, said Tyler.
In the next few days, Tyler will survey the wreckage, measuring each plank and looking closely at what type of nails were used and how the ship was put together.
Then, Tyler said, it should be possible to calculate a length and size that match one of the ill-fated ships. ``These planks are big wood, which would have taken some big trees. The planks are fully 15 inches wide. They are the biggest I have seen around.''
Tyler is concerned that the sea might wash away the wreckage before his research is complete, but he is more worried that locals grab it for firewood.
He said the bow section probably surfaced now because the ocean is eating away at the beach in some places south of Rudee.
``This portion has been under the sand, probably since the shipwreck, and that's what has preserved it. If it had been outside, the sea creatures and the salt would have completely destroyed it.''
Standing on the beach as the wind whipped him with rain, Tyler painted a vivid picture of treacherous conditions for the old schooners.
``These poor guys would be out there with a shipload of lumber in bad weather, with no communications and no idea of where they were. In the fog and the rain they would just run aground.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color staff photo by MOTOYA NAKAMURA/
Fielding Tyler, of the Life-Saving Museum of Virginia, braves nasty
weather Monday to examine wreckage that he believes came from a
turn-of-the-century schooner. Hundreds of ships sank off the coast
in that period, Tyler says.
B\W photo
The wreckage found in Virgina Beach could have come from a ship like
this.
Staff map
Area shown: Shipwreck Found
KEYWORDS: SHIPWRECK HURRICANE GORDON by CNB