Shipwreck finally reclaimed from ocean
Wooden hull, believed to be from 19th century, appeared off Cape Ray in late January
Shawn Bath was never going to listen to the naysayers.
Bath and his Clean Harbours Initiative partner, Trevor Croft, have been living and breathing the shipwreck at Cape Ray ever since the remnants of the old vessel appeared off the sandy beach in southwestern Newfoundland in late January. The duo was determined to free the wreck from its watery grave.
After two months of battling the powerful and often uncooperative waves to keep the wooden hull tethered to the shore, their vision of salvaging it for posterity has finally been achieved.
LIFTED TO SAFETY
This past weekend, heavy equipment provided by Marine Contractors got the huge pieces of the wreck out of the ocean and safely above the high-water mark.
The move had to be finished quickly, as the sandy beach near J.T. Cheeseman Provincial Park will soon be off limits, when piping plovers arrive to nest on the beach. The small shorebirds usually arrive in early May.
“We have had so many people messaging us saying we are wasting our time, to give it up, telling us we’re never going to get this out of the water,” Bath said.
“I don’t like proving people wrong, but I don’t like quitting on stuff and a lot of people thought we were going to.
“It’s a great feeling to have this stage done.”
THE MOVE
The wreck had been taking a beating in the sea swells and had been slowly coming apart.
The original plan was to haul the main portion of the vessel further onto the beach before cutting it into sections for easier transport to a site by the nearby Cape Ray lighthouse.
The wreck proved too large for the two excavators to remove from the water in one piece, so it was cut into three sections while still in the water.
Once the cutting was done, the excavators could extend their buckets to the outside of the ship and, cradling each section, lift it up and move it to safety.
ORIGIN, AGE STILL IN QUESTION
Bath was hoping to find some markings on the internal side of the vessel that might indicate its construction date, but could find none.
“It was a common thing to carve the date on a timber or stringer,” he said. “That would have been nice to find and it still might happen, as there’s still a lot of sand on it and we might still find something after it gets cleaned up.”
Samples of the wood the ship was built from and the copper and brass pins that held it together have been taken by the Provincial Archeologist’s Office for testing to see if the ship’s origins can be determined.
The provincial government experts have said they believe the ship is from the 19th century, but have yet to deem it as anything of historical significance.
‘MASSIVE SHIP’
It’s hoped the wreck will be preserved and put on display as a museum artifact near the Cape Ray lighthouse.
Some of the other timbers, planks and metal fasteners retrieved during the last two months may be offered to other communities as tourist attractions.
“In her heyday, she was probably between 200 to 300 feet long,” said Bath.
“The more time we spent working on it, the more you realize how big that boat was.”
Bath’s understanding is that the eventual display will feature sections of the boat flipped in opposite directions so observers can see what the outside of it looked like and how the inside of it was constructed.
“It mightn’t seem real exciting to a lot of people, but, when you stand next to that boat and see the size of the timbers in it, the materials in it and the number of copper and brass pins used in it, it hits home really quick that this was a massive ship,” said Bath.
MISSION NOT OVER
While the recovery project is now complete, Bath said he and Croft will be back to volunteer with helping move parts of the wreck later in the year.
They will also be back to visit the many new friends they’ve made in southwestern Newfoundland during the last two months.
“We met some really nice people and have made some great friends — friends for life, as far as I’m concerned,” said Bath.