A local marine history buff calls the shipwreck in Cape Ray “impressive.”
Neil Burgess of the Shipwreck Preservation Society joined an archaeological team at the site on the weekend and says pictures of the huge wooden structure don’t do it justice.
Burgess says several types of wood were used in the ship’s construction, and he believes it’s most likely the ship is British based on the size of the timbers used and the general maritime history of the region.
He says most of the ship traffic sailing by Newfoundland at the time was British, with some French and American vessels as well. “But far and away, the most ships that were coming by Cape Ray were British.”
The archaeology department says the ship is not of particular historic significance, given the number of vessels of that age that are well documented, however, Burgess says historians and enthusiasts hope the information gathered will help to identify the wreck and the story of the people on board.
He says there is a lot of oral history on the southwest coast about shipwrecks in the area, “so if we’re able to put a name to this, then we’ll be able to know where the ship came from, who was on the ship, (and) what it was carrying.”
Service District Delighted With Attention
(Submitted photo)
The Cape Ray Local Service District couldn’t be more delighted with the attention the shipwreck is getting from around the world.
Chair Anne Osmond says the region needed an economic boost after Hurricane Fiona and COVID to bring it back to life, and the shipwreck is a welcome surprise.
“This ship landed on this coast for a reason”, says Osmond, “it has a story to tell.”
Area residents are hoping to take portions of the wreck and other artifacts for display in the local lighthouse museum.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help them recover pieces of the wreck, or possibly get the entire wreck itself ashore.
She says as volunteers they need equipment to recover some of the pieces, some of which are a few hundred pounds. They’ve been told that the wreck itself is impossible to move but residents are saying “no it’s not.”
