Fragment of 1919 shipwreck unearthed by Hurricane Sandy
Published: Sunday, November 11, 2012 at 5:25 p.m. Last Modified:
Sunday, November 11, 2012 at 5:25 p.m. A piece of history unique
to Surf City emerged on the beach when Hurricane Sandy skirted
Topsail Island's shore, drawing curious onlookers who are
reminded to look, but not touch. A section of the William H.
Sumner, a three-masted schooner whose young captain died under
suspicious circumstances after running the ship aground in 1919,
has been protruding from the sand a short distance from the
Dolphin Street beach access. The wreckage is a chunk of the ship
that floated ashore when the Coast Guard blasted the vessel
shortly after it ran aground, to remove the navigation hazard,
said Nathan Henry, assistant state archaeologist and conservator
with the Underwater Archaeology Branch of the North Carolina
Office of State Archaeology. "This piece broke completely off of
the wreck," Henry said. "It's really been there for quite some
time. At this point it's i