Annie Laura Barnes

Annie Laura Barnes

In the summer of 2012 the Jr. Rangers found the rusted remains of a gear wheel, exposed after a summer storm at the beach entrance to the harbor in front of the UMass Field Station.  It was set aside as something to consider and research for a later date. In February of 2013, three very powerful winter storms exposed the wreckage of what appeared to be a very large boat! Dr. Oktay contacted a local authority who thinks the boat sank off Tuckernuck in a storm in 1939, was then salvaged and moved to the protective dune in front of Folger’s marsh. This summer the Jr. Rangers will continue research into the life and times of this boat. Follow the story here. Sunny and Orion began work on uncovering this mystery boat this past February, pieces of the boat are on the bench in front of them, Orion takes up the story from here.

Len   

From Orion D.

Today was a foggy around 65 degrees. It was windy and threatening to rain.  At the field station I went to the beach to look for pieces of a boat called Annie Laura Barnes which sank near CrossRip  Jan 18, 1939. It was then moved to the current location in order to make the bluff.

The first evidence of a shipwreck was found there in the summer of 2012. We didn’t know it was a ship then. We thought it was just metal that someone had dropped on the beach. We found it just walking around and found a piece of metal sticking up. We went over to see what it was. It was a circle of metal hollowed out with a smaller circle of metal inside it. It looked like a gear. We also found more counter weights that looked like nails in the bottom of a bucket filled with cement.  We also found big nails.

Over the winter, big storms blew away some of the bluff. In fact, the dune fell apart and the ocean came into the marsh breaking down the dunes. This is when the ship appeared! Lenny found out a bit about it. The ship carried coal and wood to Island Lumber a long time ago. Today I got to be the archeologist!  With the metal detector, I dug and found a big pipe, fence post, counter weight, and a cube of metal. I had a lot of fun.

Come to walks every weekday beginning at 10am and check out the beach and wildlife.

Guided Nature Walks at the UMass Field Station

180 Polpis Rd.

Monday – Friday

10 AM - other times by appointment

Free and open to the public

(508) 228-5268