A ghostly shipwreck has emerged in Newfoundland, and residents want to know its story
CTV
The massive, overturned hull of a seemingly ancient ship has appeared without warning along the southwestern tip of Newfoundland, dazzling nearby residents eager to know who may have been aboard and how it met its fate.
The massive, overturned hull of a seemingly ancient ship has appeared without warning along the southwestern tip of Newfoundland, dazzling nearby residents eager to know who may have been aboard and how it met its fate.
Wanda Blackmore says her 21-year-old son, Gordon, came roaring into her house on the morning of Jan. 20 after spotting the long shadow beneath the water just off the beach near Cape Ray, N.L. As soon as the tide went out, she put on her jacket and set out to see it herself.
Since then, the wreck has attracted a steady stream of local admirers heading out to examine its long, curved planks and the wooden dowels holding them together.
"It's amazing, there is no other word for it," Blackmore said in an interview. "I'm just curious if they can name the ship, and how old it is and if there were any souls lost on her."
Gordon Blackmore was out hunting seabirds early in the morning when he first saw the wreck, his mother said. He'd been at the same spot just a few days before and there was no sign of it.
But the beaches along that corner of Newfoundland have eroded substantially in the past few years. As post-tropical storm Fiona tore through the area on Sept. 24, 2022, destroying about 100 homes and pounding away shorelines, it churned up the sand along Cape Ray Beach, said Neil Burgess, president of the Shipwreck Preservation Society of Newfoundland and Labrador.
If the ship was buried, Fiona may have dislodged it from its sandy grave, and each subsequent storm would have loosened it further, Burgess said. There were large swells there last week, and they may have finally unearthed the wreck enough to be discovered by someone out hunting birds.
