Object visible off Wrightsville Beach, NC?

[Mossy Rock]

Hey folks,

I used to live near Wrightsville Beach, NC, in my youth many years ago but have since moved away. I remember that there was some object visible in the ocean at low tide a few hundred yards out from The Blockade Runner Hotel. It was dark-colored and rounded. I was told by some that it is the shipwreck of a blockade runner (hence the name of the hotel there) but others told me that it is just a rock. Scouring maps of shipwrecks and searching for any mention of what it actually is has turned up nothing.

Does anyone know what this object is? I've attached two Google Earth pictures of the object, the second one zoomed-in, in which it shows up as a dark spot marked by the red arrows.

Thank you!

 

[CharlieOneFour]

That would be the remnants of the William H. Sumner. She was a a three-masted schooner, a “heavily-built” vessel that hauled lumber and phosphate rock. On Sept. 7, 1919, it was sailing precariously close to the shore, catching the attention of swimmers and sunbathers at Wrightsville Beach when it ran aground.

The piece in your photos is a large section that broke away and washed up near the shoreline. There were originally two large pieces. The other large piece is at the State Archaeology lab in Fort Fisher.

It had grown into a safety hazard as much of the wood had rotted away, leaving the long iron bolts sticking up like spikes that might impale boaters and swimmer and surfers. The State of North Carolina claims the ownership of vessels in NC waters so that piece was moved to the lab after a group of fishermen was caught trying to illegally remove it from the beach a few years ago.

 

[Mossy Rock]

Hi CharlieOneFour,

Thanks for your information! Curious - this ship was reported as being wrecked at Topsail Inlet. How did it end up where it did, probably 12 to 14 miles south at Wrightsville Beach?

 

[CharlieOneFour]

It originally did run aground where you say. If I recall right, the vessel was nearly 300 feet long. I don't recall the year, but the USCG dynamited it so it wouldn't be a hazard to navigation. That broke the vessel up into smaller chunks that move around with the storms.

 

[Mossy Rock]

Thank you for the additional information - a small chunk of the boat. When I was a kid I was tempted many times to swim out on a calm day and actually examine what was there, but it was just a little too far out to make the attempt.