After clues failed to add up, archaeologists discovered an unexpected twist in the shipwreck mystery.

A recent Easter Sunday revealed a shipwreck off the coast of Nantucket, but archaeologists say the wreckage is not the Warren Sawyer as first thought.

Clues have researchers questioning the identity of a historic shipwreck recently unearthed on Nantucket

Archaeologists thought they had identified a historic shipwreck along the coast of Massachusetts — but a closer look revealed a new mystery.

In late September, the remains of a historic shipwreck gained national attention after an Easter light exposed worn wooden beams along Nantucket Beach.

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According to the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources (BUAR), the ship was carrying 1,115 bales of cotton and 28 tons of scrap iron from New Orleans to Boston when it ran aground on December 22, 1884.

The captain and seven crew were saved, and Nantucket residents spent two weeks recovering hundreds of bales of cotton.

Archaeologists are investigating the remains of a mysterious shipwreck that was exposed along the Nantucket coastline after a powerful Easter flash in September. (Nantucket Stream)

Another storm eventually tore the ship apart.

But more than 140 years later, a new discovery complicated the story when authorities announced last week that the wreckage did not match the previously discovered remains of Warren Sawyer.

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The Eagan Maritime Institute said in an Oct. 8 news release that archaeologists have concluded that the wreckage does not match the remains of the Warren Sawyer discovered nearby in 2022 and 2023.

Instead, after an Oct. 7 assessment, state archaeologists determined the remains were a 50-foot-long section of a large merchant ship dating to the late 19th or early 20th century.

Nantucket Island, off the coast of Massachusetts, recently gained national attention after the mysterious remains of a shipwreck were discovered. (iStock)

The identity of the ship remains unknown, and researchers are now turning to historical records in hopes of identifying the ship.

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During his examination, Robinson noticed that the ship's wooden ribs were larger than those found in the remains previously documented by Warren Sawyer.

He also found differences in the types of wood used to make the vessels, along with iron fasteners that appeared to date back to the Warren Sawyer sinking in 1884.

"Each of these shipwrecks that we see has a story to tell."

"So those clues lead us to believe that it's probably not the same ship and not the Warren Sawyer," Robinson said.

Robinson said the wreckage may have come from a barge schooner, a type of merchant ship commonly used to transport cargo along the East Coast in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Although shipwrecks regularly turn up along the Massachusetts coastline, Robinson said the size of the newly discovered piece makes it unusual.

State archaeologists determined that the wreckage uncovered on Nantucket probably belonged to a large merchant ship from the late 19th or early 20th century. (Nantucket Stream)

"What's more unusual is that the remains are a large piece of wreckage, like the 50-by-11-foot piece from the side of a ship's hull that we recently saw on Nantucket," he said.

However, he cautioned that the identity is still unclear.

"This particular vessel may not be a dock barge, as dock barges are more likely to be towed through Nantucket Sound rather than the open ocean south of the island," he said.

"About the best we can hope for is to perhaps narrow down a list of possible candidates and use a weight-of-evidence approach to see what conclusions can be drawn from the available historical and archaeological evidence."

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The Nantucket wreck was also the first in Massachusetts to receive a tag under the Shipwreck Monitoring Program, which allows the public to help investigators track their remains along the coastline, he said.

Above all, Robinson stressed the importance of preserving shipwrecks as pieces of history.

Nantucket, an island off the coast of Massachusetts, has a long maritime history, with historic shipwrecks popping up along its coastline. (iStock)

He said: Each of these shipwrecks that we see has a story to tell.

"So it's important for us to study, document and learn as much as we can on their behalf and treat them with the considerable care and respect that any elder deserves."

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