Cape Cod has seen
countless shipwrecks over the centuries. Its shifting shoals and
sand bars have always been hazardous to passing vessels especially on
the Atlantic Ocean facing coastline. Between Race Point Beach in
Provincetown and the southern tip of Monomoy Island in Chatham is
nearly fifty miles of some of the most dangerous waters in the world.
Estimates by the National Parks Service say there are upwards of
1,000 lost vessels in what is common referred to as an ‘ocean
graveyard.’ Legendary wrecks include the 17th century
Sparrowhawk, the 18th century Whydah pirate ship, the 19th
century Portland, and 20th century Pendleton. Even
vessels as large at the 473-foot Eldia, which was grounded on Nauset
Beach in 1984, have not been able to escape the pull of the Cape’s
sand bars.
Some of these
vessels, like the Sparrowhawk, have been revealed due to the shifting
sands and had their wooden carcasses removed and put on display in
local museums. One wreck that has been appearing and disappearing
over the last decade is that of the Montclair. Located on southern
Nauset Beach it is a glimpse into history and an adventure to
explore. However it is a real ship and a real tragedy with numerous
lives lost which happened nearly a century ago. This is the story
behind the remains that have been photographed and shared throughout
social media over the last several years. This is the story of the
wreck of the Montclair.
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| The Orleans Lifesaving Station circa 1900, courtesy of Sam's Scrapbook.com |
The vessel known as
the Montclair was a three-masted schooner. The 371-ton wooden ship
was built in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada in 1918 and designated a
transport vessel. It was owned by Captain C.B. Martin of Partridge
Island, Nova Scotia.
On Tuesday March 1,
1927 the 142-foot Montclair set sail from Halifax, Nova Scotia en
route to New York City with a cargo of 2.5 million wood laths. It
was headed by Captain William McLeod with a total crew of seven men.
That same day a British vessel, the Frederick H., also left Nova
Scotia with New York as its destination. Neither would reach its
destination. The very next day the vessels began to feel the effects
of a strong late-winter storm raging in from the southwest. Winds of
up to 60 mph tore at the ships as they rounded Provincetown and
headed down through the shoals of the Atlantic side of Cape Cod on
March 3rd. McLeod had the utmost confidence in his vessel and
pressed on south.
The wind and waves
pounded the Montclair and began pushing it in toward the shore as it
headed past Nauset Beach. The ship lost two of its three masts, the
fore and mizzen masts. Unable to control the vessel they could only
hang on as it was pushed into the sandbars roughly a mile off shore
just south of Nauset Beach. It was at this point, early on March
4th, that the peril of the Montclair awakened Captain
Edward L. Clark. Clark was part of a skeleton crew of three men at
Coast Guard Station #40 located just east of Little Pochet Island,
two and a half miles south of the current Nauset Beach parking lot.
The station had been designated inactive in the early 1920’s
ironically due to the fact that there had not been any shipwrecks in
the area for decades.
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| The wreck of the Montclair in 1927, courtesy of the William Quinn Collection |
Clark notified the
Provincetown and Old Harbor (Chatham North Beach) Coast Guard
stations and people rushed to the scene. After one last attempt to
swing the Montclair clear of the shoals it was tossed up on to the
sand where it was beaten by the waves of the high rising tide. The
brave Coast Guard crews headed out into the wind and waves for an
attempted rescue even managing to shoot three weighted lines over the
stern of the crippled ship. Five members of the ship’s crew
grabbed on to one line while the other two men grabbed another before
the Montclair was broken in half near the middle. The five crew
members including Captain McLeod were washed overboard while the
other two men were picked up and brought back to shore.
The splintered ship
was eventually lifted off the sandbar by the tides and brought to
shore where it was tossed up onto the sands of Nauset Beach. Its
cargo of wood laths scattered for miles along the sand. The two
survivors of the wreck Nathan Bagg and Gartland Short were treated
for hypothermia and hysteria at the Coast Guard station. The body of
Captain McLeod was quickly recovered while three of the other four
missing were also quickly pulled from the water as the storm subsided
and the sea calmed. The fifth and final deceased member of the
Montclair’s crew would be discovered on March 15th on
North Beach in Chatham by Wesley Eldredge mostly buried under the
sand.
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| The remains of the Montclair today |
Much like with the
grounding of the Eldia decades later countless residents came out to
see the wreck of the Montclair with some helping themselves to some
of the unbroken wood laths that had been deposited for a half-mile
along the coast. Considered to be the worst maritime disaster on the
Cape in more than twenty-five years questions were raised after as to
whether more lives could have been saved if the Orleans Coast Guard
station had been active.
The Frederick H.,
which had left Nova Scotia the same day as the Montclair, also ran
into the destructive storm as it sailed around Cape Cod. Badly
damaged as well it managed to limp its way into Vineyard Haven only
thanks to constant pumping of the water from the hold and galley of
the vessel by the crew.
Along the coast of
Cape Cod at the same time author Henry Beston was residing at his
‘Fo’castle’ beach shack, writing his soon-to-be classic ‘The
Outermost House.’ The news of the wreck of the Montclair made its
way to Beston who immortalized the disaster in his book’s sixth
chapter. Deputy Collector Thomas Finnegan reported to the scene from
New Bedford with a team of eight men as the Montclair had been a
suspected rum-running vessel. He questioned the two survivors but
did not secure any useful information. One blessing from the
disaster of the wreck was that the Orleans Coast Guard station was
restored to full strength after it happened.
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| The remains of the Montclair today |
The shifting sands
have buried and uncovered the remains of the Montclair several times
over the decades. In the 2010’s it was revealed repeatedly, each
time slightly more decayed than before. The wood is soft and rotting
away, while the iron is rusty and gives the ship a ghostly skeletal
appearance currently. It is nearly a two and a half miles walk over
the sand to reach the remains of the Montclair.
Though an
interesting adventure taking the walk out to find its remains it is a
somber and solemn reminder of the dangers of the sea. It is
important to remember the five men who lost their lives aboard the
Montclair as well: William Downing, William Stewart, George Cains,
Jerome Butler, and Captain William McLeod.
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