The ocean has many secrets, but every so often, it decides to share.
Now is one such time at Crane Beach in Ipswich, Massachusetts, where a large piece of a 19th-century schooner was uncovered more than 100 years after sinking.
"This was totally a surprise," said Val Perini, regional education manager for the Trustees at Crane Beach.
Over the weekend, a 53-foot section of the Ada K. Damon, built in 1875, washed ashore. The ship wrecked during a Christmas storm in 1909 as it tried to haul sand to Boston.
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"It was blown into this cove, and despite the crew's best efforts to sail out of the cove, they couldn't. It ran aground right here," Perini said.
There, the Ada K. Damon sat, even for a while becoming quite an attraction and drawing crowds from all over. Over time, the boat was buried in the sand.
Small pieces re-emerged over the years, including some on Crane Beach. But over the weekend, a large piece of the ship appeared.
"This boat was intact, in the sand, for about 100 years, and just in the last four years or so, the increased storms and the rising sea levels have kind of impacted the wreck a lot," Perni said.
The Trustees at Crane Beach are now using this as a learning tool, bringing groups out here to see, first-hand, the impact of our changing climate.
The Trustees are organizing a tour of the Ada K. Damon for March, and offering resources about the discovery on their website.
"When people see something they care about, which is being impacted by weather, storms, that kind of thing, that is when it becomes real," Perini said.
