Excerpted from The Block Island Times, their fantastic “this week in history” section, by Robert Downie:
This week in history, January 28, 1923, Block Islanders were busy mining the coal that would heat their stoves and cook their meals. As the Newport Mercury reported the story soon after:
It is estimated that 2,200 tons of coal have been mined from the salt water, and off the beach, at the barge wreck off the West Side during the past week. There is still a thousand tons gradually washing up. From all reports this coal is giving excellent results in both ranges and heaters.
The wreck was the 265-foot vessel Penn – a barge with sails set fore- and -aft in a schooner rig – that came ashore on the Southwest Point. This type of vessel was the trailer truck of their day, but they were not self-sufficient, the sails only useful when going downwind.
At any given instant in the days of sail, several ships would usually be visible meandering along the horizon. The sailing barges were recognizable by the steam tug up ahead, towing one or two of the bulky vessels at a time.
In big storms, the coal from ship wrecks still washes up on beaches from Black Rock to Southwest Point, although nowadays, several decades after the last of the big wrecks, you’ll most likely walk away with just a few pocketfuls.
I think a lot of the sailing trade was hauling coal toward the end of the era, and it was considered a come-down for many of the owners and factors involved. There were a lot of scow schooners (schooner-rigged cargo haulers of decent size, with flat square bow and stern) plying the Great Lakes in the second half of the 19th Century. As Sheila says, the “trailer truck” of their day.
Well, those big coasters would be the 18-wheelers, and the Lakes scows would be 10-wheel box trucks. :-) For anyone interested in wooden boat and ship design, I recommend Howard Chappelle as a great place to start.
This whole thing is by islander columnist robert downie so the ‘trailer truck’ phrase and everything else are his words, just to be clear.