The remains of this old schooner have produced a bell, a large pump, numerous dead eyes and large lobster. A massive cargo of red bricks form a large mound rising over ten feet above the surrounding sand bottom. This mound extends for over one hundred feet. Large pieces of hull, rigging and anchors are buried beneath the bricks. The brick-paved topography makes this an interesting dive.
The schooner barge was the final development of the working sailing ship. The design originally evolved in the 1870s on the Great Lakes, where it was found that sailing ships could be more profitably towed from place to place than sailed. No longer subject to the vagaries of the wind, such trips could be made on a scheduled basis, and with reduced labor costs. The idea spread into general use, resulting in the conversion of many sailing ships into barges. Ironically, most of the vessels that were converted to schooner barges were not actually schooners, but square-rigged ships. Square-riggers, with their large and expensive crews of skilled sailors, became uneconomical to operate in the face of ever-improving steam power, while more efficient schooners managed to compete for a few years longer.
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