Tales of ship wrecks and wrecking crews have always fascinated me. Is it because my lineage goes back to Viking raiders? Is it because Mom was raised on Chincoteague, and the family were local water men for centuries? Is it because my Dad was a sailor in the Navy? (Of course, Dad was in the aviation and radar parts of planes on aircraft carriers - but he was still a sailor...) It's a terrible thing to admit, but I'm not afraid of drowning - I'm afraid of fire, instead. I know that the many types of water on our world can be treacherous - seas, lakes, rivers, creeks - a flash flood in a dry arroyo. And I always remember the five high tide marks on the wallpaper in Pop-pop's kitchen on Chincoteague.
I have always known that the shoals and sand bars around Assateague Island, both in Maryland and Virginia, have been dangerous since men started sailing vessels along the seaboard. I had no idea how frequently there was trouble, until I read a statistic stating that in 4 years, the Coast Guard stations on Assateague Island assisted 261 ships. That means almost every 5.5 days, the Assateague Coast Guard was out helping ships.... I don't know why, but I find that number amazing.
Here are some photos of wooden shipwrecks from around the world - Great Britain, Australia, and the United States, to name a few. The first six photos were taken on Assateague Island.
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