Archaeologists uncover unexpected twist in shipwreck mystery after clues don't add up

Archaeologists thought they had identified a historic shipwreck along the Massachusetts coast — but a closer look revealed a new mystery.

In late September, the remains of a historic shipwreck captured national attention after a powerful nor'easter exposed weathered wooden beams along the shore of Nantucket .

At the time, officials suspected the wreckage belonged to the Warren Sawyer, a three-masted schooner that sank in 1884 and whose remains had previously been documented in the same area in 2022 and 2023, according to The Associated Press.

HAUNTING CLUES EMERGE IN 7-YEAR FISHING BOAT MYSTERY AFTER WRECKAGE FOUND OFF ISLAND The ship was carrying 1,115 bales of cotton and 28 tons of scrap iron from New Orleans to Boston when it ran aground on Dec.

22, 1884, according to the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources (BUAR).

The captain and seven crew members were rescued, and Nantucket residents spent two weeks recovering hundreds of bales of cotton.

Another storm eventually tore the vessel apart.

But over 140 years later, a new discovery complicated the story when officials announced last week that the wreckage did not match previously discovered remains of the Warren Sawyer.

UNDERWATER ROBOTICS EXPERT REVEALS 'SHIPWRECK CITY' HIDING BENEATH MAJOR URBAN LAKE In an Oct.

8 news release, the Egan Maritime Institute said archaeologists determined that the wreckage did not match remains of the Warren Sawyer found nearby in 2022 and 2023.

Instead, following an Oct.

7 assessment, state archaeologists determined the remains appear to be a 50-foot-long section of a large merchant vessel dating to the late 19th or early 20th century.

The vessel's identity remains unknown, and researchers are now turning to historical records in the hopes of identifying the ship .

David Robinson, director and chief archaeologist of the BUAR, told Fox News Digital that several clues led him to question the wreckage's original identification.