Part
2, Sec. 2
Sanctuary Resources - Historical/Cultural Resources
There
are several known and potential submerged cultural resources
within or adjacent to the Sanctuary. Given the distance from
the nearest landfall, submerged cultural resources might include
prehistoric materials and sites, historic and modern shipwrecks,
disposal areas, and aircraft. At present, the only submerged
cultural resources identified are shipwrecks and aircraft.
a.
Prehistoric Cultural Resources
While
no known prehistoric cultural resources, artifacts, or sites
have been located in the Sanctuary area, the potential for their
existence must be considered. The occasional recovery of megafauna
remains (such as mammoth and mastodon skeletal materials) by
fishermen demonstrates that environmental conditions were present
to support Paleo-Indian populations. Recently, skeletal materials
(mastodon or mammoth tooth) were recovered by commercial fishermen
several miles off Provincetown (H. Arnold Carr, pers. comm.,
1990). However, these discoveries do not necessarily presume
the presence of Native American remains. Further, a more diverse
subsistence pattern of foraging and hunting (big-game and smaller
animals) was more likely for Paleo-Indian groups (Funk, 1978;
Barber, 1979).
A
Bureau of Land Management study of the Outer Continental Shelf
(Barber, 1979) characterized two possible periods when the study
area was not inundated and could have supported Native American
exploitation. Between 12,000 and 9,000 B.P. (Before Present),
the Stellwagen Bank area was a series of shoals and small islands.
Seal hunting would have been a major subsistence activity. Between
9,000 and 6,000 B.P., the Bank appears to have been one large
continuous island that may have supported Native Americans similar
to the nearby Provincetown area of Cape Cod (shell middens and
habitation). Sites are characterized as small in size and low
in frequency.
Some
researchers assert Native American populations were exploiting
large marine mammals at sea prior to European contact (Proulx,
1986). Erickson (1978) observed that porpoises and seals were
hunted in the open ocean. However, exploitation of these resources
appears to be restricted to nearshore or onshore activities,
such as utilizing beached whales or hunting seals along the
shore, rather than on the open ocean (Salwen, 1978; Snow, 1978).
Therefore, there is little likelihood for the occurrence of
prehistoric cultural materials in the Sanctuary area from roughly
after 6000 B.P.
b.
Historic Vessel Traffic
The
Sanctuary area can be described as the "gateway" to maritime
commerce of Massachusetts. Historically, as today, the main
shipping lanes crossed over Stellwagen Bank. Until the opening
of the Cape Cod Canal, this was the only access to the ports
inside Massachusetts Bay, such as Boston, Plymouth, Salem, Gloucester,
and Provincetown. With the opening of the Canal, vessel traffic
not destined for Massachusetts Bay ports crossed the study area
with much greater frequency. Further, fishing vessels utilized
the study area not only as a fishing ground but also as the
route to major fishing grounds on Georges Bank and the Great
South Channel.
Historical
fisheries and whaling activities of this region are well established.
It is clear that near shore fisheries (including whaling from
long boats) encompassed Stellwagen Bank (Stuart Frank, pers.
comm., 1990). It was the shift from smaller vessels to the schooners
which moved the majority of fisheries further offshore to areas
such as Georges Bank, Great South Channel, and Grand Bank. Nearshore
fisheries were typically restricted to a few small open boats
engaged in market fisheries almost exclusively in the winter
months up to the Civil War (Collins, 1890). It appears that
Stellwagen Bank was not heavily exploited by the schooner-based
fisheries because Georges Bank was more lucrative (Collins,
1889). Growth of the trawler and dragger fishing industries
focused attention back to Stellwagen Bank in this century.
The
late 19th/early 20th century saw the highest level of coastal
shipping in the Northeast (Fish, 1989). At the turn of this
century, the region saw its greatest number of shipwrecks per
year (Fish, 1989). Primary causes of vessel loss (shipwrecks)
fall into four broad classes: (1) acts of war - naval engagements,
piracy, law enforcement; (2) natural forces - storms (gales/hurricanes);
(3) human error - seamanship, fire, collision; (4) abandonment
- for the reasons stated above, plus vessel condition, economic
reasons.
Bias
may exist in the historical and documentary record to selectively
not record location or other information on shipwreck sites
which do not pose a hazard to navigation, involve human tragedy,
or carry valuable cargo. Government data are aimed at identifying
and locating those man-made and natural objects which are hazards
to navigation. In many instances of deep water shipwrecks, the
reported locations are approximated and not verified because
they do not pose a hazard to navigation. Further, reliable location
information is in private hands (sport divers, researchers,
fishermen) whose varying purposes and needs generally preclude
making this information public.
Most
available published sources of shipwreck information concentrate
on "romance of the sea," and/or major calamities and disasters;
their audience is typically popular and not scholarly. Many
of these works are laundry lists of shipwrecks often published
without sources. Further, many works reflect a certain selective
presentation of facts such as including only larger vessels
or those carrying "valuable" cargo. Thus, vessel loss is, in
general, unrecorded.
The
ambiguity of location given for most maritime disasters generally
precludes establishing statements of impacts to specific resources.
Ambiguity exists over the reported locations of shipwrecks,
particularly at sea and the types of vessel losses reported.
Typically, the presumed nearest landfall is used when the shipwreck
does not occur at a recognized landmark, that is, on shore,
on rocks, near a buoy marker or lightship. References such as
off-Provincetown, off-Cape Ann, off-Massachusetts Coast, or
off-New England, or "left port never to be heard of again,"
are frequently the only description of shipwreck locations.
Additionally, for most Colonial writers, places of loss were
far less important to record than who and what were lost.
c.
Historic Shipwreck Resources
While
historic data strongly suggest the existence of shipwreck sites
within the Stellwagen Bank Sanctuary area, few have been positively
located at this time. Reliable sources place between 1500 and
3000 shipwrecks off Massachusetts coasts; yet there are no specific
references to Stellwagen Bank as the resting place for wrecks
(Berman, 1972; Lonsdale and Kaplan, 1964; Luther, 1958, 1965;
Luther and Weeks, 1967; Marx, 1987; Fish, 1989).
The
National Ocean Service's Automated Wreck and Obstruction Information
System (NOS, 1988) places seven shipwrecks within or immediately
adjacent to the Sanctuary area:
Shipwrecks
Occurring Within the Stellwagen Bank Area
Vessel
Name/Vessel Type/Date Lost
ALDEN/Trawler/1917
NATALIE
HAMMOND/Schooner/1937
OCEAN/Trawler/1938
RESTLESS/Trawler/1942
YF
415/Patrol Boat/1944
AUGUSTA
SNOW/?/1950
LEAH
F/Trawler/1950
The
spatial distribution of these vessels appears random. Insufficient
information is presently available to discuss the potential
historical importance of these shipwreck sites.
The
remote sensing records of the Historic Maritime Group of New
England (HMGNE) note approximately twenty-five anomalies which
it considers to represent shipwrecks, as opposed to other debris
or natural features (Fish, pers. comm., 1990). HMGNE has not
as yet investigated each location. The distribution of these
anomalies demonstrates a slight clustering to the western half
of the Sanctuary study area. In addition, HMGNE places the wreck
site for the recently-found wreck, the steamer PORTLAND within
the Sanctuary (in particular, within boundary alternatives #3
and #5).
An
historically-important shipwreck, the steamship PORTLAND was
lost with over 160 lives during the Portland Gale of 1898. The
side-wheeled paddle steamer was built in 1890 by the New England
Shipbuilding Company of Bath, Maine. The vessel was 291 feet
in length, 42 feet in breadth, 15 feet in draught and had a
gross tonnage of 2283 tons. Its top speed was 15 knots, and
it served the Portland Steam Packet Company in its Boston-Portland
Line (Cram, 1980).
The
loss of the steamer PORTLAND is one the most controversial marine
mysteries in the history of the region (Fish, 1989:93). The
ship's loss marked a change in coastal passenger shipping in
the region. Following the loss of the PORTLAND, a duplicate
passenger list was always left on shore when a passenger vessel
left port (Fish, 1989:95). Changed also was the design of coastal
passenger steamers. Paddle wheel steamers, like the PORTLAND,
were of shallow draft which, while permitting passage up Maine's
rivers did not handle well in heavy seas. Later vessels were
of the propeller type rather than paddle wheel, and had deeper
drafts and were more enclosed. These changes allowed for more
seaworthiness in the unpredictable and often wild waters of
the Northeast (Fish, 1989:95). The PORTLAND is valued as a memorial
site, and has historical importance due to its effect on maritime
business and technology. Its eligibility for inclusion on the
National Register of Historic Places should be determined.
Another
vessel lost during the same storm was the PENTAGOET. Built in
Philadelphia in 1864, the vessel served as a gun boat during
the Civil War. It was converted to the coastal trade and owned
by the Manhattan Steamship Company in service for its New York
- Rockland - Bangor route (Cram, 1980). Several anonymous sport
diving sources place this vessel on the southern end of Stellwagen
Bank; it is referred to as the "Toy or Christmas Wreck", due
to its cargo of toys. If the identity and history of the vessel
can be verified, it could possess potential historical importance,
and its eligibility for inclusion on the National Register of
Historic Places also should be determined.
d.
Aircraft
At
least one aircraft crash site may be located within the Sanctuary.
It has been reported that a P-38 Lightning is located on the
western edge of Stellwagen Bank (Grey Eagle Charters, personal
communication, 1990). At this time, however, no information
is available to explain the reason for its occurrence at this
site, or to assess its possible importance (Lawrence Webster,
pers. comm., 1990).
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