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Mysterious shipwreck washes up on snowy Canada shores, prompting race to salvage vessel being “pummeled by the ocean”
A shipwreck believed to date from the 19th century has washed up on the snow-covered shores of Canada’s Atlantic island province of Newfoundland, attracting a bevy of onlookers and archaeologists probing its mysterious past. Now local residents and scientists are racing to study and preserve the wreck before it disappears back into the sea.
Over the past weekend, a team of archaeologists and volunteers rushed to recover parts of the 100-foot-long ship in Cape Ray before tides take it back to the ocean depths. They managed to extract wooden planks, metal sheathing from the keel and other bits which have been sent to a laboratory for analysis.
COREY PURCHASE/AFP via Getty Images
“We’re hoping to identify the wood species and age of the wood and to identify the make-up of the metal. Those things will give us clues as to its age and origin,” archaeologist Jamie Brake told a news conference on Tuesday.
“It’s in a dangerous spot. It’s being pummeled by the ocean and so on. It’s not ideal conditions to try to learn more from it” at the site itself, he said, adding that it will probably take months for any results from the laboratory tests.
Located on the shores of J. T. Cheeseman Provincial Park on the southwest tip of Newfoundland, the wreck was discovered in late January in an area known for its numerous shallow rocks on which many ships have run aground over the centuries. At the time, photographer Corey Purchase posted stunning drone video of the shipwreck which lay upside down in shallow water.
Neil Burgess, president of the Shipwreck Preservation Society of Newfoundland and Labrador, joined the team conducting the survey of the wreck. Burgess said on social media that archaeologists collected wood samples and copper fasteners from the wreck.
He said that the keel and hull of the ship were upside-down on the beach, as well as many large timbers from the vessel.
“Once the artifacts and wood samples are analyzed, we’re hoping to learn more about the age of this ship and where it came from,” Burgess wrote.
According to Newfoundland’s Archaeology Office, old shipwrecks are commonplace in this region, numbering in the thousands.
Brake noted European ships navigated these waters for hundreds of years.
Some believe that Hurricane Fiona, which in September 2022 hit Canada’s Atlantic coast hard, may have dislodged the ship from the ocean floor.
A number of curious Newfoundlanders have journeyed to the site for a close up look at the wreck.
“It’s a sizeable vessel,” said Brake. “It is a pretty amazing thing to see. I can understand why this captures people’s imagination, why people are so interested in it.”
The community has launched a GoFundMe page to raise money to help recover, transport and preserve the wreck.
“This wreck has captured the imagination of people all over the world and has bought international attention to this humble community of approximately 300 people,” the GoFundMe says. “We believe this shipwreck drifted into Cape Ray for a reason and we want to help tell its story.”
COREY PURCHASE/AFP via Getty Images
The survey of the wreck comes just days after police said that human remains recently discovered on a beach in Canada’s Prince Edward Island may be connected to a shipwreck from the 19th century. The bones were located in West Cape in an area where human remains have been discovered before, authorities said.
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Wisconsin school shooter was in contact with California man plotting his own attack, court documents say
The shooter who killed a student and teacher at a religious school in Wisconsin brought two guns to the school and was in contact with a man in California whom authorities say was planning to attack a government building, according to authorities and court documents that became public Wednesday.
Police were still investigating why the 15-year-old student at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison shot and killed a fellow student and teacher on Monday before shooting herself, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes told the Associated Press Wednesday. Two other students who were shot remained in critical condition on Wednesday.
A Southern California judge issued a restraining order Tuesday under California’s gun red flag law against a 20-year-old Carlsbad man. The order requires the man to turn his guns and ammunition into police within 48 hours unless an officer asks for them sooner because he poses an immediate danger to himself and others.
Carlsbad is located just north of San Diego.
According to the order, the man told FBI agents that he had been messaging Natalie Rupnow, the Wisconsin shooter, about attacking a government building with a gun and explosives. The order doesn’t say what building he had targeted or when he planned to launch his attack. It also doesn’t detail his interactions with Rupnow except to state that the man was plotting a mass shooting with her.
CBS’ San Diego affiliate KFMB-TV reported that law enforcement searched the man’s home Tuesday night after the order was signed by the judge.
Police, with the assistance of the FBI, were scouring online records and other resources and speaking with the shooter’s parents and classmates in an attempt to determine a motive for the shooting, Barnes told the AP.
Police don’t know if anyone was targeted in the attack or if the attack had been planned in advance, the chief said. Police said the shooting occurred in a classroom where a study hall was taking place involving students from several grades.
“I do not know if if she planned it that day or if she planned it a week prior,” Barnes said. “To me, bringing a gun to school to hurt people is planning. And so we don’t know what the premeditation is.”
On a Madison city website providing details about the shooting, police disclosed Wednesday that two guns were found at the school, but only one was used in the shooting. A law enforcement source previously told CBS News the weapon used appears to have been a 9 mm pistol.
Barnes told the AP that he did not know how the suspected shooter obtained the guns and he declined to say who purchased them, citing the ongoing investigation.
No decisions have been made about whether Rupnow’s parents might be charged in relation to the shooting, but they have been cooperating, Barnes told the AP.
Abundant Life is a nondenominational Christian school that offers prekindergarten classes through high school. About 420 students attend the institution.
The Dan County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the two people killed Wednesday as 42-year-old Erin West and 14-year-old Rubi Vergara.
An online obituary on a local funeral site stated Vergara was a freshman who leaves behind her parents, one brother, and a large extended family. It described her as “an avid reader” who “loved art, singing and playing keyboard in the family worship band.”
West’s exact position with the school was unclear.
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