Home » Travel » Nantucket Island » Nantucket Shipwrecks - Part 1

Nantucket Shipwrecks - Part 1

© Dina Ely

An island with such a rich maritime history cannot avoid its share of shipwrecks. Parts of the coast around Nantucket are riddled with rocks and rough sea, and many a whaling ship fell victim to either or both in Nantucket's early years. As technology advanced and various methods of warning ships and saving lives were implemented, the wrecks off Nantucket became less common-but no less intriguing. Let's take a look at some of Nantucket's most famous wrecks! (Part 1 of a 2 part article series.)

Nantucket Lightship 117

Built in 1930 in Charleston, SC, the LV 117 was a steel-hulled, diesel-electric-powered lightship. With an enormous light on each of her masts and both a large fog horn and a bell, she moored near Nantucket and helped to warn passing ships of shoreline dangers in foggy and dark conditions.

From 1931 to 1934 she served on the shoals of Nantucket and helped other vessels to avoid disaster, when disaster literally struck her on May 15, 1934. The ocean liner Olympic, a sister ship to the Titanic in the White Star Line, rammed into LV 117 in a dense fog. The LV 117 sunk in minutes, but the Olympic was relatively unharmed. Of her 11 crew, 7 died (4 went down with the ship, the remainder died from injuries sustained). The Olympic helped rescue crewman left in the water, and the British government paid for the construction of the replacement lightship LV 112.

RMS Republic

In a tragedy eerily similar to that of the Andria Doria, only fifty years prior, the SS Republic (a passenger liner built in Belfast, Ireland and purchased by the White Star Line) and Italian liner the SS Florida collided in pre-dawn fog. The date was January 23, 1909.

The Republic carried 742 passengers and crew, and her destination was the Mediterranean. The Florida carried over 650 immigrants traveling from Europe to a new life in America, via New York.

Cautiously traveling through the fog southwest of Nantucket Island in the early morning hours, the SS Republic made her way along her course whilst periodically sounding her whistle to announce her presence. As was expected, her whistles were met with silence. Just before dawn, the crew heard a whistle in reply, and though they immediately acted to steer the ship away from the source of the sound, the bow of the Florida appeared and cut into the Republic, killing three passengers instantly.

The Republic was fatally wounded, and water rushed into the ship. The Florida's bow was severely damaged, but she was afloat and could maneuver. Passengers were calmly transferred from the Republic to the Florida, but the Florida could not travel far with the heavy passenger load. Several boats were involved in the remainder of the rescue effort, and the attempt to salvage the Republic before she fully sank, but the latter were in vain. She sank on January 24th.