Archaeological News: Piece of Surf City history emerges after Sandy:
A piece of history unique to Surf City emerged on the beach when Hurricane Sandy skirted Topsail Island’s shore, drawing curious onlookers who are reminded to look, but not touch.
A section of the William H. Sumner, a three-masted schooner whose young captain died under suspicious circumstances after running the ship aground in 1919, has been protruding from the sand a short distance from the Dolphin Street beach access.
The wreckage is a chunk of the ship that floated ashore when the Coast Guard blasted the vessel shortly after it ran aground, to remove the navigation hazard, said Nathan Henry, assistant state archaeologist and conservator with the Underwater Archaeology Branch of the North Carolina Office of State Archaeology.
