British HMS Somerset III re-emerges from the sands in Massachussets (pics inside)
In this Thursday, April 8, 2010 image provided by Harry R. Feldman, Inc., timbers from the HMS Somerset III are seen on the beach in Provincetown, Mass., . The wreck of a British warship the American revolutionary Paul Revere eluded before his famous ride to warn American patriots the British were coming has resurfaced in shifting sands off Massachusetts.
Shiver me timbers, the warship HMS Somerset III is back.
The last time the British man-of-war sailed the seas was during the Revolutionary War. The ship showed up off the Massachusetts coast to rescue British soldiers after the battles at Lexington and Concord and provide support during the Battle of Bunker Hill. A tangle with French warships and a gale storm spelled doom for the warship in 1778, when it crashed on the perilous Peaked Hill sand bars, responsible for taking many a sailor's life.
Now, the winter storms have again uncovered the wreckage that played a poetic role in the ride of Paul Revere (more on that later). Its remains have surfaced every so often, once in the 1870s, again in the 1970s, and the last time around 2005.
But before the shipwreck slips once more under the sands, archaeologists are out to preserve the Somerset—at least, in digital form. The Cape Cod Times reported that archaeologists set out with a 3D laser scanner, and also used GPS to pin down the exact locale. Below, the video from the newspaper:
HMS Somerset III, in history and poetry
The remains are, according to the National Park Service, "federally protected archaeological resources," but the ship's still British property (although the Mother Country hasn't come calling to collect the historical debris).
While the frigate existed to squelch the colonialists, its crew was caught napping in the poem, "Paul Revere's Ride." Before that midnight ride, though, some silent rowing was involved: The colonel had to make his way past The Somerset, described by poet Henry W. Longfellow as:
"A phantom ship, with each mast and spar
Across the moon like a prison bar
And a huge black hulk, that was magnified
By its own reflection in the tide."
In a twist of fate, after the Somerset crashed, its survivors were taken prisoner and the captain traded for two American officers. Cape Cod residents salvaged what they could from the wreck...and Colonel Paul Revere got 16 cannons (for a fort, not for personal use).
By the way, there is an HMS Somerset IV in operation now, and has undergone missions alongside the U.S. Navy in the Persian Gulf. Back in 2005, its commander not only received a souvenir from the old wreck, he and his crew also attended a re-enactment of the Somerset III's glory days. Some legends can never stay buried.
National Park Service archeologist Joel Dukes and National Park Service senior archeologist Steven Pendery shovel sand away from timbers of the shipwreck of the British man-of-war HMS Somerset III in Provincetown, trying to expose as much as possible for a laser scan yesterday.
National Park Service senior archeologist Steven Pendery brushes sand off a piece of the British ship in Provincetown.
PROVINCETOWN -- 04/08/10 -- Pieces of the 18th century shipwreck HMS Somerset III have been exposed recently at low tide on a beach within the Cape Cod National Seashore 040810ml01
British HMS Somerset III re-emerges from the sands in Massachussets (pics inside)
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