In January of 2008, Wellfleet residents and visitors were intrigued by the appearance of shipwreck remains on the Cape Cod National Seashore following a powerful coastal storm.
The Wreck of the Somerset
In the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775, the Somerset fired its guns toward the American's newly constructed fortification; however their effectiveness is a matter of debate. Many accounts suggest that despite their tremendous power, the vessel's cannons could not be elevated high enough to reach the hilltop ramparts and proved little more than a loud nuisance to the Americans preparing for battle.
In the three years that followed the Battle of Bunker Hill, Somerset's crew turned their attention toward forcing the French fleet from the northeast coast. To that end, Somerset was reportedly chasing a French vessel, which was making its way toward Boston, when it was driven onto the shores of Cape Cod near Truro on November 2, 1778. In his 1887 work entitled, "The Wreck of the Somerset, British Man-of-War", E.A. Grozier describes the scene colorfully:
The Somerset found herself on a lee-shore, in more danger than she had ever been from the guns of her enemies. She struggled to weather the Cape. . . . The merciless wind beat upon her and wrought havoc with her sails. The billows broke over her. The incoming current of the tide seized her. She drifted helplessly in the trough and struck upon the outer bar. . . . For hours the Somerset pounded upon the bar, and the blinding seas broke over her. Her boats were washed away, crushed like egg-shells and tossed in fragments on the shore. . . . Gun after gun was run through the ports and magazines of solid shot thrown overboard to lighten the ship. Finally at high tide, a succession of great waves lifted the frigate from the bar, bore her over the intervening shoals and landed her, a dismantled wreck, high upon the beach.
The beach was lined with citizens, who tried to save the lives of her crew, although at least 21 sailors perished attempting to escape the foundering ship via long boat. Most of the crew survived the violent grounding and were held as prisoners of war. Word was sent to Truro and as the sky cleared the following day, a detachment of militia marched to the site and under the command of Captain Enoch Hallett of Yarmouth, and took control of the prisoners. Together with their American guards, some 480 men marched through the November cold from Truro to Boston, a trip of more than 100 miles on today's roadways! In the meantime, the remains of the vessel were put under the charge of Colonel Doane.
According to some accounts, the soldiers at the site had their hands full in controlling the riotous groups from Provincetown and Truro, which had each laid claim to the shipwreck spoils, including various artillery, supplies, and the personal effects of the officers and crew. It was the fledgling American government, however, that determined the division of the man-of-war's remains.
Naturally, Somerset's guns were the first items to be salvaged. The larger pieces of artillery were taken away to help fortify Castle Island in Boston Harbor and ramparts in Gloucester and on the coast of Maine. Once the government finished with its salvage effort, Somerset was turned over to the local residents who reportedly removed anything else of value, including iron bolts, chain plates, and even deck planking for firewood. The large hull timbers that remained were eventually buried by the shifting sands of Dead Men's Hollow, but they have been uncovered on at least two other occasions over the last 230 years by storms;once in 1886 when some 60 feet of hull timbers were visible, and most recently in 1973 on the Cape Cod National Seashore.