The S.S. Savannah was the first American sailing steamer to cross the Atlantic. It ran aground trying to enter Long Island’s Great South Bay in 1821.
Underwater explorer Clive Cussler looked for it in the 1980s, but a Long Island man thinks he found it...on dry land.
Thomas Schultz is eager to show anyone who’s interested where he believes the remains of the S.S. Savannah are buried. WSHU's JD Allen joined him on a trip out to Fire Island.
“So, these waders are for you. We are going through an area that is marshy, and I am going to try and keep you dry,” Schultz says. It looks like we are going on a dig.
Schultz has been fascinated with the Savannah for much of his life. The ship first crossed the Atlantic in 1819.
Two years later, the Savannah was fleeing a Nor’easter when it ran aground trying to enter the Great South Bay through an inlet that closed in the 1850s.
On our way to the site, Schultz says what he believes is the Savannah is near an inlet that was created when the Fire Island National Seashore was split in two by Superstorm Sandy.
This new inlet moved a large amount of sand and changed the tides around Fire Island – uncovering the shipwreck.
“And in essence that is the theory I am working with, that we know that the S.S. Savannah came to rest on the beach back in the early 1800s," Schultz says. "We know she was salvaged. We also know that parts remained on the beach. It is very possible that those parts are being exposed due to the erosion caused by Bellport Inlet.”
Schultz knows his way around. He anchored the boat about 20 feet off of the shore because it’s illegal to dock on the wilderness preserve, and we trudged through the marsh littered with debris from Sandy.
“Look now, you can see some things here. Some of this is clearly not old at all. Some of it very well may be old. You can tell by the hardware, the fittings that this item, over here to the right, is part of an old dock that washed up as a result of Superstorm Sandy," Schultz says. “Aha! Look at this.”
It’s a wooden beam, probably 50 or 60 feet long. It’s sandblasted and splintered at the ends.
“Based on my initial observation, and based on the coloring, it’s a piece of white oak that has been weathered – I am not sure how old it is – but it is certainly not something from Home Depot in the last couple of decades," Schultz says. “But look at this: The double shanks here. That is very common in construction of ships.”
Schultz says it looks like the keel section of a very old ship. He says it could have been left in the sands after it was salvaged for its iron and brass fittings.
We then turned over the wooden beam with a “On three: one, two, three. Yes!”
He has found other smaller pieces before, like a deadeye that is used hoisting the sails on an old ship.
But never before has he found anything as substantial as this: We could be holding a piece of American history in our hands.
“This is amazing,” Schultz says.
Since it’s on federally owned land, Schultz gives copies of his notes and photos to the National Park Service. Ultimately, it would be up to them to survey and excavate the area.
Schultz squatted down next to his newest find. He says if the rest of the Savannah is there, it is protected underneath a couple feet of sand.
“I am just thrilled to share this possible find with the world." Schultz says. "And I hope that one day we can definitely prove that this is the Savannah.”
But Schultz says there is a sense of urgency: the ocean will wash away the beach and eventually anything buried in the sand will be lost to the sea.
