Expedition Team: Dave Miller
Expedition Date: September 2017
Here is Part 1 of a tale of two shipwrecks at the same location but 122 years apart. We have been going every year for 29 years to our time share condo at Ormand Beach. There is a sign on a pole on the beach saying, “No swimming – shipwreck of the Nathan F. Cobb”. During low tide I have never seen any wreckage debris near the sign. After much research I found the history of the ship.
HISTORY: The Nathan F. Cobb was built in Bath., Maine, was 167 feet long and had a 35-foot beam. The photo is the remains of the American wooden schooner Nathan F. Cobb. Sailing for New York with a cargo of lumber and railroad track ties, a storm stripped away her three masts. After drifting helplessly for three days, waves cast the disabled vessel onto the beach on December 5, 1896. Locals not only saved the six crewmen and treated them for exposure but made off with the wood and ties. Wood from the ship was used to build several houses in Ormand Beach and Daytona Beach.
