Bones of a Ship Surface 136 Years Later from the Sands of the Jersey Shore

Rough surf and heavy winds have exposed the remnants of a 19th-century shipwreck from beneath the sands of a New Jersey beach.

What is left of the cargo schooner named the Lawrence N. McKenzie appeared on the beach at Island Beach State Park, a narrow barrier island along the Jersey Shore in Ocean County.

State park officials provided the ship’s history and why it suddenly appeared this winter in a Facebook post:

The Lawrence N. McKenzie was a 98.2-foot schooner traveling from Puerto Rico to New York City with a cargo of oranges when it wrecked March 21, 1890. All eight crew on board survived the wreck. The vessel was built in 1883 with a homeport of Provincetown, Massachusetts.

Beach erosion during the winter months