1901 E BRUSH SHIPWRECK
Living History Community Project
T
he 1901 Shipwreck Light Painting Project is an exciting participant-driven new media project that unearthed the 60-foot-long buried remains of the 1901 E. Brush Schooner Shipwreck on the beach off Hallock Landing in Rocky Point, NY with light. This project is a collaboration with the Rocky Point Historical Society, local author Annette Falcetta and the community at large in leading a truly unique new media meets “living history” event in the making.
Images were revealed at an exhibition and artist’s talk at the North Shore Library. Prints are on permanent view for purchase at the Hallock Homestead & Museum, which is just a few blocks from the beach wreckage site. All profits benefit the Rocky Point Historical Society.
E. Brush Shipwreck, Rocky Point, New York
Photograph by Hal B. Fullerton
Reprinted by permission from the Queens Borough Public Library, Empire State Digital Network
BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE
NOVEMBER 14 1901
A
ccording to articles in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and New York Tribune dated November 14, 1901, a schooner owned by Captain Elbert Overton, built in 1873, home ported in Port Jefferson and named the E. Brush was anchored just off shore on the Long Island Sound with a partial load of cord wood, when a Nor-easter came in overnight and “blew hard” through the following day, pushing the boat high up on the beach.
The 60-foot, 42-ton wooden vessel was unable to be moved back to the water, so it was left on the beach to be reclaimed by the tides. Pieces of the vessel are still submerged under the sand today and on very rare occasions, petrified timber from the wooden hull can be seen poking out of the sand after a big storm timed with particularly low Spring Tides.
Still to today, residents and maritime enthusiasts alike will send urgent text alerts to each other when parts of the boat become visible. And a few pieces salvaged from the wreckage are on permanent view at the Hallock Homestead Museum, along with copies of the newspaper clippings and Maritime Registry records for the E. Brush and its owners.
Light Painting as a vehicle for exploring local folklore and rediscovered lineage suggests that human stories have a lingering presence long after they slip from view. Sometimes remaining completely intact just beneath the surface of our consciousness (or beach sand) waiting to be unearthed and told again.
“Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.”
(Martin Luther King Jr)
All rights reserved. © Alina Wilczynski