If you want to watch about someplace , you could always pick up a textbook . But if you require to get to know a place , you ’re going to have to dig a little deep . And what you discover there might be a lilliputian foreign . The Strange States serial publication will take you on a practical tour of America to uncover the strange people , places , things , and issue that make this area such a unique place to call home .
Although Delaware is often call The First State because it was the first to sign the Constitution back in 1787 , it will never be charge of being a very strange country . There simply is n’t a lot of way for too many weird museums or crazy statues in 2500 solid miles of estate . But just off the sea-coast is another matter : Over the year , many a shiphas sunk off of Delaware . Here are the stories behind two of the wrecks .
The Story of Coin Beach
After a night of thunderstorms , it ’s not strange to find the beach near Delaware Seashore State Park invade by people with metallic element detectors . This strip of sand , known as Coin Beach , has make the periodic lucky find since an Irish ship , theFaithful Steward , sunk just offshore on September 1 , 1785 .
The story go that theStewardleft Londonderry , Ireland on July 9 fill mostly with family coming to America in search of a better life . To celebrate the end of the long journey across the Atlantic , Captain Connolly McCausland and his gang throw a political party . alas , they partied a little too severely and many of them , include McCausland , pass away out , leaving the ship at the clemency of the seas . TheStewardran aground less than 150 yard from shoring and began to sink , squeeze the passengers into the drink . Of the 249 souls on table , only 68 live .
While the red of human aliveness is tragic , theFaithful Stewardalso lost all her cargo , admit 400 bbl filled with British pennies and halfpennies . It ’s these coins that have washed up ever since , giving Coin Beach its nickname . However , many local hoarded wealth hunter claim the coin are now becoming few and far between . It seems the most they find today are rusted shoe buckles and other , small personal belongings , which , while interesting , are not very lucrative finds .
De Braak
Commander James Drew of the British Royal Navy and his ship , the 18 - throttle brig - sloopHMS De Braak , were having a jolly full run in May 1798 . They had just captured theDon Francisco Xavier , an enemy Spanish ship , and were towing it into Delaware Bay to collect a $ 160,000 bounty . However , Drew ’s good destiny run out as a freak storm make high wind , capsizing the boat before the crew could respond in time . Forty - seven men died as the ship sank , admit Drew , his 35 - man gang , and most of the Spanish captive that had been hold in the hull . Only three prisoners survived , paddling to shore on the Commander ’s wooden chest . When they were rescue , they were reportedly carry gold coins , which lead many to theorize that theDe Braakwas meet with worthful treasure .
The hearsay of sunken treasure persisted and more than 30 salvage operations were assay over the year , but found little success . But fortune finally strike for Sub - Sal , Inc. , who used side - scan sonar to find the ship in 1984 and shortly guarantee the right to salvage the site . Over the course of two years , Sub - Sal recover nearly 20,000 artifacts from theDe Braak , but , because they were only interested in hoarded wealth , threw many items of historic value overboard . One of these items was a rare eighteenth Century Royal Navy stove , say to be one of only two known to be left in existence . There were even reports they disposed of human remains in the same manner , a clear violation of numerous state and federal laws . In the end , they only found a few gold coins that were n’t even valuable enough to apologize the expense of the salvage . bad of all , they did irreparable damage to the ship ’s hull and the unity of the archaeological site .
The irresponsible salvage of theDe Braakwas the net straw for many in the submerged archaeology field . They had been fighting for more tight Union laws to safeguard submerged historical website after thousands of sunken ship were destroyed by hoarded wealth hunters in the 1970s . In response , the Abandoned Shipwrecks Act was passed in 1988 , which made any historical or desert shipwreck base in a state ’s coastal water the place of the state . The number makes public access to the shipwrecks legal , but take any objects from the website is against the law . This also bring the dig of shipwrecks under the ascendence of the nation , who can hire private salvage teams to fetch up artifacts if the state hold it ’s in the populace ’s interest group .
The 20,000 “ worthless ” artefact recovered from theDe Braaksite were trade to the State of Delaware for $ 300,000 , and can now be seen in the Zwaanendael Museum in Lewes , Delware . The ship ’s hull underwent a lengthy preservation process and can now viewed at Cape Henlopen State Park .
Have the scoop on an strange someone , topographic point or upshot in your state ? narrate me about it on Twitter ( @spacemonkeyx ) and maybe I ’ll include it in a future variant of Freaky Fifty !
See all the accounting entry in the Strange State serieshere .
