Shipwrecked: Coastal Disasters and the Making of the American Beach

259 Pages·2020·16.583 MB·English

by  Jamin Wells

Shipwrecked
This page intentionally left blank
Shipwrecked
Coastal Disasters and the
Making of the American Beach
Jamin Wells
The University of North Carolina Press chapel hill
© 2020 Jamin Wells
All rights reserved
Set in Merope Basic by Westchester Publishing Ser vices
Manufactured in the United States of Amer i ca
The University of North Carolina Press has been a member
of the Green Press Initiative since 2003.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Wells, Jamin, author.
Title: Shipwrecked : coastal disasters and the making of the American beach /
Jamin Wells.
Description: Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press, [2020] |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: lccN 2020018436 | iSBN 9781469660899 (cloth : alk. paper) |
iSBN 9781469660905 (paperback : alk. paper) | iSBN 9781469660912 (ebook)
Subjects: lcSh: Shipwrecks— United States— History—19th  century. |
Coasts— United States— History. | Beaches— United States— History.
Classification: lcc VK1270 .W45 2020 | DDc 910.9163/4— dc23
lc rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2020018436
Cover illustration: Granville Perkins, “The Stranded Steam- Ship L’ Amerique,”
Harper’s Weekly, January 27, 1877.
Portions of this book w ere previously published by the author in a dif er ent form
and are used h ere with permission. Chapter 1 includes material from “Mapping
the Coastal Frontier: Shipwrecks and the Cultural Landscape of the Early
Republic,” in Formation Pro cesses of Maritime Archaeological Landscapes, ed. by
Alicia Caporaso (New York City: Springer Publishing, 2017), 31–52. Chapter 4
includes material from “Professionalization and Cultural Perceptions of Marine
Salvage, 1850–1950,” Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord 17, no. 2 (April 2007):
1–22. Chapter 5 includes material from “Lure of the Shore: Authenticity,
Spectacle, and the Wreck of the St. Paul,” New Jersey History 126, no. 1 (2011):
13–20.
To my patient,
loving family
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
Acknowl edgments xi
Introduction 1
chapter oNe
The American Coastal Frontier  10
chapter tWo
Taming the Beach  38
Wreckers and Wreck Law on the Jersey Shore
chapter three
Transforming the Shore 6 9
Tourism, Lifesavers, and the Rise of Quonnie
chapter four
Clearing the Coast  105
Captain T. A. Scott, a “True American”
chapter fiVe
Shipwreck and Spectacle on the Modern Beach 137
Epilogue  163
Notes  171
Bibliography  203
Index  229
This page intentionally left blank
Illustrations and Maps
illuStratioNS
Captain Cook Cast Away on Cape Cod, 1802 35
Wreck of the Ship John Minturn 39
Frontispiece from The Wreckers; Or, The Ship- Plunderers of Barnegat  66
Death on Economy  93
Crowd watching lifesavers drill 101
The Old Wreck, Annie, Quonochontaug, R.I. 101
Captain T. A. Scott  106
T. A. Scott Com pany Ware house  123
Advertisement for the T. A. Scott Com pany 129
T. A. Scott Com pany Plant at New London, Conn.  135
“The Steamship ‘St. Paul’ Stranded on the Long Branch Coast” 138
American Liner “St. Paul,” Broadside  145
Captive in the Sands, the “St. Paul” Makes a Jersey Holiday  150
MapS
Barnegat- Squan  42
Greater New Jersey 43
Quonnie 71