A new book by local historian and freelance journalist Bill Bleyer chronicles centuries of maritime disasters off Long Island, bringing together stories that span from the colonial era to the early 1960s.
Bleyer, who has written extensively on regional history and maritime topics, said his upcoming book, “Shipwrecks on Long Island,” grew out of a desire to fill what he saw as a gap in both his own work and the broader historical record.
His previous books have touched on shipwrecks in more limited ways, including looking at lighthouses, the U.S. Life-Saving Service (one of the predecessors to the Coast Guard), and specific maritime disasters. This new project, he said, allowed him to take a broader approach.
“It’s basically filling a gap in the general historical record,” Bleyer said. “It’s been kicking around in my head for the last year or so.”
Work on the book is made possible in part by a $3,000 grant from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation, a Riverhead-based nonprofit that supports historical projects on and around Long Island. The grant was awarded to the Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society, Bleyer’s nonprofit partner on the application, and allows the society and the author to purchase books from History Press, the publisher, that they can sell to support their work.
The book will cover shipwrecks dating back to the 1600s, beginning with one of the earliest recorded incidents along Long Island’s South Shore. That wreck involved the Prins Maurits, a Dutch vessel carrying colonists intended to settle what would become Delaware.
“They left from Amsterdam on Christmas Day 1656, and they saw land on March 6,” Bleyer explained. “They thought were coming into Manhattan, but they were actually offshore near the mouth of the Carmen’s River in Suffolk when they grounded.”
No one died, and those aboard were eventually rescued after Native Americans alerted authorities in Manhattan.
Bleyer said his research draws heavily on primary sources, including newspaper accounts and official reports. While early colonial wrecks rely on limited documentation, later incidents are often richly detailed.
“I’m using a lot of original newspapers, of course,” he said. “Also later on, when the U.S. Life-Saving Services are out there, they do full reports on every shipwreck, which are great because they interview all the players.”
Those accounts, he said, provide vivid, firsthand perspectives from survivors and rescuers. Bleyer said he focused on larger vessels and unique narratives, rather than attempting to catalog every single maritime accident.
“There are literally hundreds of shipwrecks around Long Island,” he said. “In a lot of them nobody died, or the story isn’t particularly interesting, so I’m trying to find ones that have a compelling story.”
Among those is the wreck of the Circassian in 1876, which initially stranded without casualties but later resulted in deaths when a second storm destroyed the vessel during salvage efforts. The book also explores unusual and lesser-known stories, including a shipwreck that scattered rose bushes along the East End, where they were later planted by residents.
The timeline of the book extends into the 20th century, ending with the sinking of the Gwendolyn T. Sears in 1962 near Huntington Bay.
“By the ‘60s, safety equipment, navigation equipment,” Bleyer explained, “had improved to the point you don’t have any major shipwrecks.”
He added that Long Island’s geography played a major role in the frequency of shipwrecks, particularly during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Heavy maritime traffic combined with limited navigation aids and hazardous coastal features created dangerous conditions. Sandbars, low-lying dunes and poor visibility often left ships vulnerable.
Shipwrecks, Bleyer added, were once a significant part of life for coastal communities.
“People live by the shore more than anywhere else,” he said. “A lot of their livelihoods… were tied to the sea and shipwrecks, are part of that.”
While many wrecks had primarily local impact, some drew widespread attention. The 1840 wreck of the steamboat Lexington, which Bleyer has also written a prior book on, gained national and international coverage.
The book's release is planned for late this year or early next year.
