‘It tells a story’: Lobsterman on a mission to preserve sunken artifacts from shipwrecks off Mass.

MARBLEHEAD, Mass. — Massachusetts has a rich maritime history and large pieces from shipwrecks are still on the region’s ocean floor.

According to the Board of Underwater Archeological Resources, there are more than 3,500 shipwrecks within the state’s waters.

That’s not all that surprising when one considers all the ships that traveled through the region’s waters long before there were any sophisticated navigational devices.

A lobsterman from Marblehead is fascinated by these shipwrecks and is on a mission to preserve as many treasures as can be found along Boston’s North Shore.

Captain Raymond Bates’ most treasured find is a large bronze peacock he found when he was diving in Marblehead Harbor in 2014.

“It was probably from a steam yacht from between 1880-1920, a time period of luxury yachts,” Bates said.

Bates is something of an unofficial curator of the North Shore’s maritime history.

He showed Boston 25 his vast collection of artifacts, including portholes from the steam tugboat Honey Brook which went down in near Baker’s Island in 1902.

In his spare time, Bates has written books about local shipwrecks.

“What I found over the years is there’s an accumulation of history under the water that’s untouched, unlike land-based history,” explained Bates. “It’s exciting when I find something.”

A collection of his artifacts on display at Marblehead’s Abbott Hall includes a cannonball he found while he was diving for sea urchins.

“It probably fired from Fort Sewall or from one of the vessels out in the bay during the Revolutionary War,” Bates surmised.

He said one of the most common items he finds is old pipes. “I probably found 25 or so.”

Bates said Marblehead has traditionally been known as a fishing town, but “believe it or not, Marblehead had an extensive coastal and international trade network going on too.”

Marblehead Harbor is filled with rock formations above and below the water’s surface which made it a dangerous passage for ships coming from overseas.

“The topography of the North Shore, unlike Cape Cod or Long Island Sound, where it’s all sand, is 90% granite. There’s no forgiveness for a shipwreck scenario or ocean-going vessel in the height of a storm.”

Bates admits there’s a certain thrill when he finds a treasure, kind of like getting a good lottery ticket.

As a history major in college, Bates also thinks his past time has important benefits.

“I’m still looking for that sunken chest, or whatever you want to call it because everything’s a treasure to me because anything you find has a story,” Bates explained. “I mean 200 or 300 years from now, hopefully somebody will know this is the way people lived because it does tell a story.”

There are many rules about what a person can take from one of these sites and when they need a permit.

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