Wooden Shipwreck in Gulf Shores Alabama

By far the video that has gotten the most attention was one made of the shipwreck that appeared a few weeks back. A storm had hit the area and the extra high surf had washed off the sand that had kept it hidden for possibly hundreds years. It was right at the waters edge about five or six miles east of Fort Morgan. It is located right  behind a beach house on stilts.

Within a day or two the news of the shipwreck was going around the area. A friend of mine, Ken Cooper that owns orangebeach.ws, sent me an email saying he thought it would be something I would want to video. 

I couldn't get to it quick enough to suit me. My wife and I rode out Fort Morgan road having no idea where we were going. After riding out almost into the Fort itself, we turned around and went into the store at the Fort Morgan Marina. The gentleman there told us exactly how to get to it. Luckly we could drive to within, what must have been, a hundred feet of it.

I say, "Luckly" because my wife had to get back in order to go to work. There were several other vehicles parked in the area and some people walking around the wreckage. I managed to get most of the shots I wanted but planned on returning for a few more at a later time.

The ship looks to be about 150 feet long and 36 feet at the widest point. It was burned at some point down to about the waterline. There are rows of metal spikes even though the wooden planks of the hull are fastened with wooden pegs.

There are lots of guesses going around about the ship and its fate. It seems to have been a schooner and may have been a blockade runner during the Civil War. There is a known shipwreck just a couple of miles west of this one, the Ivanhoe, a blockade runner that was burned by Union sailors during the Civil War.

I started capturing and editing the footage as soon as we got home. By that night I had it uploaded to the website. They next day I put a post about it on the al.com forums and from there the words spread around leading to record number of visitors to our still new site.

Before I could get back to make any more footage of the shipwreck I heard that it had already been recovered by the sand. I understand that a someone from Mobile is looking into it and is supposed to have more information about it soon.

The video of it is located Here. You can access all of the videos www.algulfcoastvideo.com.