Bone Wreck (Lt. Sam Mengel)

The identity of the Bone Wreck will probably never be known for sure, but it may the Lt. Sam Mengel (shown above), a schooner barge known to have been sunk in the general vicinity in 1935. More on schooner barges can be found on the “Schooner Barge” wreck page. The Bone wreck appears to have been an intentional sinking based on the lack of any cargo inside, but this is not certain by any means. It got its name from a large and impressive whale skeleton found inside – most guess the whale became entangled in fishing nets commonly found caught on these wrecks. Vertebrae are easy to find, and you can generally follow the trail to the skull lying inside the wreck. It’s a pretty interesting sight.

This wreck is found in about 180 ft of water, and is somewhat broken up. The hull is largely intact, but the sides have collapsed outward in a few places, and almost all of the decking and many cross members are gone. A few artifacts found on this wreck such as door hinges and a deck light seem more ornate than one might find on a “built” schooner barge, so this ship may have been converted at some point in its career. The highest point of the wreck is a winch mounted approximately at mid-ships, and this is the usual location of any mooring. Visibility can vary a lot on this wreck. The average is probably only 15 – 20 ft, but on a few lucky days we’ve had visibility over 40 ft and on those occasions the wreck is truly impressive as you swim over the top.

I personally haven’t seen too many fish on this wreck, but I did drop a stage bottle near an opening that turned out to be home for a very large wolf fish. I didn’t notice the telltale litter of shells and crab remains until picking up the bottle, but I was glad I did. The only larger one I’ve seen was under the rudder of the Pinthis, a wreck off Scituate.