AH-WR-0612

Nathan F. Cobb

Three-Masted Schooner · United States · Lost 1896 · Florida's Atlantic Coast

A Maine-built lumber schooner that capsized at sea, drifted mastless for days, and finally grounded off Ormond Beach, its salvaged timbers later built into a surviving cottage.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Interpretive Reconstruction, drawn to convey the vessel's era, type and general form. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

Nathan F. Cobb was a three-masted schooner built in Rockland, Maine, in 1890 and named for the founder of a well-known Mid-Atlantic salvage company. On December 1, 1896, while carrying timber from Brunswick, Georgia, to New York, she capsized in a violent Nor'easter near Frying Pan Shoals; the cook and a crewman drowned. Her surviving crew cut away the masts, righted the hull, and drifted for four days before the wreck grounded on a sandbar off Ormond Beach, Florida. A local volunteer, Fred Waterhouse, drowned while trying to assist the stranded sailors. Salvaged lumber from the wreck was later used to build the Cobb Cottage, still standing in Ormond Beach.

Vessel

Built: 1890
Builder: Not established
Yard: Rockland, Maine
Material: Wood
Length: 167.2 ft
Beam: 35.1 ft
Tonnage: 656
Propulsion: Sail
Owners: Not established

Loss

Date: December 1, 1896
Cause: Storm
Location: Grounded on a sandbar off Ormond Beach, Florida, after capsizing near Frying Pan Shoals
Water: Atlantic Ocean
Voyage: Brunswick, Georgia → New York
Cargo: Railroad cross ties and timber
Aboard: 8
Lives lost: 2
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Broken up; salvaged lumber was used to build the Cobb Cottage in Ormond Beach
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Not established

Position

Coordinates: 29.29° N 81.06° W
Accuracy: General area only
Nearest: Ormond Beach, Florida
Region: Florida's Atlantic Coast

General area only: coordinate of Ormond Beach from the USGS Geographic Names Information System, marking the named place of loss recorded for this vessel, not a surveyed wreck position.