Two Brothers (ship) facts for kids
A diver examines an anchor at the Two Brothers shipwreck site on August 24, 2008.
|
|
Quick facts for kids History |
|
|---|---|
 United StatesUnited States |
|
| Name | Two Brothers |
| Out of service | February 11, 1823 |
| Fate | Sank near French Frigate Shoals, February 11, 1823 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Nantucket whaler |
| Tons burthen | 217 (bm) |
The Two Brothers was a whaling ship from Nantucket, a famous whaling town. It sank on February 11, 1823. The ship went down near the French Frigate Shoals, which are islands in the Pacific Ocean.
The captain of the Two Brothers was George Pollard, Jr.. He was also the captain of another famous whaling ship called the Essex, which sank earlier.
The wreck of the Two Brothers was found in 2008. Marine archaeologists (scientists who study old things underwater) discovered it. They were on an expedition for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This area is now part of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. The ship was likely built in 1804 in Hallowell, Maine.
Contents
Whaling Journeys
The Two Brothers made two long journeys to hunt whales.
First Voyage
The ship left Nantucket on November 21, 1818. George B. Worth was the captain. It returned on August 5, 1821. The ship brought back a lot of whale oil from the Pacific Ocean.
Second Voyage
The Two Brothers started its second journey on November 13, 1821. This time, Captain George Pollard, Jr. was in charge. The ship was heading to the Pacific Ocean again.
The Shipwreck
On the night of February 11, 1823, the Two Brothers was sailing west. It was with another whaling ship called the Martha. A big storm hit them. The two ships got separated. Captain Pollard wasn't sure exactly where his ship was.
Soon, the Two Brothers hit a reef and began to sink. This happened near the French Frigate Shoals. Captain Pollard didn't want to leave his ship. But his crew begged him to. They all got into small boats and held on through the night. The next morning, the Martha found them and rescued everyone.
Thomas Nickerson was a crew member on the Two Brothers. He wrote about the shipwreck. Nickerson had also been with Captain Pollard on the Essex when it sank. His story about the Two Brothers wreck is kept at the Nantucket Historical Association.
The Mystery of the Reef
For many years after the Two Brothers sank, people thought a new reef had been found. They called it "Two Brothers reef." It was supposedly near the French Frigate Shoals.
However, some people, including Thomas Nickerson, believed this was a mistake. They thought the ship's crew had simply misidentified the French Frigate Shoals. They believed it was not a new reef at all.
In 1931, the area was surveyed, and no new reef was found. The discovery of the Two Brothers wreck on the French Frigate Shoals later confirmed this idea. It showed that the ship's crew had likely made a navigation error. They thought they had hit a new reef, but it was actually the French Frigate Shoals all along.
Thomas Nickerson wrote about this confusion:
“We have not seen a vestige of our ill-fated ship nor haven’t heard what a vestige of her has ever been seen since. I believe this reef has been claimed as a new discovery, but although our reckoning places its position one degree of Latitude to the northward and three degrees to the westward, still I believe with Captain Derrick that it is no other than the French Frigate Shoals and that our navigations were mistaken the more so as I remember that owing to thick weather we had been several days without observation.”
— Thomas Nickerson as quoted by A Sounding Lead on a Distant Reef, Captain Pollard’s Lessons Learned
This means Nickerson believed they were just lost and hit the known French Frigate Shoals, not a new reef.
Discovery of the Wreck
The wreck of the Two Brothers was found in 2008. A team of marine archaeologists from NOAA made the discovery. At first, they didn't know which ship it was. They called it the "Shark Island Whaler."
On February 11, 2011, NOAA announced the ship's identity. It was the Two Brothers, exactly 188 years after it sank. This was a very important discovery. It was the first time a wrecked Nantucket whaling ship had ever been found.
The archaeologists knew it was a 19th-century whaling ship. They found things like anchors and special whaling tools called try pots. There were three whaling ships known to have sunk at the French Frigate Shoals. These were the Two Brothers (1823), the South Seaman (1859), and the Daniel Wood (1867).
Some of the first items found at the wreck site included two anchors. They also found three try pots, bricks, and parts of the ship's rigging (ropes and sails). More items were found in 2009 and 2010. These included blubber hooks, five harpoon tips, and three whaling lances. They also found four cast-iron cooking pots, ceramics, and glass.
The shipwreck site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2017. This means it is a special historical place that needs to be protected.
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
