To the account of the loss of the ship, Freeman’s “History of Cape Cod; Annals,” &c., appends the following note:
“The beach where this ship was wrecked was thenceforward called “The Old Ship.” The remains of the wreck were visible many years.”
The January number of the N. E. Historical and Genealogical Register for 1864 (p. 37) contains an able article by Amos Otis, Esq., in which allusion is made to the tradition that the name of the old ship was “Sparrow-Hawk.” Mr. Otis speaks of this tradition as uncertain. We will give the tradition as it is, and leave it to make its own impression on our readers. A family by the name of Sparrow has long resided in the close vicinity of the Old Ship Harbor. The first settler of the name, Mr. Jonathan Sparrow, bought the land, where the family now live, in 1675. The present proprietor, Mr. James L. Sparrow, states that it had been “handed down” from father to son that there was an old ship buried in the sand in Potanumaquut Harbor in the early days of the colony, and that its name was “Sparahawk,” or “Sparrow-Hawk.”
Mr. Otis remarks, that “the evidence which seems to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that those remains belong to the ship which Gov. Bradford informs us was lost in Potanumaquut harbor in the winter of 1626–7 ... is principally based on the geological changes that have occurred on the coast, since its discovery. Archer’s account of Gosnold’s voyage around the Cape, in 1602, and of the appearance of the coast, is so unlike anything seen by the modern mariner, that his relation has been considered a myth or traveller’s tale, unreliable and unworthy of credence. Geological inquiries may seem out of place in a historical and genealogical journal; but if they do nothing more, they will verify the accuracy of Archer’s descriptions, and thus aid us in our investigations of the truths of history.
“The accounts of the wrecked ship in Morton and Prince, are copied from Bradford. Morton is not careful in his dates, but he informs us that the master was a Scotchman, named Johnston, a fact not stated by Bradford. Mr. Prince with his accustomed accuracy, states that a ship was lost in the beginning of the winter [December], 1626. Gov. Bradford’s description of the place where the ship was lost, would be perfectly clear and distinct if the configuration of the coast was the same now as it was when he wrote. Namaskachet Creek remains, but Isle Nauset, Points Care and Gilbert, have been swept away by the waves and currents of the ocean. Where Monamoick Bay was, there is a straight line of sea-coast; where an open sea then was, now long beaches meet the eye; and where were navigable waters, now we see sandy wastes and salt meadows.
“Such remarkable changes having been made in the configuration of this coast since its discovery by Gosnold, and its examination by Smith, in 1614, is it surprising that the knowledge of the location of “Old Ship Harbor” should have been lost, or that the readers of Bradford should have been unable to determine where Monamoick Bay was?
“Prof. Agassiz, of Cambridge, in company with the writer and others, has recently made a careful geological examination of the eastern coast of the towns of Eastham, Orleans, and Chatham.... The result was a verification of the accuracy of Archer’s description of the coast.
“This examination enables me to draw an outline map of the coast as it was in 1602, and in 1626. I have also a map of the harbors, beaches, and salt meadows as they were, and as they now are.” [V. map, p. 14.]
In Gov. Bradford’s account, which we have already quoted, he says that “he landed on Naumskachett creek” on the inside of the bay. From the fact that the distance from this creek, which now forms a part of the boundary line between Brewster and Orleans, to the navigable waters of Potanumaquut is about two miles,—as stated by Bradford,—while to Nauset harbor, the distance is greater, Mr. Otis considers it proved “beyond controversy that Potanumaquut was the harbor into which the ship ‘stumbled.’”
We quote from Mr. Otis, the facts in relation to the discovery: