Update on Shipwreck
The 48-foot shipwrecked sailboat, Le Papillon, which had done some shoal searching in the afternoon of March 31, 2011 has been finally shucked out of its sandy grave and out of the way of beachgoers.
The heavy steel sailboat, which lay for a month on the shore after running aground, was sinking deeper and deeper into the sand with each passing day. Had it not been extracted, the sailboat would have eventually disappeared into the sand.
With the help of bulldozers and other heavy equipment, this once dignified sailboat was dug out and humiliatingly dragged along the shore and off the beach as a flock of laughing sea gulls flew about dropping their opinions on it. The boat is now getting a tan in the parking lot of the Kismet Fire Department nearby. Perhaps it may someday become a fireboat?
The spot where this sailboat ran aground is not exactly a lucky place to be boating. It is almost the same spot where 118 years ago, on March 24, 1893, the giant 2,000 ton German tanker, Gluckauf, (German word for lucky) ran aground, hit the shore, and got swallowed back into the ocean. Parts of the twisted wreckage may still be seen at low tide. |
|