Shipwrecks of Long Island Sound

Buoy marking 1930 "Sugarboat" shipwreck location near Greenwich Point.
Are the shipwrecks of Long Island Sound endangered?

With controversial proposals like a new gas pipeline across the Sound and a floating natural gas terminal, there's a suggestion that development is increasingly going offshore. And new projects that disturb the underwater environment have the potential to affect the sites of shipwrecks that, in some cases, have been undisturbed and naturally protected for centuries. Heritage Consultants, a Newington, based archaeological and environmental planning company, received a $25,000 grant from the Long Island Sound license plate fund.

The year-long project will entail research in a variety of municipal, academic and historical sources and dives on wrecks. Shipwreck records occur at every level, national, state and at local repositories,barge companies, insurance companies, personal stories and captain's papers. Eventually the project could involve other institutions, like Mystic Seaport Museum and the University of Connecticut campus at Avery Point.

The data base will belong to the state Department of Environmental Protection and be available for public use. Since there are no laws specifically protecting shipwreck sites, use of the list would be largely advisory for anyone planning to do underwater work in the Sound. [org pub The Day, by David Collins]