January 23, 2026
New Jersey State Parks/Facebook
Wreckage from the Lawrence N. McKenzie schooner, which went missing in 1890, has washed up in Ocean County.
New Jersey park officials have discovered the remnants of a ship that disappeared 136 years ago.
Wooden pieces of the Lawrence N. McKenzie, a 19th century schooner that wrecked in the Atlantic Ocean, recently washed up on Island Beach State Park in Ocean County. The 98.2-foot vessel was carrying a cargo of oranges from Puerto Rico to New York City when it ran into trouble. The crew survived, but the schooner has been missing since March 21, 1890.
According to contemporaneous news reports, it was stranded in a thick fog near Barnegat. A life-saving crew from the Cedar Creek station in Berkeley Township rescued Captain Lawrence McKenzie and eight men. In his report to the insurance company, the captain claimed there was six feet of water in the vessel's hold.
The Lawrence N. McKenzie was built in Essex, Massachusetts, in 1883. It docked further south in the state, in Provincetown.
Island Beach State Park officials said they found the artifacts after weeks of erosion spurred by persistent wind and rough surf. They are monitoring the area and asking visitors to "respect" the relics, which can't be moved or touched.
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