On the shores of the Avon River, 80 kilometres northwest of Halifax, Mother Nature has uncovered rich layers of 19th century maritime history.
“There are three ships that are buried here in the sand,” said 88-year-old Summerville, N.S., resident Wilfred Ogilvie, who has lived down the road all of his life.
About a hundred years ago, three wooden sailing ships were abandoned at a long-removed wharf and left to rot.
Ogilvie said the vessel called the Hamburg had a towering hull that loomed large on the beach.
“She was 200-feet long and 40-feet wide and about a 25-foot depth,” said Ogilvie, who added the three-mast Hamburg was built across the river in Hantsport, N.S., and was considered massive for that era. “That was a lot of ship.”
All three sailing ships, the Hamburg included, caught …