A Southwest Harbor company has filed a claim in federal court seeking ownership over a wooden cargo ship that sank off Mount Desert Island more than 120 years ago.
It was found on Nov. 5, 2023 by a diver hired by JJM LLC, a private “exploration venture” company owned by Greg Johnston and Michael Musetti, according to documents filed in federal court in Bangor.
The name of the ship and its exact location are being withheld under court order “to prevent external interference with JJM’s salvage rights,” court records indicate.
The ship “is located approximately 120 feet below the surface of the ocean within six nautical miles of Bar Harbor, Maine,” the company said. “She is believed to be a two-mast sailing vessel with a wooden hull that sank in the 1890s with her cargo comprised of stone pavers, left there and forgotten until she was found.”
The company estimates the ship to be 90 to 100 feet long and 20 to 30 feet tall.
“The actual value of the Vessel cannot as of yet be ascertained,” the company wrote.
Johnston, a civil engineer based in Southwest Harbor, did not return a message left at his office Wednesday.
In an affidavit filed with the court, diver Justin Seavey said he was hired by JJM to find the ship and found it on the second day of searching. He said “numerous” stone pavers were among the ship’s debris.
“The vessel was sitting on top of mud that was approximately elbow-deep,” Seavey wrote. “I picked up a single stone paver, without the assistance of any tools, and brought it back to the surface to show JJM. I also removed one piece of wood with drill hole marks that was attached to the vessel and was protruding from the muddy sea floor. I was able to pick up and remove this piece of wood without the assistance of any tools.”
The company took photographs and sonar readings of the shipwreck that, along with the paver stone and piece of wood, have been turned over to the U.S. Marshals Service, pending the outcome of the company’s ownership claims, court records indicate.
On Tuesday, a federal judge authorized JJM to issue a public notice of its claim, to see if any other parties may claim ownership of the vessel and its contents.
