Nathan F. Cobb

The Nathan F. Cobb was a three-masted schooner named after the shipbuilder and founder of Cobb’s Salvaging Company whose many rescues of stranded ships help lead to the formation of the United States Life-Saving Service. Despite its namesake's history of shipwreck rescues, the Nathan F. Cobb capsized in heavy seas on 1 December 1896 en route from Brunswick, Georgia to New York with a cargo of timber and cross ties. The cook and a shipmate drowned when they were swept overboard in violent seas. The crew righted the vessel by removing the three masts and they drifted for four days until they became grounded on a sandbar off Ormond Beach, Florida. Rescue attempts led to the drowning of volunteer Ferd Waterhouse, whose body was never recovered, but no other crew members were lost. A plaque commemorates Ferd Waterhouse’s rescue efforts. The Cobb Cottage, a structure built using materials salvaged from the ship, is part of Ormond Beach’s Historic Trail.