New Cape library features exhibit on shipwrecks

Less than a mile east of the Schiavo Library in Strathmere, the wreckage of the General Slocum - which was involved in one of the most notorious maritime disasters in U.S. history - lies beneath the sea.

Several miles northwest of that shipwreck, the remains of the Sindia sit under the sand of Ocean City's 17th Street beach.

They are only two of the thousands of known shipwrecks off the coast of New Jersey, which has the highest number of shipwrecks per square mile in the nation, but they are undeniably two of the most famous.

The newly opened Schiavo Library, a privately funded library at Putnam and Commonwealth avenues in memory of the late Dr. Rita C. Schiavo, unveiled a small exhibit of these shipwrecks Saturday night that is expected to be on display for most of the winter.

"Strathmere is a community whose people do a lot of boating, sport fishing, surfing and scuba diving.

They are water-type people," said Marion Ingram, a volunteer at the library.

"And since one of our main goals here is to promote New Jersey history, an exhibit of shipwrecks seemed fitting. Especially considering one of them is right off the coast from us."