Jun 24, 2026
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PORTLAND—The shipwreck of the Delhi, located in Somes Sound, is owned by the state.
That’s what U.S. Magistrate Judge Jon Nivison, a federal judge, determined, June 23, after months of deliberations and files over the fate of the two-masted schooner, the Delhi.
The schooner sank just over 130 years ago, in 1893, at a point approximately 500 feet offshore, but still within sight of the shore.
The schooner’s masts were still visible above the water at low tide until the Coast Guard cut them during World War II.
Back in 2023, a diver for JJM LLC, a company owned by Greg Johnston and Michael Musetti, found the wreck.
In November 2025, Bill Trotter wrote for the Bangor Daily News that one of the records cited in JJM’s filings was from a 1978 book, “Hall Quarry: The Little Town That Wasn’t There.”
“The excerpt describes how the loaded ship set sail, but on its way out of the sound struck a ‘big ice cake’ floating in the water. The impact pushed in a rotten porthole, causing water to flow in and sink the ship, according to the book,” Trotter wrote.
When the Delhi sank, it had been full of granite paving stones.
JJM has been trying to have ownership of the wreckage and filed a claim for the salvaging rights in 2024.
However, the state and National Park Service both wanted control of the ship’s remains and its cargo, all of which is resting in approximately 120 feet of water. The state said that the wreckage belongs to it, citing federal law that says shipwrecks in state waters, do, in fact, belong to the state.
The Park Service argued that the wreckage should be listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Judge Nivison agreed that the Abandoned Shipwreck Act prevents JJM from salvaging the ship without Maine first agreeing.
He also ruled that the shipwreck can be included in the National Register of Historic Places. This second suit was filed in Bangor Federal Court.
JJM’s attorney Benjamin E. Ford, (Archipelago Law) told Courthouse News, “This case is about the history of our coast. The location of this wreck makes it vulnerable to looters. JJM has an economic interest in recovering the pavers, which have little historical value. The state of Maine has a policy interest in preserving the artifacts. We hope to work with the state to accomplish both those goals.”
Nivison’s order summarizes a bit of Mount Desert Island history.
“The Delhi was constructed in 1872-1873 by Captain Richard F.C. Hartley of Saco, Maine. The Delhi was a wooden-hulled, two-masted, single-decked, schooner-rigged vessel. As initially constructed, the Delhi was 204 tons, 113.1 feet long, 28 feet beam, and 8.1 feet deep. The Delhi shipped coal. In or around 1879, the Delhi was retrofitted. The retrofit added a second deck to the Delhi and increased the vessel’s depth to 12.5 feet and tonnage to 266 tons.
“After the American Civil War, Maine became a center of the granite industry in New England. The primary carriers of granite from New England ports were two- and three-masted schooners that began life as general traders and were later retrofitted for the stone trade. At the time, it was commonly remarked that ‘when a vessel got too old for even lumber coasting out of Bangor, or carrying wood for the Rockland lime kilns, she was considered none too ripe for the stone business and was often loaded to the scuppers with paving or huge blocks of granite.’ Due to the weight of the cargo, vessel loss was relatively common. A wooden-hulled two- or three- masted schooner ranging from 70 to 130 feet was the most common vessel lost.
“On or about April 14, 1893, Campbell & Macomber of Quarryville loaded the Delhi with more than 10,000 granite paving stones. Shortly after leaving port, the Delhi struck ice and sank within view of the shore. The Ellsworth American covered the story of the Delhi sinking in an article dated April 20, 1893. The Delhi’s casualty was also reported in Lloyd’s Register of British and Foreign Shipping: Returns of Vessels Totally Lost, Condemned.”
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
To read the order via Court News.
Salvage Firm Trying to Find Insurer of Ship That Sank Off MDI in 1890s
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