Yes it's true. Last season's storm surges evidently scoured up an old 19th century shipwreck, which caused quite a bit of damage to a couple of West End Dauphin Island rental homes.
Glenn Forest, a marine archaeologist from Mobile, believes the huge ship fragment which did the damage is part of the 19th century clipper cargo ship Robert H. Dixey. The ship sank near the mouth of Mobile Bay after striking a sand bar now known as Dixey Bar. Construction workers found the fragment under one of the damaged rental homes.
The 165-foot clipper ship was built in Boston in 1855 and was used to haul merchandise (mainly cotton) from Mobile to Eastern Europe.
As Katrina's tidal surge submerged the island's west end on Aug. 29, it picked up the massive ship fragment and smashed into a nearby house. On Sept. 24, Hurricane Rita slung it under another house, letting it come to rest after it snapped one of the house's pilings in two