History

The British ship HMS Culloden ran aground nearby at Culloden Point in 1781 while pursuing a French frigate. To keep it from falling into enemy hands, the British threw the cannons overboard and burned the ship. The wreck was discovered in the 1970s when portions of it washed ashore (reports indicate that some of the washed-up debris had been used for beach campfires). The wreck is protected on the National Register of Historic Places and now is the first underwater park on Long Island, New York.