However, some claim that it simply depicts the remains of a large pier

Users believe it shows wreckage of ship lying off the coast of Boston

From a distance, it looks like a small, white patch of sea surrounded by a series of dark lines.

But up close, it appears to be the wreckage of a ship lying off the coast of Boston, Massachusetts.

Or at least, that's what Reddit users - who discovered the image on Google Earth - believe.

One user uploaded the photo to the social media platform on Saturday, alongside the title: 'Found on Google Earth just off the runway of Logan International Airport. Looks like it might be a shipwreck.'

Mystery: Could this photo, from Google Earth, show a shipwreck off the coast of Boston, Massachusetts?

Others were quick to voice their opinions on the image, which in accordance with the virtual map's measurement tool, appears to show an object around 100 feet long and 30 feet wide.

Many agreed that it looked like a shipwreck, but could not work out what type of vessel it was. However, some argued that the picture simply showed the remains of a 'large pier'.

The alleged wreckage is located just off what was formerly known as Boston's Governors Island, formerly the site of Fort Winthrop, a defensive fortification named after Governor John Winthrop.

Gov Wintrhop's family, which was granted the island in 1632, owned it until 1808, when it was acquired for the fort's construction. It was later reclaimed for the extension of Logan International.

Off the coast: The image - featuring a white rectangular shape surrounded by lines - was posted to Reddit

Location: Users were quick to voice their opinions on the photo, which appears to show an object around 100 feet long and 30 feet wide. Above, the location of the alleged shipwreck, near Logan International Airport

If the shipwreck is authentic, the vessel could have crashed during the early 1900s, some Redditors suggested. In this period, a number of since-retrieved ships reportedly went down in the area.

One user, dubbed Scipio, posted a copy of 'Report of the Chief of Engineers U.S. Army' on the site. The report contains a reference to a schooner, 'Mary', which crashed near the island in 1888.

'The government paid to haul her to Fort Winthrop so it wouldn't interfere with harbor traffic,' ScipioA wrote on Reddit, according to The Daily Dot.

Poplar social media platform: The user who originally posted the Google Earth image titled it: 'Found on Google Earth just off the runway of Logan International Airport. Looks like it might be a shipwreck'

'The fort was abandoned only a few years after the ship was moved, so perhaps nobody cared enough to do anything with the hulk and there she sits.'