That's a good point that I've thought about myself but "all" the articles agree that the ship was carrying lumber. Perhaps, it was finished lumber.
Even the Disney TV special titled "Bailey's Mistake," which surfaced a few years ago, agreed on the basic elements of this incident. The show itself was sentimental claptrap and sadly there was no re-enactment of the incident.
I should credit nautical singer and researcher Stephen Sanfilippo for drawing my attention to the relative proximity to Boston to Nantucket, with regard to the usual sailing track to Down East Maine.