The Shipwreck Archives

“The Rothesay Castle steamboat on her homeward passage from Inverary with 50 to 90 people on board struck on a sunk rock…and immediately filled with water. Most fortunately a number of fishing boats were in the vicinity of her at the time, and about 30 of them having got promptly alongside, rescued the passengers from their perilous situation. One of them in the confusion swamped, but those on board were safely extricated.” -The Caledonian Mercury Saturday, July 13th, 1816. The Rothsay Castle was refloated and continued her career but the next time she was not so lucky.

Ship Name: Rothsay Castle 

Built: Around 1812, date uncertain 

Nationality: United Kingdom 

Tonnage: Placed between 75 and 110 tons due to being rebuilt 

Ship Type: Wooden Side Paddle Steam Ship 

Year Wrecked: 1831

Location Wrecked: Dutchman Bank near Beaumaris Wales 

Reason For Wreck: Wrecked in a storm, poor condition 

Lives Lost: Estimated to be around 150

Sources: 

It was said that it was the smallest number of passengers the Algoma had ever carried. It was supposed that she only had seven cabin passengers and six steerage passengers, the remaining 49 people were all members of the crew, though the numbers are debated. It had been a slow season for the ship, there was now a rail route around lake superior, and smallpox was hitting the region hard. Now that the season was coming to a close there was even less demand. The Algoma could expect this to be one of her last trips of the season.

Ship Name: Algoma

Nationality: Canadian 

Tonnage: 1773

Ship Type: Steel Hulled Screw Steamer 

Year Built: 1883

Year Sank: 1885

Reason For Sinking: Struck rocks in a storm 

Location Sank: Isle Royale Lake Superior 

Lives Lost: 46

Sources: 

On October 27th, 1881 Droogleever Fortuyn, First Officer of the Koning der Nedernlanden, sat down to write a report to the owners of the ship that he had been recently in command of. “Gentlemen, the Telegram from Aden has acquainted you with the lamentable accident which resulted in the loss of the good ship Koning der Nederlanden, and now I hasten to relate some details of the catastrophe. His letter would eventually be published in newspapers around the world. 

Ship Name: Koning der Nederlanden 

Ship Nationality: Netherlands 

Built: 1872

Tonnage: 3063

Year Wrecked” 1881

Location Wrecked: Indian Ocean 

Reason for Wreck: Mechanical Failure

Lives Lost: 121 

Sources: 

Sometimes the MV Monte is compared to the Titanic. A newer ship, full of the rich elites of Germany, crashed into an iceberg. An SOS was sent out. That is where the similarities end, however. The SOS was a success, no lives were lost, and the ship was saved, only to wreck a year and a half later and become a total loss.

Ship Name: MV Monte Cervantes 

Nationality: German 

Year Built: 1928

Ship type: Ocean Liner 

Tonnage: 13913

Year Sank: 1930

Location Sank: Near Ushuaia Argentina 

Reason For Sinking: Struck Rock 

Lives Lost: 1 

Sources: 

“Seamen of the Proserpine, your conduct has been such as to merit the thanks of the court with that of your country and I trust that the example shown by you, for good order and obedience to command, in times of great difficulty and danger, will be held forth as worthy of imitation by all the seamen of his majesty’s fleet.” So ended the court-martial for the loss of the Proserpine. The events that led up to the court-martial could certainly be considered worthy of the court's remarks. 

Ship Name: HMS Proserpine 

Year Built: 1777

Nationality: British 

Tonnage: 595

Ship Type: Sixth Rate Frigate 

Year Wrecked: 1799

Reason For Wreck: Struck a Sandbank in Poor Conditions 

Location Wrecked: Mouth of the Elbe River 

Lives Lost: 14

Sources:      

The Larchmont of the Joy Line, with a route between New York and Rhode Island, was not a ship that was considered lucky. Her life seemed to be a series of incidents, each of which could have abruptly ended her career. Her twenty-six-year-old captain also could be considered to have a streak of bad luck. He had been a pilot on the Joy Line’s ship the Tremont when she had burned, becoming a total loss. The Larchmont was his first command though, and their luck was about to get far worse. 

Ship Name: Larchmont 

Ship Type: Sidewheel Steamer 

Year Built: 1885

Tonnage: 1605

Nationality: United States 

Year Lost: 1907

Location Lost: Near Block Island Rhode Island 

Reason for Loss: Collision with Harry P Knowlton 

Lives Lost: Estimated around 150   

Sources:  

The second officer of the Ly-ee-moon stated that in the four months that he had been with the ship had not seen any charts. He had mentioned this to the third officer, Fotheringham, he did not think it was his duty to ask for a chart, that a captain should offer them. Captain Webber kept the charts in his cabin though and the chart was never in the wheelhouse. The officers simply steered according to the Captain’s orders. 

Ship Name: Ly-ee-moon

Nationality: Australian 

Ship Type: Propellor Steamer 

Year Built: 1856

Tonnage1925

Year Wrecked: 1886

Location Wrecked: Green Cape Australia 

Reason For Wreck: Navigational Error 

Lives Lost: 81

Sources:

The Chusan ran into difficulty almost as soon as leaving the river Clyde, bound for Shanghai. She was taking on water due to what was suspected by those on board to be due to a flaw in her riveting, and while in the St George’s Channel one of her paddle-wheels was also damaged. They stopped in Waterford for repairs, but Captain Johnson was still not satisfied. He turned around, having decided the best course of action would be to go back to the shipyard that had just finished building the ship for a refit before he dared the long voyage to Shanghai. 

Ship Name: Chusan 

Ship Nationality: United Kingdom 

Tonnage: 3590

Ship Type: Iron Side Wheel Paddleboat 

Year Built: 1874

Year Sank: 1874

Location Sank: Ardrossan Scotland 

Reason For Sinking: Hit a Rock in a Storm 

Lives Lost: 17 

Sources: 

The Victoria was no stranger to holiday crowds and on Victoria Day, May 24, 1881, many people had traveled between Springbank Park and the city of London Ontario up and down the Thames river. The river was notoriously shallow, enough that people would joke about boats traveling up and down it grounding on oyster cans, but a grounding was exactly what had happened to the Forest City, meaning that it was no longer available to carry passengers. The burden now fell on the remaining three steam riverboats to bring the holiday crowds back and forth. 

Name: Victoria 

Nationality: Canadian 

Year Built: 1880

Tonnage: 50 

Ship Type: Stern Wheel Wood Steam Riverboat

Year Sank: 1881

Location Sank: Thames River Ontario 

Reason For Sinking: Overloaded 

Lives Lost: Estimated to be around 200    

     Sources: 

Almost as soon as the General Chanzy had left Marseille she had been battered by a terrible storm, later described as one of the worst to hit the Mediterranean in forty years. Her captain, Captain Cayol, considered one of the most careful and steady captains that could be had, struggled to reassure his passengers as they headed to their berths for the night. They would awaken to disaster. 

Ship Name: General Chanzy

Year Built: 1891

Nationality: French 

Ship Type: Single Screw Steam Ship 

Tonnage: 2257

Year Sank: 1910

Reason For Sinking: Hit Rock in Storm 

Location Sank: Off the coast of Minorca 

Lives Lost: An estimated 156 

Sources: 

The sixteen men who set sail from Ishinomaki, Japan on November 27th 1793 were far from worldly men. Since 1639 Japan had forbidden its citizens from traveling abroad and the furthest that the crew of the Wakamiya Maru intended to go on this voyage was Edo. There was nothing to tell them as they departed that four of were going to be the first people from Japan to ever circumnavigate the world. 

Ship Name: Wakamiya Maru 

Ship Nationality: Japanese 

Ship Type: Small Wooden Coastal Trading Vessel

Year Wrecked: 1794

Location Wrecked: Aleutian Islands 

Reason For Wreck: Had Lost Rudder in Storm 

Lives Lost: None in Wreck

Sources: 

For most people the thick fog that enveloped part of the United Kingdom in early March of 1902 was a matter of inconvenience. It covered the Irish Channel, Holyhead, Southampton, and London. In London people found that traveling by any sort of vehicle was impossible and they could only fumble their way home on foot. For ships in the harbors it meant delays, passengers stuck in ports and mail not getting delivered. The situation was more serious for the ships who had already left port. At least one ship grounded near Holyhead and her passengers were forced to go to shore in boats, but worse news was yet to come. 

Ship name: Waesland (formerly the Russia)

Year Built: 1867

Nationality: United Kingdom 

Tonnage: 4,752

Ship Type: Iron Hulled Steamship 

Year Sank: 1902

Location Sank: Off Anglesey

Reason for Sinking: Collision with another ship 

Lives Lost: 2 

Sources: 

It happens, no doubt, that from Bristol you’ve crossed in a casual way,And have sailed your yacht in the summer in the blue of Swansea Bay.

Well! it isn’t like that in the winter, when the lighthouse stands alone,In the teeth of Atlantic breakers that foam on its face of stone;It wasn’t like that when the hurricane blew, and the storm-bell tolled,or whenThere was news of a wreck, and the lifeboat launched, and a desperate cry for men.

-The Women of Mumbles Head by Clement Scott.

The women that inspired the pen of Clement Scott to such an extent that he would immortalize them in verse were two sisters, Jessie and Margaret, the daughters of the light house keeper of the Mumbles Lighthouse. As suggested by Clement Scott the Mumbles lighthouse was not a stranger to fierce Atlantic winter storms, but something unusually fierce was brewing in late January 1883. 

Ship Name: Admiral Prinz Adalbert 

Tonnage: 885

Nationality: German 

Ship Type: Barque 

Year Wrecked: 1883

Location Wrecked: Mumbles Wales 

Reason For Wreck: Blown into Mixon Sands in Storm 

Lives Lost: 1 from ship, 4 members of the lifeboat crew trying to rescue them. 

Sources: 

Things had been tense between the British and Majeerteen Sultanate before the Suez Canal was opened in 1869, but with the opening of the Canal, things only got worse between the two. Other European nations also began to make themselves known in the region, and Majeerteen Ports suddenly had steamers from all over the world passing by. With this came shipwrecks, and every wreck seemed to sour relations between Europe and the Majeerteen Sultanate even more, but a ship was about to make things even more complex. 

Ship Name: The Meikong 

Nationality: French 

Year Built: 1870

Ship Type: Iron Hulled Steamship 

Tonnage: 3279

Year Sank: 1877

Location Sank: Ras Hafun 

Reason For Sinking: Ran Aground in Fog 

Lives Lost: 4

Sources: 

The editor of the Albany Mail could not deny that the passenger’s account of the wreck of the Indus, as originally published in the Times of Ceylon, would be of interest to his readers, but the statements made in it were full of frustration and allegations made against Captain Breeze that the editor put in an unusual disclaimer for 1885 ahead of the article. “We are not, of course, responsible for the opinions of our correspondent”. He need not have worried about the impact of the inflammatory words of the account of passenger, the following inquiry would agree that Captain Breeze had indeed been negligent. 

Ship Name: Indus 

Built: 1871

Tonnage: 3462

Nationality: British 

Ship Type: Iron Hulled Steamer 

Year Wrecked: 1885

Reason For Wreck: Went 30 Miles Off Course, Hit Sand Bar 

Lives Lost: None

Sources:

Cannon Rocks South Africa is said to have taken its name from two cannons that have been found along the stretch of beach it lays on. Both cannons are obviously the result of shipwrecks. It is supposed that at least one of these cannons most likely came from the wreck of the Portuguese ship, the Sao Joao Baptista. The ever shifting sands in the area show and then hide hints of the 1600s ship, but it is not likely there is much left.

Ship Name: Sao Joao Baptista

Ship Type: Wooden Nau (carrack) 

Nationality: Portuguese 

Tonnage: Unknown

Year Built: 1621 or 1622

Year Wrecked: 1622

Reason For Wreck: Ran Aground To Prevent Sinking After Battle 

Location Wrecked: Near Cannon Rocks South Africa 

Lives Lost: Uncertain, More Than 250 After Long Walk to Sofala

Sources: 

The Sausalito and the San Rafael were like old friends. They were both built in New York and then shipped in pieces to San Francisco to serve as ferries between Sausalito and San Francisco for the North Pacific Coast Railroad. Since the San Rafael had departed San Francisco, the Sausalito should have also departed Sausalito headed to San Francisco around the same time. Captain McKenzie of the San Rafael knew that they should meet with the Sausalito at some point, but with the dense fog all he could do was ring the bell and occasionally stop the ship to look for a sign of the other ferry.

Ship Name: San Rafael 

Year Built: 1877

Tonnage: 692

Nationality: United States of America 

Ship Type: Wooden Hulled Steam Ferry 

Year Sank: 1901

Location Sank: Off the Island of Alcatraz, San Francisco Bay 

Reason for Sinking: Collision in the Fog

Lives Lost: Between 3-5 Depending on Source.   

Sources: 

he speakers for the General Assembly of New Zealand attempted to open Parliament on schedule in 1862 only to be met with a problem. There were not sufficient members of the Legislative Council or the House of Representatives to achieve quorum. The reason was uncertain but news came soon, the members from the North had been shipwrecked.

Ship Name: White Swan

Ship Type: Wooden Three Masted Steamer

Year Built: 1853

Tonnage: 335

Nationality: New Zealand

Year Wrecked: 1862

Reason For Wreck: Struck Rock or Reef

Location Wrecked: South of Castle Point

Lives Lost: None

Sources:

Charles Dickens wrote in his short story The Long Voyage: “See the Halsewell, East Indiaman outward bound, driving madly on a January night towards the rocks near Seacombe, on the island of Purbeck! …The description of her loss, familiar to me from my early boyhood, seems to be read aloud as she rushes to her destiny.” For Dickens the Halsewell was a vessel to express final regrets and a contemplation of a new year, but at one time it had been the pride of the British East India Company.

Ship Name: Halsewell

Nationality: British

Built: 1778

Tonnage: 758

Ship Type: East Indiaman

Year Wrecked: 1786

Reason For Wreck: Wrecked in a Storm Against a Cliff

Lives Lost: At least 166

Sources:

The Boatswain of the SS Austria dipped the hot metal chain into a bucket of tar that had been set aside for the purpose of fumigating the steerage class of the ship. As often happened on immigrant ships of the mid 1800s, the 2,684 ton ship had 450 people in steerage alone, fumigation was often needed. As he dipped his chain in the bucket though, disaster was only minutes away.

Ship Name: SS Austria

Nationality: Germany

Ship Type: Three Masted Metal Hulled Screw Steamer

Built: 1857

Tonnage: 2386

Year Sank: 1858

Reason For Sinking: Fire

Location Sank:  Mid Atlantic

Lives Lost: Estimated between 450 and 550

Sources:

The chief officer of La Seyne, also referred to on ship as the Second Captain, was laying in his bunk but he had not fallen asleep yet in spite of the hour. Suddenly the calm of the night on the ship was broken by a loud blast of the ship’s whistle and the chief officer jumped up and rushed to the deck to find out what had happened.

Ship Name: La Seyne

Nationality: French

Built: 1874

Tonnage: 1140

Ship Type: Single Screw Steam Ship

Year Lost: 1909

Reason for Loss: Collision with the Onda

Location of Wreck: Near Singapore

Lives Lost: Up to 101

Sources:

The crew of the East India Company ship the Sussex, under the command of their captain, got ready to abandon ship. Another East India Company ship, the Winchester, was standing by to take them off. Not all of the crew was united however. There was a small stubborn group who felt that the ship just needed a little repair to be right again.

Ship Name: Sussex

Nationality: British

Ship Type: East Indiaman

Year Built: Unknown

Tonnage: Unknown

Year Wrecked: 1738

Location Wrecked: Bassas da India

Reason For Wreck: Inaccurate Chart

Lives Lost: 15, including those who died in Madagascar after the wreck.

Sources:

The Dutch ship, the Amicilia could see a flag flying from the top of a tall tree on a high point of land fluttering over Christmas Island. This certainly bore investigation since it was well known that there was no one living on Christmas Island. The Amicilia launched a boat and some men rowed towards Christma Island.

Ship Name: Vice Admiraal Rijk

Year Built: 1846

Tonnage: 469

Ship Type: Wooden Sailing Bark

Nationality: Dutch

Location Wrecked: Christmas Island

Year Wrecked: 1852

. Reason For Wreck: Struck Rock in a Storm

Lives Lost: 17

Sources:

The Kuroshio, also known as the Japan Current, carried the helpless, and unsteerable ship along in its tow. The ship was pulled across the pacific by the current and even though the pull weakened near Hawaii the Hojun-maru and the men on board of her were still carried up the coast towards what is now Washington State.

Ship Name: Hojun-Maru

Ship Type: Sengoku-bune

Nationality: Japanese

Year Wrecked: 1834

Reason for Wreck: Unmanagable, ran aground

Location Wrecked: Washington State

Lives Lost: 11

Sources:

The Captain of the French steamer Marie Louise watched the Italian steamer, the SS Sirio, get closer and closer to the shore with some concern. It grabbed his attention enough that he commented to his first mate that the Sirio was taking a dangerous course. He had hardly finished speaking when the Sirio suddenly stopped, and the bow of the ship lifted. The Marie Louise changed her course.

Ship Name: SS Sirio

Built: 1883

Tonnage: 3750

Nationality: Italian

Ship Type: Three Masted Passenger Steamship

Year Wrecked: 1906

Place Wrecked: Eastern Coast of Spain

Reason For Wreck: Incompitance, Poor Navigation \

Lives Lost: Between 200 and 300

Sources:

Ten attempts in total were made to pull the men from the wreck of the Barque Mary Stoddart. Each time the boats were beaten back by the terrible storm that had caused the ship to ground to start with. Each time the men clinging to the rigging could see help get closer, and then turn from them again. On the shore the people could see the men in the rigging, so close yet still completely beyond help.

Ship Name: Mary Stoddart

Ship Type: Wooden Sailing Barque

Nationality: British

Location Wrecked: Dundalk Bay, Ireland

Year Wrecked: 1858

Reason for Wreck: Storm in Unfamiliar Waters

Sources:

As the survivors of the Portuguese shipwreck Sao Bento walked North along the coast of Africa they found traces all along their way of those who had passed before them. Only two years before the Sao Joao had wrecked on this same shore. Survival among the people who had been on the Sao Joao had been minimal, and those on the Sao Bento could only hope that fate would be more kind to them.

Ship Name: Sao Bento

Nationality: Portuguese

Built: 1551

Tonnage: 900 tons

Ship Type: Carrack

Year Wrecked: 1554

Reason for Wreck: Ran aground in a storm

Location Wrecked: Near the Msikaba River, South Africa

Lives Lost: An estimated 144 in the initial wreck, many more would not survive the walk to Maputo Bay.

Sources:

Reinvestigating the Wreck of the Sixteenth Century Portuguese Galleon Sao Joao by Elizabeth Burger. 2003

The Cristabol Colon had traveled between South America, New York, and Spain along the same route for years but when the Spanish Civil War broke out the Cristabol Colon soon found herself to have little welcome anywhere. She seemed to be a ship that was doomed to wander.

Ship Name: Cristabol Colon

Nationality: Spanish

Built: 1923

Tonnage: 10,000 Tons

Ship Type: Steam Passanger Liner

Year Wrecked: 1936

Reason for Wreck: Navigational Error

Location Wrecked: Bermuda

Lives Lost: None

Sources:

The trial of the crew of the Saladin was a celebrated pirate trial, long after the end of the Golden Age of Piracy. The tale of greed, betrayal, murder, and the huge amount of money that had inspired such acts was enough to grip the public imagination for years to come.

Ship Name: Saladin

Nationality: United Kingdom

Built: 1835

Tonnage: 550

Ship Type: Barque

Ship Wrecked: Nova Scotia

Year Wrecked: 1844

Reason Wrecked: Navigational Error

Lives Lost: None in the Wreck, 8 on the Voyage

Sources:

The Melville Castle, turned Vryheid, had already made many long hard voyages when she was bought to bring soldiers to the Batavian Republic’s colonies on the Cape and Jakarta. It was soon found that she had passed inspection by putting copper and paint over rot however, and what should have been a long voyage only lasted a couple of days, with a horrible cost of life.

Ship Name: Vryheid

Nationality: Batavian Republic

Tonnage: 990

Year Built: 1786

Ship Type: East Indiaman

Wrecked: 1802

Reason for Wreck: Struck Dymchurch Sea Wall in a Storm

Location Wrecked: Kent, Great Britain

Lives Lost: 454

Sources:

The L C Waldo was one of many ships that were stuck on the Great Lakes by the 1913 storm. The storm has several nicknames, including the White Hurricane. Many of the men who survived the storm would simply call it the worst storm they had ever seen. As for the men of the L C Waldo, they would say it was a very close call.

Ship Name: L C Waldo

Nationality: United States

Ship Type: Steel Hulled Steam Cargo Freighter

Tonnage: 4244

Wrecked: 1913

Reason for Wreck: The Storm of 1913

Location Wrecked: Lake Superior

Lives Lost: None

Sources:

Ghost Ships of the Great Lakes by Dwight Boyer, (Dodd, Mead 1968)

True Tales of the Great Lakes by Dwight Boyer (Freshwater Press Inc 1971)

Wreck Ahore by Frederick Stonehouse (Lake Superior Port Cities Inc 1994)

So Terrible a Storm by Curt Brown (Voyageur Press 2008)

La Bourgogne was a story that seemed to overturn every idea of Victorian gallantry, and it horrified the reading public with its brutality. That the ship had sank in a matter of half an hour was not enough to explain its high mortality, but that was swiftly clarified by the surviving passengers, who began to tell of a murderous fight as the ship sank beneath the waves.

Ship Name: La Bourgogne

Nationality: French

Built: 1886

Tonnage: 7395

Ship Type: Steamer, Passenger Ocean Liner

Sank: 1898

Reason For Sinking: Collision with Cromartyshire

Lives Lost: 549

Sources:

John Greenleaf Whittier wrote “wise sound skippers, though skies be fine, Reef their sails when they see the sign, of the blazing wreck of the Palatine”. There was no ship, The Palatine, however. Instead there was a ship of Palatine immigrants called the Princess Augusta, lost to time, and only remembered as a glimmer on the sea.

Ship Name: Princess Augusta

Nationality: English

Built: 1720

Tonnage: 200 Tons

Sank: 1738

Location Sank: Block Island, Rhode Island

Reason for Sinking: Hit sand bar in a storm

Lives Lost: Over 300 over the space of the voyage, exact number unknown.

Sources:

The Story of the Palatines: An Episode in Colonial History, By Sanford Hoadley Cobb

A History of Block Island, By Samuel Truesdale Livermore

Block Island Map and Guide, By Samuel Truesdale Livermore

The Forfarshire, it would later be acknowledged, had been in too poor repair to be sailing, and the decision to try to reach her destination had proved to be deadly. The lives lost and the stories of those who had survived would all be immediately overshadowed by a public who only wanted to know about one person however. They wanted to know all about the lighthouse keeper’s daughter, Grace Darling. Overnight her life would be turned upside-down.

Ship Name: Forfarshire

Launched: 1836

Ship Type: Side Paddle Steamer

Nationality: United Kingdom

Tonage: 450

Sank: 1838

Reason For Sinking: Struck rocks in storm due to failing engine

Lives Lost: Not a certain number, estimated 43

Sources:

The Minora went down quickly, giving no time for the seven men on her to prepare. Six of them were strong swimmers, but the captain did not know how to swim at all. It was therefore a wonder when the schooner the Advance brought him into Newcastle, and he told the tale of having been in the water for almost twenty four hours. He was weak, suffering from shock and exposure, but he was coherent and able to tell his story. He was also able to point the finger at another vessel, saying that they had been left to die.

Ship Name: Minora

Ship Type: Wood Sailing Brig

Year Built: 1867

Tonnage: 249

Nationality: Australian

Year Sank: 1898

Reason for Sinking: Never conclusively determined, took on water at her bow, sank quickly.

Lives Lost: 6

Sources:

The Connaught was the height of luxury travel for her first class passengers, and a way to start a new life in a new country for the many immigrants that boarded her in Galway, bound for Boston. A new ship only on her second voyage, and the second largest ship on the ocean, her passengers could be justified in thinking that they had chosen wisely for the safest and most comfortable voyage possible. When a terrible storm hit them however, their voyage would turn into a daring rescue mission.

Ship Name: SS Connaught

Nation of Origin: United Kingdom

Tonnage: 2,959

Launched: 1860

Sank: 1860

Location Sank: 100 Miles from Boston

Reason For Sinking: Caught Fire During a Storm

Lives Lost: None

Sources:

When the Ertugrul set out she was an aging ship beset with troubles. She had an important task ahead of her however, she was to cement ties between the Ottomans and Japan, bringing a diplomatic party on board, as well as gifts from the Sultan to the Emperor of Japan. Though her voyage was full of problems she would succeed in her mission, only to never make it back to Istanbul again.

Ship Name: Ertugrul

Launched: 1864

Ship Type: Wooden Steam Frigate

Tonnage: 2344

Nationality: Ottoman

Sank: Oshima Island, Japan

Year Sank: 1890

Reason for Sinking: Struck Rocks in a Typhoon

Lives Lost: Between 550 and 600

Sources:

The luxerious flagship of the French Messageries Maritimes Ship Line set off on its maidan voyage from France to China and Japan. Though there were several bomb threats against the ship, the threat to the ship’s safety turned out to be internal, in the wiring that ran through all of the well appointed cabins, full of flammable carpeting, curtains, and furniture. It would only take an electrical short to cause the ship to turn from a floating palace into a deadly inferno.

Sources:

The Birkenhead sank beneath the feet of men who knew it was doomed, but stayed anyway, inspiring a nation and artists alike. There were no more boats to launch, the shore was miles away and most of them did not know how to swim, but still, they waited as the small boat full of women and children pulled away to safety.  It gave a name to the act of allowing women and children to leave a sinking ship first, it would be known as the Birkenhead Drill

Ship Name: HMS Birkenhead

Launched: 1845

Nationality: English

Ship Type: Wooden Steamship, Twin Paddlewheel

Tonnage: 1400

Sank: 1852

Place Sank: Danger Point South Africa

Reason For Sinking: Struck Rock

Lives Lost: 444

Sources:

The Metropolis was an aging Civil War era steamer turned passenger ship by the time she left Philadelphia and headed towards Brazil. She would never make it past the Outer Banks of North Carolina and would leave many questions in her wake. The largest was where should the blame fall?

Ship Name: Metropolis

Year Built: 1861

Nation of Origin: United States

Tonnage: 878

Ship Type: Steam Engine Screw Propellor Wood Steamer

Sank: 1878

Location Sank: Outer Banks North Carolina

Reason For Sinking: Sprung Leak in a Storm, Grounded on Beach Intentionally

Lives Lost: 85

When de Morga set sail in his flag ship, a hastily converted merchant vessel, to fight the Dutch, his head was full of hopes for future glory. The Dutch commander Van Noort was just as hopeful that his voyage around the world would bring him wealth and fame. For both men their encounter would be disastrous, but they would both live to tell the tale. That both of these men would change the story somewhat to suit their own interests was of little surprise to anyone.

Ship: The San Diego

Nationality: Spanish

Year Built: Unknown, late 1500s

Year Sank: 1600

Reason for Sinking: Sank in battle with the Dutch

Tonnage: About 300 tons

Lives Lost: Exact number unknown, from 200-400 lives depending on source.

Sources: The Manila Acapulco Galleons: The Treasure Ships of the Pacific by Shirley Fish, published 2011 by Author House UK.

https://www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2019/05/the-sinking-of-the-san-diego-the-spanish-galleon-that-carried-japanese-mercenaries-to-stop-a-dutch-invasion/

The Netherby left England for Queensland full of immigrants hopeful for their future in Australia. Their passage to Australia would be a stormy start however, and their prospects would be even worse when the ship wrecked on King Island. Over 400 people were now forced to make the best of being stranded with little food and no shelter.

Ship Name: Netherby

Nationality: England

Built: 1858

Tonnage: 994

Ship Type: Passenger Full-Rigged Sailing Ship

Wrecked: 1866

Location Wrecked: King Island, Australia

Lives Lost: One during the voyage, none in the wreck

Sources:

When the Hong Moh wrecked on the rocks near Lammock Island with over a thousand passengers on board it would become a large scale tragedy that few could have predicted when the ship left Hong Kong. There would be plenty of blame to go around once the toll of the wreck was discovered, but there would also be incredible stories of great heroism as people risked their own lives to save even one more person.

Ship Name: Hong Moh

Launched: 1881

Nationality: British Controlled Singapore

Tonnage: 3954

Ship type: Passenger Steam Ship

Wrecked: 1921

Reason for Wreck: Hit Rocks Near Lammock Island

Lives Lost: 900-1000

Sources:

The Neva was said to be carrying a Tlingit curse as it set out from Russia to once again see the shores of Sitka, Alaska. As the ship responsible for the Tlingit tribe evacuating Sitka and leaving their fort to the Russian forces, it was a ship that had a history in the waters of Alaska, though the Russians mostly prized it as one of the two ships to complete the first Russian circumnavigation of the world. This time it would never leave the waters near Sitka however.

Ship Name: Neva

Launched: 1801

Nationality: Russian

Tons: 370

Ship type: Three Masted Sailing Ship

Wrecked: 1813

Reason For Wreck: Ran Aground in the Fog

Lives Lost: 32 During Wreck, 15 During the Trip From Russia

Sources:

When the English fleet met with the Spanish fleet returning from Peru loaded with coins, no state of war existed between the two nations. What would follow would change that, and the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes would explode before finding her resting place at the bottom of the ocean. The story of the cargo of her coins was far from over though, and it would turn into a whole new international battle, though this one was fought in the courts.

Ship Name: Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes

Launched: 1786

Nationality: Spain

Sank: 1804

Reason for sinking: Exploded during the battle of Cape Santa Maria

Lives Lost: 250

Sources:

The Principessa Mafalda had been the flagship of the Lloyd Italiano line, but as a pre World War 1 ship in 1927 her glory days had faided. She was to take one last voyage across the Atlantic before being relegated to more coastal travel. Unfortunately it was a voyage she would never complete. Her disaster would bring the phantom of the Titanic back to the public eye with its terrible and senseless loss of life.

Ship Name: Principessa Mafalda

Launched: 1908

Tonnage: 9210

Origin: Genoa, Italy

Ship Type:Transatlantic Ocean Liner, Steam Ship

Sank: Off the Coast of Brazil

Reason For Sinking: Broken Propellor

Loss of Life: 314 Dead

Sources:

When the Swedish ship Mars, sailed into her first battle she must have looked invincible. She was bristling with cannons and men, standing at a crossroads between hand to hand fighting and war waged through gun powder and shot. Though she would not survive the battle, she left a lasting mark not only on the men who saw her go down, but also on history.

Ship Name: Mars

Launched: 1564

Sank: May, 1564

Tons: 700

Nationality: Swedish

Ship Type: Wooden Sailing War Ship

Lives Lost: Around 1000, including enemy combatants on her when she sank

Sources:

The Auguste was considered a prison ship, rented by the British governor of Quebec to carry the defeated military personnel of the French out of Quebec after the surrender of Montreal. Since the surrender agreement had detailed instructions for the removal of these people, and many of them were of the upper-class of French Canadian society, though a prison ship the people on board carried with them a good deal of money and luxuries. Unfortunately it was all to end up at the bottom of Aspy Bay, Nova Scotia, along with most of the people on board.

Ship Name: Auguste

Built In: France

Ship Nationality: British (captured from the French)

Tonnage: 245

Reason for Wreck: Ran ashore in a storm

Year Wrecked: 1761

Type of ship: Wooden Sailing Vessel, Merchant Ship

Lives Lost: Approximately 113

Sources:

The Tek Sing, one of the large ocean going Junks that had once dominated China’s trade with the world, was one of the few remaining as terrible instability brought on by the importation of Opium rocked China’s economy. Overloaded and overcrowded the captain turned to the Gaspar Strait as a short cut to get them quickly to Dutch Batavia. Short cuts often come with a cost, but in this case the cost was unusually high, and estimated 1,600 to 1,800 lives.

Ship Name: Tek Sing (True Star)

Tonnage: Around 1000 tons

Port of Origin: Amoy, China

Ship Type:Ocean Going Chinese Junk

Sank: 1822

Reason For Sinking: Struck the rocks of Kar Belvidere

Lives Lost: Estimated from 1,600 to 1,800

Sources:

The Libelle had very prestigious passengers as it headed for Hong Kong. The most famous was the incredible famous and adventurous Anna Bishop, one of the most well known operatic sopranos of her time. Though her life had been filled with scandals, no one could deny her talent. She and her company intended to tour China but the Libelle would take them no further than the Wake Islands. She and much of the rest of the crew and passengers were about to begin their life as castaways.

Ship Name: Libelle

Launched: 1864

Nationality: Free City of Bremen

Wrecked: 1866

Ship Type: Bark or Barque

Tonnage: 650

Cause of Sinking: Hit reef during storm

Number of Deaths: 8 Lost in the Captain’s Gig While Attempting to Leave Wake Islands

Sources:

Ship Name: Dmitrii Donskoi

Nationality: Russian

Built: 1883

Sank: 1905

Ship Type: Armored Cruiser

Tonnage: 5976

Number Killed: None during sinking, some during the battle prior to sinking

Location Sank: Ulleungdo Island, Korea

The Russian Second Pacific Fleet had traveled for over 6 difficult months, only to encounter the much stronger and better prepared Japanese battle ships in the Straits of Tsushima. Though they tried to avoid the fight, the Japanese were prepared for them, and sank or captured a majority of the Russian ships. This blow to Russian pride would be a deciding factor in the start of the Russian Revolution. This victory would cement Japan into a position to continue their expansionist agenda in the East.

Sources:

When the Ann Alexander was sunk by a whale, the world was captivated. This harkened back to thirty years earlier when the horrifying story of the Essex had been splashed across the newspaper pages. This time everyone had lived, but it still reminded everyone of the dangers of hunting the largest mammals on earth. Herman Melville, planning to publish his latest book with this very idea in mind, could not have been more pleased with the public’s suddenly renewed interest in the whaling industry.

Ship Name: Ann Alexander

Sank: Off Shore Grounds

Reason For Sinking: Rammed by a Whale

Built: 1805

Sank: 1851

Lives Lost: None

Ship Type: Wooden Whaling Vessel

Sources:

The Vrouw Maria sinking would not have been a particularly noteworthy event, just another Dutch merchant ship lost in the Baltic, except in this case the cargo was a lot of art by the Dutch Masters and owned by Catherine the Great. That made it not just a ship sinking, that made in a matter of international diplomacy and started a discussion about salvage rights that is still going to this day.

Ship Name: Vrouw Maria 

Ship Type: Two Masted Wooden Snow

Ship Sank: 1771 

Ship Sank: Baltic Sea, Finland 

Sources:  

When the Admiral Gardner and the Britannia, both of the British East India Company, left London, they were both bound for India. They would not make it even a fraction of the distance, indeed they never left English shores. When a huge storm blew in both ships with their cargos of coins, as well as a brig named the Apollo, would be wrecked on the Goodwin Sands in a single night. Sparking dreams of treasure to be found.

Ship Name: Admiral Gardner

Built: 1979

Tonnage: 816

Ship Type: Wooden Sailing Vessel East Indiaman

Sank: 1809, Goodwin Sands England

Ship Name: Britannia

Built: 1806

Tonnage: 1273

Ship Type: Wooden Sailing Vessel East Indiaman

Sank: 1809, Goodwin Sands England

The Sodre Brothers were lucky in their nephew, Vasco da Gama, who was well respected in the Portugese government for opening up the spice trade for them from India. The two brothers were appointed captains in his fleet as a token of the admiration that the king, Dom Manuel, had for their entire family thanks to da Gama’s accomplishments. The two brothers were quick to ruin this gift with pure arrogance however, costing not only their lives, but the lives of many of their men, not to mention da Gama’s good standing with the king.

Ship Name: The Esmeralda

Ship Type: Nau, or Carrack

Sank: 1503

Place Sank: Al Hallaniya, Oman

Sources:

The SS Monte Carlo was originally built as an experimental concrete oil tanker ship during World War 1, but she was not finished before the war ended and was sold to private companies. Eventually she would fall into the hands of a syndicate of gamblers and turned into an off shore casino during prohibition, flaunting the laws of the US government from three miles off shore. This was until New Years Day when a storm blew in.

Ship Name: SS Monte Carlo

Built: 1921 

Ship Type: Oil tanker 

Made of: Reinforced Concrete 

Wrecked: 1937

Location Wrecked: Coronado Beach California 

(Please note that the picture used in the title card is not of the SS Monte Carlo but is instead of the SS Atlantus which was part of the same fleet of concrete ships. She wrecked in the 1920s after serving as a ferry, but it was a better picture for capturing how the concrete ships looked than anything I could find of the SS Monte Carlo.) 

The Nieuw Haarlem wreck would be proof to the Dutch East India Company that it was indeed possible to start a colony on mainland Africa. It is often credited with being the shipwreck that created South Africa, unfortunately it can also be tied to centuries of colonialism, with the attitude taken by the Dutch East India Company in those early days towards the locals setting the tone for far too long. 

Ship Name: Nieuw Haarlem 

Ship Origin: Dutch Republic 

Ship Tonnage: 500 

Wrecked: Table Bay, South Africa 

When Wrecked: 1647

Ship Type: Dutch East Indiaman

Sources: 

The HMS Tyger was almost a hundred years old by the war of Jenkin’s Ear, and might have reached that august age had her captain not abandoned his post, lured away by the prospect of prize money. Worse yet, he mistook the Florida Keys for the Bahamas, and the HMS Tyger ended her life on the beach of the Dry Tortugas. What would follow was an attempt to capture a Spanish Sloop, a near mutiny, and a lengthy voyage in small boats to Jamaica. The whole matter ended with four court martials.

Built: 1647

Tonage: 712

Type: Wooden Frigate

Sank: 1742

Nationality: British

Location Sank: Dry Tortugas, Florida

Sources:

When the men of the Essex came on shore in Nantucket they might have been expected to abandon the sea forever. Their voyage in small boats had been a terrible one after their ship was sank by a whale. In the end they had been reduced to cannibalism. Captain Pollard and two of the men who had also survived the Essex almost immediately were on board another whaling ship though, and headed back out to sea. Perhaps this was them looking for comfort in familiarity. What they were to find though was yet another ship wreck. 

Ship: The Two Brothers

Tonnage: 220 Tons

Type: Nantucket Whaler

Sank: French Frigate Sholes, Hawaii 

Year Sank: 1823

Sources: 

The General Grant was a Maine built American ship, traveling from Australia which was at the time experiencing a gold rush. Due to a tragic combination of circumstances it would only get as far as the Auckland Islands before it found itself trapped in a cave. The ten people who survived the wreck would fight for survival on the subantarctic islands for the next 18 months until they were rescued. The gold that was in the hold of the General Grant still sparks the imagination of treasure hunters but it has never been found.

Ship Name: The General Grant

Built: Bath, Maine

Year Built: 1864

Tonnage: 1183

Type: Three Masted Bark

Sank: May 13, 1866

Location Sank: Auckland Islands

Sources:

The Serapis is best known for being the opponent of the Bonhomme Richard under the command of John Paul Jones. Her story did not end with the famous words "I have not yet begun to fight" however. Starting her life as a fifth rate Roebuck class ship in the British Navy, she went on to be John Paul Jones's next ship, before being transferred to the French Navy. She would end her life off of the coast of Madagascar, engulfed in flames due to a particularly stupid mistake. 

Ship Name: HMS Serapis 

Ship Type: Roebuck Class Fifth Rate 

Built: 1779 

Tonnage: 880

Sank: Ile Sainte-Marie, Madagascar 

Year Sank: 1781 

Sources: 

The Invincible found herself aground under the fire of cannons from a Mexican Man of War during poor weather outside of Galveston Harbor, which she had failed to enter. She was never able to get free and the one remaining war ship of the Independent Republic of Texas's Navy, The Brutus, ran aground trying to come to her rescue. This chain of events was to be the last time that the Republic of Texas was to have a navy until 1839.

Ship Name: Invincible

Ship Type: Schooner 

Built: 1835 

Tonnage: 100

Sank: 1837 

Location Sank: Galveston, Texas

Sources: 

http://www.texasmilitaryforcesmuseum.org/articles/texasnavy/texasnavy.htm

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/texas-navy

https://www.sanjacinto-museum.org/Museum/Exhibits/Special_Exhibit/Texas_Navy/

The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association Vol. 12, No. 3 (Jan., 1909), pp. 165-203

https://texasnavy.org/Resources/Documents/Historical/Ships/The_Invincible.pdf

http://www.stxmaps.com/go/the-montezuma-aka-moctezuma-shipwreck.html

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/texas-declares-independence

https://www.theyucatantimes.com/2020/03/the-republic-of-yucatan/

http://webbheritage.org/local-history/the-republic-of-the-rio-grande/

https://www.texasnavy.com/Resources/Documents/Historical/Ships/The_Brutus_and_The_Invincible.pdf

https://www.texasnavy.com/Resources/Documents/Historical/Articles/The_Brutus_and_The_Invincible_Arrive_in_Galveston_Aug25,1837.pdf