The Shipwreck Archives

The New York Times from April 8, 1853, announced that there was some concern felt about the fate of the Independence: “There was much anxiety felt for the safety of the Vanderbilt steamship Independence, from which nothing had been heard, though she was thirty days beyond her time. She had a large number of passengers on board. She was to have connected with the steamship Northern Light, from New-...

In Walter Stevens Harrington’s Heroines of Canadian History, published in 1909, the plight of the crew of the Conductor was described as follows: “All night the eight victims of the storm clung to such treacherous foothold as they could gain. Daylight still found them battling for their lives. The sea had not abated. The huge waves came roaring towards them, and, as though bitterly disappointed at...

The New York Times on August 25th, 1929, had a chance to go to the stateroom of Captain George Pietsch and see what he had to say about his recent misadventure. It was two in the morning, but faced with reporter questions, the New York Times reported: “Captain Pietsch smiled, shrugged his shoulders and replied: ‘I’m twenty-five years on sea, yes? We sailors are not afraid. Once, twice, three times...

The Lifeboat. The Journal of the Royal National Life-boat Institution from March 1930 reported all of the heroism of the lifeboat service from the past quarter. In it was included the following report: “On 25th November, at 2.35 in the afternoon, a message was received by the Tenby Coastguard from the Fishguard Radio that the steamer Molesey, of London, of 4,000 tons, was nearly on the rocks at Sh...

The World of Adventure, by Cassell and Company, published in 1899, contained the story of the Vicar of Mullyon, a man who had been active in the story of the wreck of the Jonkheer Meester Van de Wall van Puttershoek: “The wind swept right up from the sea, scarcely more than half a mile distant from the vicarage, and its shriek in the trees outside, together with the thundering of the surf upon the...

Rector Elwell wrote an account of the wreck of the Bohemian for the Portland Transcript, which was published on March 5th, 1864. “On Saturday we visited the scene of the wreck. The distance from the city is about nine miles. As you pass to the left of the two light houses, the wreck lies in full view, a quarter of a mile from the shore, heading off, with anchors down. She is right under the light-...

Lloyd’s Steamboat Directory, and Disasters on the Western Waters by James Lloyd, published in 1856, contained an entire section about the Moselle, including the following passage: “The Moselle was regarded as the very paragon of western steamboats; she was perfect in form and construction, elegant and superb in all her equipments, and enjoyed a reputation for speed which admitted no rivalship. Her...

Mr. Finlayson, a member of the Australian House of Representatives was quoted to have said the following about what had caused the wreck of the St Paul by the Daily Standard on the 31st of March, 1914: “Commander Brewis, who lately inspected the coast of Australia, made a recommendation in regard to improving the lighting of Moreton Bay,” he said, “and it is unfortunate that no effort has yet been...

The Monmouthshire Merlin, on the 29th of June, 1850, gave an account by commercial traveler John Cameron: “It was a beautiful day, and we spent it pleasantly on board. The steamer was excessively crowded with passengers, a large number of them being ladies. Every berth was occupied, as well as the seats and sofas. I walked the deck until, I think, about one o’clock in the morning, when I went to m...

The Sydney Morning Herald on the 7th of September, 1857, published what they had learned from Canadian Newspapers that had just arrived about the Montreal: “There were 330 steerage passengers, and 10 cabin passengers, who sailed in the John McKensie from the Clyde at the above date. Two died at sea. Of the steerage passengers who arrived in Canada 78 did not go on by the steamer Montreal, from Que...

Ralph Tinkham, one of the passengers who had been on the City of Honolulu, wrote a letter to the newspaper of the University of Michigan College of Engineering, from which he had graduated: “Replying to your inquiry relative to my experience at the burning at sea of the SS City of Honolulu, I am free to admit that the episode has considerably more serious and interesting features in retrospect tha...

Mr. Falk, who had been an Ablebodied Seaman on the Gothenburg, remembered his experience to the Adelaide Express and Telegraph on the 4th of April, 1911: “I don’t think,” he said, “I should have been saved had it not been for one of the others. He came to me as I stood aft, and said I had better leave as the engine-room was full of water, and there was no hope of saving the vessel. As we pulled ov...

The Malacca Weekly Chronicle from the 19th of January 1889 reported the following: “That navigation in the Straits of Malacca is attended with difficulties and dangers of no mean order is fully borne out by the sad history of the past few years. One more collision, disastrous in its consequences, has just been added to the already too long list of casualties in Malayan waters…” Please note that we...

The Evening News from Monday the 9th, 1854 included the following speculation: “Doubtless the Yankee Blade was heavily insured: and steamboating business on the Pacific has not been of late so lucrative as in times past, and with little future prospects of its ever becoming what it has been; it therefore suggests itself to us that this running of steamers on rocks -- far away from their due and pr...

The New York Times of April 7, 1884, quoted Fritz Vick, the second boatswain of the Daniel Steinmann, in the following statement: “The weather was bad on Wednesday and Thursday. I went on duty at 8 o’clock Thursday night. It was foggy and blowing heavily, with rain and snow. About 9 o’clock the rain held up, and it looked as though it was going to clear up. The Captain had been on the bridge two d...

Second Engineer Preacher of the Abyssinia gave a complete statement to the newspapers, including the following: “This is the third time I have been in a fire at sea. On previous occasions we were able either to completely subdue the flames, or at any rate keep them under control until the vessel reached port. Then, however, the outbreak was discovered when we were only three or four hundred miles...

The San Francisco Call on January 15, 1902, contained the following statement: “Captain Hall stated that he had discharged five members of his crew the previous trip for drinking on shipboard. He made the amusing statement that when he found two officers drunk during that voyage he went below in search of two quartermasters to promote to their places and found them drunk also. The captain admitted...

Tales of Shipwrecks and Adventures at Sea, edited by James Lidnridge and published in 1846, opened its story about the wreck of the Droits de l’Homme with the following passage: “The action which was fought between the Droits de l’Homme, a large French two-decker, and two British frigates, under the command of Sir Edward Pellew, and Captain Robert Reynolds, on the 13th of January, 1797, was one of...

Volume Two of the Mariner’s Chronicle, published by James Cundee in 1804, contained the following information about the wreck of the Jonge Thomas: “ The surge rose to an amazing height on the shore, and Zoul River was so swollen as to be almost impassable. It is true, from the middle of May to the middle of August, the Company’s ships are prohibited from lying in the road; yet it sometimes happens...

On the 3rd of January, 1919 the New York Times included the following editorial: “Where, or rather on whom, the responsibility for the grounding lies it is now too soon to discuss, but it is a grave one, and its nature is hinted by the wonder why the steamer was so far out of her course and why she went ashore that has been expressed by the fishermen and other seafaring folk who know the nature of...

On September 14th, 1901 First Class Stoker Henry Bridge wrote a letter to his father that would later be considered prophetic: “Am leaving on Monday morning for Newcastle to bring torpedo-boat destroyer round to Portsmouth. We are chancing our lives in the new boat, and should not be surprised if she went up smash.”  Ship Name: Cobra Year Built: 1899 Nationality: United Kingdom  Ship Type: Twin Sc...

One of the survivors of the Wilhelmsburg wreck wrote a narrative account for The Examiner on December 26th, 1863: “Of the Wilhelmsburg, one of the largest vessels sailing from Hamburg, nothing remains but a portion of the after-part, which, in consequence of the strength of the deck, still remains a little above water. I will briefly tell you our adventures from the time we sailed.”  Ship Name: Wi...

The Shasta Courier on June 3rd, 1865 carried a piece encouraging people to book passages on the ships of the Nicaragua Transit Company: “The Nicaragua steamer Moses Taylor sails on the 13th inst., connecting with the Golden Rule on the Atlantic side. The Taylor is a safe and comfortable steamer - the Golden Rule is unrivaled for speed and comfort. The time - which, by the way, is the great point w...

The New York Times on the 25th of March, 1887 made note of an expected ship being overdue: “The steamship Scotia, of the Fabre Line, due here from Mediterranean ports over a week ago, has not been heard from since she left Gibraltar on Feb. 27. She had on board from 800 to 1,00 passengers, of whom a large number originally sailed on the steamship Burgundia, which was beached near Naples after havi...

The Legislative Assembly of Victoria Australia on June 2nd, 1874 turned their discussion to the suitability of lighthouses on King Island in the wake of the recent wreck of the British Admiral. Mr. Francis stated what he knew of the matter, “The lighthouse question was a matter of intercolonial concern. In the opinion of Captain Stanley, the officer in charge of the marine survey, the present site...