Maritime record MDO47948 - Unknown 1650 armed cargo vessel

1650 wreck of an armed cargo vessel of 200 tons, carrying men, women and children as passengers. The vessel stranded near Poole, and broke in two. The passengers in one half of the vessel were rescued, while those in the other half drowned. Status: Casualty

Wreck event and documentary evidence:

‘From Pool [sic], a man of war of two hundred tons wrecked upon that coast; that she struck ground about midnight, and could never be got off again; that they fired eight guns, but no help came to them till next day noontide; in the meantime the ship brake in two parts, and all the people which were in that part that fell away were drowned suddenly… That the other part stood firm above water till the next day about two o’clock in the afternoon, when a gentleman, living near, got a boat, and brought away about sixty men, women, and boys, and saved their lives… That before they were got to shore, the other part of the ship wherein they were, brake to pieces, and sunk down into the sea, and that in all there were drowned about fifty men, women, and children, passengers, and goods, gold, silver, pearl, and rich jewels, to a great value’ [Text from ‘Memorial of English Affairs from the Beginning of the Reign of Charles the First to the Happy Restoration of Charles the Second' by Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke] (1)

Passengers: 110 (1)
Passengers lost: 50 (1)

Date of loss qualifier: Approximate date of loss

<1> Bournemouth University, 2014, Swash Channel Wreck Post excavation assessment, 53-55 (Unpublished document). SDO20619.

<2> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1616065 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Mar 31 2024 7:36PM