Maritime record MWX1566 - Demetrius

`...a brigantine was seen in the Bay, evidently in distress...To get out of the channel was impossible, as every sail had been blown to tatters. The coastguardsman at the harbour hoisted a flag to guide the distressed mariners to the surest point to run the shipshore...after she struck she was drifted broadside to the shore. Crew rescued by lines from the shore. Captain praised for conduct and seamanship. (2) `Early on Friday morning a vessel was seen trying to get out of the bay. The captain tacked to and fro all day till late evening, but was unable to extricate his vessel from the danger, until finally she was stranded and became a total wreck. The Coastguards tried to convey a rope to her by means of the mortar apparatus, but were unable to do so. The vessel was light, being laden only with pit wood, but was driven far enough in for a rope to eventually be thrown on board by hand, by which means all the crew were saved. She went to pieces very quickly. (3) `On entering the surf zone the crew of six all rushed for the bowsprit. A mortar line was fired but the SW gale blew it a considerable distance to the east and into the water. Whereupon the mate of a ship in the harbour rushed into the sea, took a rope in his mouth, and swam to the vessel, clambering up the side and making a communication possible. (3)

Master: Dunsford
Crew: 6
Additional sources cited in United Kingdom Shipwreck Index: WPDT 04 02 1869 ®

The building date for this vessel is an estimate based on an average age at wrecking of twenty years. This average is derived from those vessels wrecked on the Dorset coast whose age at wrecking is known.

<1> Larn, Richard, 1992, United Kingdom shipwreck index, Extracted 23 November 1992 (Index). SWX5030.

<2> Various, Dorset County Chronicle, 04-FEB-1869 (Serial). SWX6464.

<3> Larn, R, and Larn, B, 1995, Shipwreck index of the British Isles, volume 1 : Isles of Scilly, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset Section 6, Dorset (AJ) Vol 1 (Monograph). SWX4541.

<4> Le Pard, G, 1995-2003, Dorset Coast Forum Maritime Archaeological Database, Shipwreck 702 (Digital archive). SWX8707.

<5> Cumming, E, The Dorset shipwreck and maritime incident directory, 26 (Monograph). SDO16406.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 901105 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Sep 15 2023 9:22AM