Maritime record MWX1846 - Piedmont

1795 wreck of a British troop ship one of Admiral Christians's fleet, wrecked off Fleet in a gale. A wooden sailing vessel which was en route from the Isle of Wight for the West Indies carrying soldiers. This vessel is only known from documentary evidence. The location given is only approximate.

On Board: 157 (4) Lives Lost: 139 (4) Date of Loss Qualifier: A `Master and 138 troops and seamen dead; only 18 troops and seamen saved. Vessel went ashore almost opposite Chickerell. (1)(4) `The PIEDMONT (transport) with troops, is wrecked on Portland Beach. Only 10 men saved. (3) A gale appears to have occurred, both from the number of vessels lost, and from the mention of other vessels `safe in Weymouth and Portland Roads after the gale. (3) `The worst instance, within historic knowledge, both of wreck and wrecking on the Dorset coast occurred in 1795. Rear-Admiral Christian with a squadron of men-of-war and upwards of 200 transports with 16,000 troops on board left St. Helens for the West Indies on 16 November; on the 17th they were caught west of Portland in a terrible gale, and on the 18th six transports went to pieces on the Chesil beach where 234 dead bodies were immediately thrown up, a number increased to 1,600 by the 26th. The worst part of the story was the behaviour of the people ashore, mostly Portlanders, who are always praying for wrecks on their coast and whose whole attention was devoted to plunder instead of the rescue of the drowning. They were soon reinforced by a considerable mob from different parts solely intent on plunder, until soldiers brought on the scene dispersed them with volleys of musketry... `...nearly opposite to the Village of Fleet and Chickerell, the PIEDMONT, VENUS, and CATHARINE Transports were driven on the Bank; and very soon after the THOMAS, a Merchant Ship bound for Lisbon, shared the same fate... `On board the PIEDMONT were one hundred and thirty eight soldiers of the 63rd regiment, under the command of Captain (Ambrose William) Barcroft: Lieutenant (Harry) Ash, and Mr Kelly, surgeon of the same regiment, were also onboard. Of all these only Sergeant Richardson, 11 private soldiers, and four Seamen, reached the shore alive - the rest perished. Captain Barcroft was a Gentleman of a most amiable and excellent character. His life had been passed in the service of his country, even from his early youth to the deplored period, when he thus lost that valuable life, at the age of thirty-six. While yet a very young man he served in America, and in the course of the disastrous war between England and the Colonies he was taken prisoner, and very severely treated. On the commencement of the present war he raised a company, in the County of which he was a native, and served with it on the Continent during, a single plank, knee deep in water, in the retreat from Nimuguen, under a heavy fire from the enemy. After the general retreat in the winter of 1794, of which the circumstances are too well known to be here insisted upon, Captain Barcroft returned to England, and in a few months afterwards was ordered to West Indies. The cruel catastrophe which awaited him on his way thither has occasioned to his family the most poignant and lasting affliction. He appears to have possessed in private life all those ingenious qualities that usually belong, to the noble minded Soldier - and deeply and deservedly is his loss lamented by his immediate connections, as well as by all who were acquainted with his worth, either as an officer or a man. Of the few who reached the shore with life, from the PIEDMONT Transport; there was hardly one who was not dreadfully bruised; and some had their limbs broken. One more wretched even than the rest, a Veteran of the 63rd regiment, had his leg dreadfully fractured, but had resolution enough to creep for shelter under a fishing boat, which lay inverted on the farther side of the stony bank where his groans were unheard, till a young gentleman passenger in the THOMAS Merchant Ship, who, wrecked himself, and wandering along the inhospitable shore under all the terrors that must have been felt at such a time, forgot his own calamitous situation, in attempting to succour this unhappy Soldier, but without success...and the poor creature died in that deplorable condition...Nor can the fate of a Fifer of the same regiment be heard without great concern - this poor fellow, whose name was Ensor, found himself unhurt on the land, and passing the high bank of stones, he met on the other side some of his comrades; they congratulated each other on their preservation, when Ensor, seeming suddenly to recollect himself, exclaimed, Oh, my poor wife! then starting away from his companions, he returned towards the raging element from which he had so lately escaped, and was never seen again ; it is probable, that in trying to save either this poor woman or some other he saw struggling amidst the waves, he himself was overwhelmed and drowned... `...The remains of that gallant officer, Captain Barcroft was known by the honourable scars that witnessed the wounds he had received in the service of his country. His mourning friends have, from that circumstance, the sad satisfaction of knowing that his body was rescued from the sea, and buried with military honours... (Taken from Ann. Register, Account of an Eyewitness; Smith (Charlotte), Narrative of the Loss, and c. Lond. 1796.)

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> Smith, 1796, A Narrative of the loss of the Catherine, Venus and Piedmont transports etc. (Article in monograph). SDO1.

<2> Larn, Richard, 1992, United Kingdom shipwreck index, Extracted 23 November 1992 (Index). SWX5030.

<3> 1975, Dorset magazine : the county magazine vol. 48, p15 (Article in serial). SWX4573.

<4> Le Pard, G, 1995-2003, Dorset Coast Forum Maritime Archaeological Database, Shipwreck 458 (Digital archive). SWX8707.

<5> 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.

<6> Sherbourne Mercury, p4, 30-NOV-1795 (Serial). SWX4820.

<7> World Wide Web page andlt;http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/Naval.htmlandgt; [Accessed 24-Mar-2003] (Digital archive). SWX4879.

<8> 1745 onwards, Lloyds list, 20-NOV-1795, No.2769 (Serial). SWX8434.

<9> Boult, E, 2003, Christian's Fleet, A Dorset Shipping Tragedy. (Monograph). SWX8136.

<10> Cumming, E, 2014, The Portland Shipwreck and Maritime Incident Directory (Monograph). SDO14012.

Record last edited

Jun 19 2015 12:13PM