Maritime record MWX1900 - Irene

Year Built: 1853 Crew: 16 Passengers: 1 Passengers Lost: 1 Date of Loss Qualifier: A `During a gale on Wednesday evening the barque IRENE, having taken on a pilot at Cowes and finding it stormy, ran for the shelter of Portland Roads. A combination of heavy snow, the gale and huge seas, concealed the light at the end of the breakwater. The vessel struck one of the piles and went to pieces. The pilot jumped out when they hit the pier and drowned, but the crew hanging onto timbers until the chance came to gain the breakwater, were saved. Several piles of the breakwater were knocked down by the impact. `The vessel was so completely shivered that the greater portion was split up into fragments no longer round than lucifer matches. With exception of a small part of her bottom, it is difficult to tell what part of the vessel was what. The coast between Ferry Bridge and Portland is strewn with wreck. Five men were sent to court for taking away a hawser from the IRENE, but the case was dismissed. (1)(2) 26-DEC-1860, IRENE, stranded in a SSE 9 off Portland.(3)(4) Additional sources: WPDT.03.01.1861 p4(R) Ph t W

et Tonnage

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

<2> 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.

<3> Board of Trade, 1861, Parliamentary papers Board of Trade Casualty Returns 1861., p56 (398) (Monograph). SWX5428.

<4> 1864, Parliamentary papers 1864, Harbour of Refuge, p116(558) (Monograph). SWX4606.

<5> Le Pard, G, 1995-2003, Dorset Coast Forum Maritime Archaeological Database, Shipwreck 663 (Digital archive). SWX8707.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 901079 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Apr 2 2024 3:39PM