Maritime record MWX2083 - Samuel

1836 wreck of an British schooner wrecked at St Alban's Ledge. She was en route from Waterford to Chichester and Potsmouth with a cargo of barley and oats.

`The dangerous shoals off St. Alban's Head, where the rocky promontory shelves beneath the tide race, have claimed many lives. On 14th November 1836, three drowned when the SAMUEL schooner broke up.' (1)(2)

Source (2) gives the place of loss as `on the rocks, St. Alban's Head'; the text cited, however, describes St. Alban's Ledge.

'Wareham,Nov. 22. - DISTRESSING SHIPWRECK - On Wendesday night last, about ten o'clock, the schooner SAMUEL of Bristol, was totally wrecked under St. Albans Head, and the Captain, John Harvey, his son, John Harvey, and John Green, one of the crew, were drowned. The vessel had left Waterford on Monday morning laden with barley and oats, for Chichester and Portsmouth; and rounded the Land's End with a fine wind from the N.W. on Tuesday morning. On nearing the Start Point on Wednesday morning the wind began to blow very hard, and before night increased to a gale, with a thick fog. The schooner passed Portland, the light being W.N.W. about 7 o'clock, and drifted on towards the rock at St Alban's. On the vessel striking the Captain jumped overboard with a line., but was dashed head foremost on the rocks. The boy got jammed between the hawser and companion, and was soon drowned, the waves beating right over the vessel. Green was also drowned in attempting to reach the shore, and three only of the crew were saved. The vessel immediately broke up.' (3)

Master: Captain John Harvey (3)
Crew lost: 3 (1)(2)(3)
Crew saved: 3 (3)

Date of Loss Qualifier: Approximate date of loss

Additional sources cited in United Kingdom Shipwreck Index:
GPCS. Rodney Legg, p52

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> 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> Hampshire Advertiser and Salisbury Guardian, Saturday 26-NOV-1836, No. 697 (Serial). SDO20538.

<4> Le Pard, G, 1995-2003, Dorset Coast Forum Maritime Archaeological Database, Shipwreck 579 (Digital archive). SWX8707.

<5> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1144691 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Feb 26 2024 4:59PM