Maritime record MWX2255 - Mayflower, Cleavel Point, Purbeck

An early modern wreck, an English schooner, 1930 in date, is located in the vicinity of Cleavel Point. The wreck is referred to in documentary sources and is visible on aerial photographs of 1982.

Last used as a houseboat, providing teas and refreshments for holiday makers taking trips around the harbour. Thought to have come to Poole around 1919, and was lived aboard by four members of the Godden family, Tom Godden being known locally as Robinson Crusoe. Grid Ref. SZ003862 (1-3) Owner: Thomas Godden, Poole Master: T Godden Date of Loss Qualifier: R

29-NOV-1977 Wooden ribs and stempost remain in 50 40 22N, 01 59 37W. (Poole Harbour Commissioners). (1) This may possibly be the remains of the English schooner MAYFLOWER, which was used as a houseboat prior to being wrecked in 1930.(4)

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.
Net tonnage

The possible remains of the wreck described above (1-5) are visible on aerial photographs of 1982 to the east of Cleavel Point. The wreck structure measures approximately 14 m by 3 m. This site was digitally plotted during the South West Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey (Dorset). (6)

Langley, Martin, and Small, Edwina, 1988, Lost ships of the West Country : a guide to forgotten craft from Poole to Gloucester, 10-12 (Monograph). SDO20595.

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

<2> Lost ships of the West Country : a guide to forgotten craft from Poole to Gloucester, p10-11 (Monograph). SWX6891.

<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> United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, 1992, Hydrographic Office wreck index (Index). SWX4837.

<5> Le Pard, G, 1995-2003, Dorset Coast Forum Maritime Archaeological Database, Shipwreck 983 (Digital archive). SWX8707.

<6> Ordnance Survey, 16-APR-1982, OS/82032 240-1 (Aerial Photograph). SDO12662.

<7> National Record of the Historic Environment, 904674 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Mar 22 2024 4:28PM