Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

British Full Rigged Merchant Ship, 1881

Monument Types

• WRECK (Post Medieval - 1881 AD to 1881 AD)

Full description

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This vessel missed stays in wind conditions ENE force 6 and drove onto the Long Sand at 2.30am. News of the wreck did not reach Ramsgate until noon, when the lifeboat BRADFORD, under tow of the tug VULCAN, put out to her rescue. It was dark by the time they had covered the 30 miles to the Kentish Knock, and in spite of being given bearings by the crew of the lightship were unable to find the wreck. In heavy seas, darkness and a bitter gale, the coxswain Charles Fish refused to give up and remained out all night. At day break the wreck was sighted, only her foremast standing, on which 12 survivors were lashed. Her captain and 16 other crewmen had drowned when her main and mizzen masts fell. Having rescued all 12 men the lifeboat reached Ramsgate at 2pm. Second mate Howard Primrose Frazer died before reaching land, the wife of the mate of the VULCAN later naming her baby after him. Howard Primrose Knight was cox'n of the Ramsgate lifeboat at the time of Dunkirk. Year Built: 1877 Owner: E B Hatfield, Liverpool Master: Fraser Crew: 28 plus pilot Crew Lost: 18 Passengers: 1 Passengers Lost: 0 Date of Loss Qualifier: A Additional sources cited in United Kingdom Shipwreck Index: The Sound of Maroons, Biggs, p40, 42-4; Heroes of the Goodwin Sands, Treanor. Rev. p208-241

<1> United Kingdom shipwreck index, Page Nos. N/a (Bibliographic reference). SKE6340.

<2> Board of Trade Casualty Returns, 1880, Appx.Pts.I-IV, Page Nos. 119 (Bibliographic reference). SKE6357.

Sources and further reading