England, Cheshire

Newspaper Abstracts

1 record

  • Chester Courant, Cheshire, 16 Feb 1802
    "Shocking Case of Shipwreck
    On Sunday morning last, between two and three o'clock, one of the Margate hoys belonging to Mr. Sackett, heavily laden with corn, which was stowed both in the hold and on deck, and thirty passengers on board, besides the crew, consisting of the master and four seamen, was overtaken by the violent gusts of wind, between Birchington and Reculver; the first unshipped her rudder on the sands, when becoming unmanageable, she kept continually shipping the most heavy seas, and was carried by the violence of the surf towards the beach; at this awful period she kept rolling and pitching, and the crew, from their wish, if possible, to preserve the lives of the passengers, particularly those of the women and children, who were on board, barred down the hatchways; shortly after this, the vessel struck on the beach, and filled, a tremendous sea breaking over her in all directions, which washed nearly the whole of those upon deck overboard, and, dreadful to relate, 25 persons, consisting of men, women, and children, are said to have perished.
    —In the course of Sunday, the bodies of nine of the sufferers were thrown upon the shore, and 14 bodies have been taken out of the cabin of the hoy: had it been day-light, it is possible that many more lives might have been saved, but the darkness of the night added to the calamity. Among the sufferers are Mr. John Goodburn, the master, who is supposed to have received a blow on the temple from the boom; Mr. Thornton, carpenter of Margate, with his wife and son, whom he was taking up to town to put out apprentice, and sorry we are to say, they have left six orphans at Margate to lament their untimely end; Mr. Bone, carpenter, of Margate; the wife of Mr. Jacob, of Broadstairs; the widow Crow, of Margate; Mrs. Tatnall, wife of Mr. Tatnall, at the Lord Nelson, at Ramsgate; and a servant girl with a child under her care, with whom she was returning to town. The few who were saved ascended the shrouds; amongst these was Mr. Nuckle, of the library at Broadstairs. Nothing could present a more awful spectacle than the repeated arrival at Margate, on Sunday, of various carriages with the bodies of the sufferers from the wreck.
    [FindMyPast, British Newspapers Collection. Digital image. Researched by Chris Sackett, Nov 2014.]
    [Same story in The Times, London, 12 Feb 1802, slightly different wording]