Wrecking is the practice of taking valuables from a shipwreck which has foundered or run aground close to shore. Often an unregulated activity of opportunity in coastal communities, wrecking has been subjected to increasing regulation and evolved into what is now known as marine salvage.
Cape Elizabeth is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The town is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine, metropolitan statistical area. As of the 2020 census, Cape Elizabeth had a population of 9,535.
Casco Bay is an inlet of the Gulf of Maine on the coast of Maine in the United States. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's chart for Casco Bay marks the dividing line between the bay and the Gulf of Maine as running from Bald Head on Cape Small in Phippsburg west-southwest to Dyer Point in Cape Elizabeth. The city of Portland and the Port of Portland are on Casco Bay's western edge.
Portland Head Light is a historic lighthouse in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. The light station sits on a headland at the entrance of the primary shipping channel into Portland Harbor, which is within Casco Bay in the Gulf of Maine. Completed in 1791, it is the oldest lighthouse in Maine. The light station is automated, and the tower, beacon, and foghorn are maintained by the United States Coast Guard, while the former lighthouse keeper's house is a maritime museum within Fort Williams Park.
Boon Island is a barren, rocky island in the Gulf of Maine 6 mi (9.7 km) off the coast of York, Maine, United States. The island, which is approximately 300 ft (91 m) by 700 ft (210 m) at low tide, is the site of Boon Island Light, at 137 ft (42 m) high, it is the tallest lighthouse in New England. Numerous vessels have been wrecked on its rocky shoreline. John Winthrop, the English Puritan lawyer and one of the leading figures in founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony, mentions passing Boon Island in the 1600s.
Cape Elizabeth Light is a lighthouse in Cape Elizabeth, at the southwestern entrance to Casco Bay in Maine.
Ram Island Ledge Light is a lighthouse in Casco Bay, Maine, United States, marking the northern end of the main channel leading the harbor of Portland, Maine.
Boon Island Light is located on the 300-by-700-foot Boon Island off the southern coast of Maine, United States, near Cape Neddick. Boon Island Light has the distinction of being the tallest lighthouse in both Maine and New England at 133 feet (41 m). The lighthouse has a focal plane at 137 feet (42 m) above mean high water. The light's beacon flashes white every 5 seconds.
George III was a British penal transportation convict ship launched in 1810 in London. She was wrecked while transporting convicts from England to the Australian Colonies. She was wrecked in the southern end of the D'Entrecasteaux Channel, Van Diemen's Land; 134 of the 294 people on board died.
The Seven Stones reef is a rocky reef nearly 15 miles (24 km) west of Land's End, Cornwall and 7 miles (11 km) east-northeast of the Isles of Scilly. The reef consists of two groups of rocks and is nearly 2 miles (3.2 km) long and 1 mile (1.6 km) in breadth. They rise out of deep water and are a navigational hazard for shipping with 71 named wrecks and an estimated 200 shipwrecks overall. The most infamous is the Torrey Canyon in 1967, which was at that time the world's costliest shipping disaster and, to date, still the worst oil spill on the coast of the United Kingdom.
The passenger steamer City of Columbus ran aground on Devil's Bridge off the Gay Head Cliffs in Aquinnah, Massachusetts, in the early hours of January 18, 1884. She was owned by Boston & Savannah Steamship Company and was built in 1878 by Delaware River Iron Ship Building and Engine Works, at Chester, Pennsylvania. City of Columbus made regular runs from Boston, Massachusetts to Savannah, Georgia.
SS Admella was an Australian passenger steamship that was shipwrecked off the coast of the colony of South Australia in 1859. It broke up after striking a submerged reef near Cape Banks, off the coast near Carpenter Rocks, southwest of Mount Gambier, in the early hours on 6 August 1859. Survivors clung to the wreck for over a week and many people took days to die as they glimpsed the land from the sea and watched as one rescue attempt after another failed.
SS Commodore was an American steamboat that was wrecked off the coast of Florida on 2 January 1897, while en route to Cuba. The event was immortalized when passenger and author Stephen Crane, who was traveling as a war correspondent for the Bacheller-Johnson syndicate, wrote the classic short story "The Open Boat" about his experience.
The Western Rocks are a group of uninhabited skerries and rocks in the south–western part of the Isles of Scilly, United Kingdom, and are renowned for the numerous shipwrecks in the area and the nearby Bishop Rock lighthouse. In 1971, the rocks and islands were designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest for their breeding sea birds. Landing on the islands is both difficult and discouraged and there are few published records of visits by naturalists.
Carrier Pigeon was an American clipper ship that was launched in the fall of 1852 from Bath, Maine. Her value was estimated at US$54,000. She was wrecked on her maiden voyage off the north coast of what was then Santa Cruz County in the state of California.
Back of the Wight is an area on the Isle of Wight in England. The area has a distinct historical and social background, and is geographically isolated by the chalk hills, immediately to the North, as well as poor public transport infrastructure. Primarily agricultural, the Back of the Wight is made up of small villages spread out along the coast, including Brighstone, Shorwell and Mottistone.
The Lord Ashburton was a merchant ship built in 1843 at St. Andrews, New Brunswick. She was wrecked in a nor'easter on Grand Manan Island in January 1857 en route from Toulon to Saint John, New Brunswick.
Shipwreck marker, as seen from Portland Head Lighthouse grounds
View of Cape Elizabeth including site of 1886 shipwreck
United Kingdom
