Minnehaha (cargo ship)

Last updated

History
Civil Ensign of the United Kingdom.svgUnited Kingdom
Name:Minnehaha
Owner: Richard Hughes and Co, Liverpool
Launched: 1857
Fate: Shipwrecked, 18 January 1874
General characteristics
Type: Barque
Tonnage: 845  GRT
Length: 158 ft (48 m)
Beam: 33 ft (10 m)
Draught: 22 ft (6.7 m)

The Minnehaha was a four-masted barque built in 1857 and wrecked on 18 January 1874 in the Isles of Scilly.

Contents

Wreck

Isles of Scilly UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Approximate position of the wreck

On 18 January 1874, while travelling from Callao, Peru to Dublin, the 845-ton four–masted barque Minnehaha carrying guano was wrecked off Peninnis Head, St Mary's, Isles of Scilly. Her pilot mistook the St Agnes light for the Wolf Rock and thought they were passing between the Isles of Scilly and the Wolf. Shortly after she struck a rock off Peninnis Head ( SV911094 ) and the vessel sunk at once with some of the crew being drowned in their berths. Those on deck climbed into the rigging, and as the tide rose the ship was driven closer to land, and some managed to climb onto the shore over the jibboom. The master, pilot and eight crew drowned. [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

HMS Colossus was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She was launched at Gravesend on 4 April 1787 and lost on 10 December 1798.

The Bishop Rock is a very small islet in the Atlantic Ocean known for its lighthouse. It is in the westernmost part of the Isles of Scilly, an archipelago 45 km (28 mi) off the southwestern tip of the Cornish peninsula of Great Britain. The Guinness Book of Records lists it as the world's smallest island with a building on it.

<i>Association</i> (1697) British Royal Navy warship

Association was a 90-gun second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Portsmouth Dockyard in 1697. She served with distinction at the capture of Gibraltar, and was lost in 1707 by grounding on the Isles of Scilly in the greatest maritime disaster of the age.

SS Minnehaha was a 13,443-ton ocean liner built by Harland and Wolff and launched on 31 March 1900. Operated by the American-owned Atlantic Transport Line, she was the sister ship of Minneapolis, Minnetonka, and Minnewaska.

Rachel Harvey was a Jersey-registered fishing vessel which, at 9:45 p.m. on 1 October 1999, struck rocks 200 yards (180 m) off Peninnis Head in the Isles of Scilly in stormy seas. St Mary's Lifeboat and a search-and-rescue Sea King helicopter from RNAS Culdrose attended the scene. The lifeboat picked up all six crew, but one man was pronounced dead on arrival at St Mary's Hospital.

<i>Thomas W. Lawson</i> (ship) seven-masted, steel-hulled schooner

Thomas W. Lawson was a seven-masted, steel-hulled schooner built for the Pacific trade, but used primarily to haul coal and oil along the East Coast of the United States. Named for copper baron Thomas W. Lawson, a Boston millionaire, stock-broker, book author, and president of the Boston Bay State Gas Co., she was launched in 1902 as the largest schooner and largest sailing vessel without an auxiliary engine ever built.

The Seven Stones reef is a rocky reef nearly 15 miles (24 km) west-northwest (WNW) of Land's End, Cornwall and 7 miles (11 km) east-northeast (ENE) 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.

Firebrand was a Royal Navy fireship built at Limehouse in 1694, the first Royal Naval vessel to bear the name.

Scilly naval disaster of 1707

The Scilly naval disaster of 1707 was the loss of four warships of a Royal Navy fleet off the Isles of Scilly in severe weather on 22 October 1707 Old Style,. Between 1,400 and 2,000 sailors lost their lives aboard the wrecked vessels, making the incident one of the worst maritime disasters in British naval history. The disaster has been attributed to a combination of factors such as the navigators' inability to accurately calculate their positions, errors in the available charts and pilot books, and inadequate compasses.

Western Rocks, Isles of Scilly group of rocks in the Isles of Scilly, England, United Kingdom

The Western Rocks are a group of uninhabited islands 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.

Richard James Vincent Larn, OBE is a retired Chief Petty Officer in the Royal Navy, a businessman and maritime history writer who is widely regarded as one of Britain's leading historic shipwreck experts.

The Antoinette was a 1,118 ton barque, built in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in 1874 and was used for the transportation of goods. She struck land on Tuckernuck in 1889, requiring the entire crew to be rescued. Although she was reinstated later that year, she was finally wrecked on the Doom Bar on the north coast of Cornwall; the largest ship to be wrecked there. The majority of the wreck ended up on the Town Bar off Padstow and mostly disappeared after being destroyed with gelignite. However some of the hull re-emerged in March 2010, creating a hazard to local shipping.

References

  1. Noall, Cyril (1968). Cornish Lights and Shipwrecks. Truro: D Bradford Barton.

Coordinates: 49°54′18″N6°18′13″W / 49.9049°N 6.3036°W / 49.9049; -6.3036