Rhode Island’s Perilous Coast – Whale Rock (Part 1)

Reprinted from “The Lighthouse Log”  Summer 2016.

This article was contributed by Jim Jenney, BLMA Maritime Historian

Just a little more than a mile west by south from Beavertail Light is one of the most interesting maritime dangers in the state. Whale Rock is sometimes noted as the smallest island in Narragansett Bay but is really little more than an exposed rocky ledge whose name is derived from its appearance. It sits rather as a guardian to ships choosing to enter Narragansett Bay via the West Passage and has claimed almost a dozen vessels which have been lost in the surrounding waters in the past century and a half. The following briefly describes those lost vessels.