Reprinted from “The Lighthouse Log” Spring 2018.

This article was contributed by Jim Jenney, BLMA Maritime Historian

Although fog is the most common culprit for totally wrecked vessels that have ended their days off Block Island’s Southeast Light, the ESSEX is an exception to this. Measuring 259 feet in length and displacing just over 3,000 tons, the iron hulled freighter ESSEX, bound from Lisbon, Portugal to New York with a general cargo which included 600 tons of cork and 300 tons of sand ballast to counterbalance the empty cargo space, simply foundered off Block Island with no other reason given.

The freighter was more than fifty years old and likely succumbed to her age. Although her home port was Baltimore, the ship had crossed the Atlantic and stopped at Halifax, Nova Scotia to procure additional coal for her engines. As she headed ashore in her distressed state, she was said to be found aground with 30 feet of water in her engine room. A salvage effort was planned, since the accident occurred before violent winter weather would arrive, but when the owners determined that the salvage expense would be more than the vessel was worth, they purchased the vessel from the insurance company and attempted salvage on their own. This proved unsuccessful and except for minor salvage of a portion of the cargo, the vessel was a total loss. The incident occurred on September 26, 1941 but there is no indication that there was any influence of war activities on this loss.

On a cold December night in 1945, the dragger A. PIATT ANDREWS, of New Bedford, with 10,000 pounds of yellowtails in her holds, found herself in trouble in a snowstorm and the master, Oscar Gallant, pointed his vessel in the direction of Old Harbor, on the east side of Block Island. In addition to the weather, which the crew reported as drowning out the sound of the foghorn at Southeast Light, the craft was having mechanical issues when she ran ashore. The 64- foot craft measured 42 tons and was twenty-three years old at the time of her loss. No lives were lost in this disaster.

Shortly after the stranding of the ANDREWS, another fishing vessel, this one named E-C (although some conflicting reports called her ED or EB) ran ashore 300 yards north from Southeast Light on January 26, 1946. The 46-foot long fishing vessel was manned by two men who were not found with the wreck. A search involving Coast Guard planes and surface vessels covered an area of more than 50 square miles, but no sign of the men was ever found. The E-C had sailed from New Bedford for a single day of trawling and was carrying only bait when lost.

Fifty years after the loss of the fishing boat E-C, another fishing vessel ended her days on the south shore of Block Island, near Southeast Light. This one was the steel hulled, diesel screw fishing boat GREEN ARROW. The 75-foot long craft had sailed from Point Judith on a fishing trip and is reported to have run aground due to pilot error. No mention of the crew appears in the newspaper accounts which put emphasis of the incident on the potential threat of pollution. Heavy seas and the shallow water prevented vessels that could offload her fuel from coming alongside. On December 23, 1996, one day after the stranding, it was reported that the port fuel tank was ruptured. On the 24th, the weather worsened but on the 25th the fishing boat was still intact, though badly damaged. On the 27th, efforts had apparently begun on removing what fuel oil they could, and reports indicated 3,100 gallons of fuel removed and a loss of 4,000 gallons into the sea. Favorable winds kept the oil from doing serious damage to the shoreline and wildlife.

In recent years, pilot error – specifically falling asleep at the wheel – has been an increasing issue for fishermen and has resulted in a number of losses to smaller craft. The 78-foot long MISS JUDITH was lost due to this type of error on November 22, 1999. The craft was inbound for Point Judith after a fishing trip and ran ashore somewhere along the southeast corner of Block Island. The news accounts of the incident spent more time discussing statistics of the problem than it did on details of the stranding. Three vessels ran ashore and were lost during the week in which the MISS JUDITH was lost. Additionally, it was reported that since 1998, eight vessels had run ashore in the waters off Rhode Island and Massachusetts “because someone was too tired”.

This brings to a close the discussion about vessels which have been totally lost on or near the Southeast Point of Block Island. Two sailing ships, two schooners, four steamships and four diesel screw powered fishing vessels have left their bones at this, one of the most dangerous and rocky coastlines in the entire state of Rhode Island.

Reprinted from “The Lighthouse Log” Fall 2017.

This article was contributed by Jim Jenney, BLMA Maritime Historian

One of the most dangerous points on the Rhode Island coast is the southeastern corner of Block Island. Although inhabitants lobbied for years to have a lighthouse built at that location, it was not constructed until 1874 and did not go into service until February 1, 1875. Over the years at least a dozen vessels have been lost at or very close to this point including four sailing vessels before the lighthouse was built and eight powered vessels afterwards. This is the first part of a three-part article about those wrecks.

One of the earliest prominent shippers from Providence was Nicholas Brown. In 1798, he and his partner, Thomas P. Ives had a stout ship called the ANN & HOPE built for the transatlantic trade. At the time she was considered one of the most elegant and speedy vessels belonging to that port. Over the next seven years, the 550 ton ship made several voyages to far eastern ports and returned with cargoes that proved her to be a successful venture. Her sixth voyage was not to be a success. In November of 1804 she set sail for the East Indies via Lisbon, Portugal. On May 2, 1805 the ship departed from Batavia with a cargo of sugar, pepper and coffee. A few days later she encountered a gale and was compelled to put into the Ile de France to repair a leak. Several weeks later the ANN & HOPE continued her voyage after having $20,000 worth of repairs performed. She was embargoed for another month when she reached the Cape of Good Hope resulting in the decision to sail straight for Providence from there. On January 10, 1806, in a severe snowstorm, the ship approached the Long Island coast and her master turned eastward toward the entrance to Narragansett Bay. In the storm a miscalculation was made and the 119-foot long ship ran ashore on the rocks under Monhegan Bluffs, just to the west of where Southeast Light would later be built. Most of her cargo, with an estimated value of $300,000, was lost along with the lives of three crewmen on the desolate shore.

Eighteen months after the loss of the ANN & HOPE, the 80-ton, three-masted ship BRUTUS met a similar fate in the same area. This accident occurred on June 27, 1807 when the two-year old ship was enroute from Liverpool, England for Newport under the command of Enoch Tobey. Although the nature of her cargo was not stated, newspaper accounts reported that the principal part of it was lost along with the vessel. There was no report of loss of life in this incident which was probably a welcome relief as she called Newport her home port.

Two decades would pass before another vessel would be totally lost in this area. On April 16, 1827, the schooner STRONG, with a cargo of plaster, fish and other items, ran ashore in heavy fog just off Mohegan Bluffs (note that the correct name of the bluff is Mohegan and not Monhegan as was reported in the account of the loss of the ANN & HOPE). The schooner was sailing from Newburyport, MA for New York City when she found herself fogbound as have so many others in this area over the years. It was reported that her bottom was stove in soon after she struck but the fish, along with her sails and rigging were saved before the vessel went to pieces.

On July 11, 1864, almost forty years after the previous total loss on the southeast part of Block Island, the Canadian schooner MAVILLETTE had the misfortune to run ashore in fog a bit to the eastward of the Mohegan Bluffs. She had sailed from Canso, Nova Scotia, with 225 tons of coal destined for buyers in New York City. The schooner was brand new at the time, having been launched in that year, and her loss was surely felt by her owners in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. About 70 tons of her cargo was saved before the vessel went to pieces leaving her bones among others who had come to their end under similar weather conditions.

After the construction of the lighthouse at the top of the bluff, there are no recorded wrecks resulting in total loss in this area for almost four decades and no other sailing vessels whose days ended here. In the next segment of this story you will see that the southeast point was not only a threat to sailing vessels…but to steamers as well.

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.

The first recorded vessel lost in this area is the 69-ton merchant schooner ANN M. STILL. It was 7 o’clock on a Saturday night, November 22, 1862, and she was headed to Fall River with a cargo of fresh oysters. Her master, Captain Walter Hudson, was at the helm when the small schooner ran on Whale Rock by accident. Built in 1850, the vessel was just twelve years old when lost. Within fifteen minutes after striking Whale Rock the ANNA M. STILL came off and sunk at the cost of three lives. The captain climbed up to the small portion of the mast which remained out of the water and held on for fourteen hours before being rescued from his perilous position.

Three years later, on October 19, 1865, another schooner came to grief at Whale Rock and, once again, three men (this time including the captain) were lost. The ISRAEL H. DAY was a 250-ton schooner built in Middleton, CT. in 1858 and hailed from Providence. She was caught in a storm and struck the  rock when inbound from Baltimore, MD. for Dighton, MA when she struck the rock. Exactly what happened next is conjecture but her captain, D. Chase, may have attempted to continue northbound or to reach the nearest shore. She sank when about 1⁄2 mile above the rock and was lost.

The smallest vessel to be lost here was the schooner ADELBERT of Boothbay, Maine. She had de- parted Vineyard Haven Harbor, Martha’s Vineyard on February 28, 1871 and was likely fishing in the  coves and off the beaches all along the coast. Fogbound on March 3rd, the 65-ton vessel ran aground on a small reef that lies between Whale Rock and the mainland. This reef, called Dicken’s Reef, is the final resting place for at least two and probably three vessels. Her master’s name was Farnham and his fate, along with his crew, is uncertain.

On April 16, 1874, the coal laden schooner WIND had the misfortune to come into collision with the steamer A.C. BARSTOW of Providence. The accident occurred about 1⁄2 mile south of Bonnet Point or roughly two-thirds of the distance between that point and Whale Rock. The WIND displaced 117 gross tons and carried about 215 tons of coal when sunk. She belonged to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and sailed out of Trenton, New Jersey but exactly where or when she was built has not been determined. The crew survived the collision but with nothing except the clothing on their backs and were graciously sent to New York free-of-charge by the Narragansett Steamship Company.

Two months later another schooner came to grief on Dickens Reef. The date was June 1st and the victim was the 160-ton merchant schooner JOHN FERRIS of Norwalk, CT. which had been launched there just ten years before this incident. At 160 tons, the FERRIS was about average size for two mast- ed schooners of the time. When lost, she was in command of a captain named Savage or Field (the records are unclear) and was traveling from Pawtucket, RI for New York City in ballast. Wreckers went to the scene but there is no indication that they were successful despite her being a fairly young vessel.

November 18, 1875 brought another storm to Narragansett Bay and the coal schooner ROBIN, of Cherryfield, Maine found herself in trouble. In fact, her entire voyage had been problematic. She sailed from Port Johnson, New Jersey via New York in weather so extreme that she had to be towed through Hell Gate (East River, NY) and anchored at Riker’s Island where she remained two days for the weather to moderate. She reached Block Island Channel where she was becalmed. On Saturday another gale arrived and forced her to turn back and seek safe haven at New London, CT. On the following Thursday she set out again for New Bedford, MA, her destination, but as she passed Point Judith she ran into thick weather and decided to head for Dutch Island for the night. Two hours later she struck Whale Rock and tore the bottom out of the 125-ton schooner depositing more than 210 tons of coal on the ocean floor. The crew were rescued by the keeper of the Dutch Island lighthouse but saved nothing but the clothing they had on.

Reprinted from “The Lighthouse Log”  Spring 2015.

This article was contributed by Jim Jenney, BLMA Maritime Historian

This is a continuation of a discussion of ships wrecked on Narragansett’s Bonnet Point, situated just a few miles from Beavertail Lighthouse. Previously detailed were four of the sev- en known total losses. We will look at the other three including what could arguably be called one of the top ten shipwrecks in the state’s maritime history.
Without question, the most memorable and costly maritime disaster to take place at “The Bonnet” occurred on a cold November day in 1880. The side wheel steamer RHODE ISLAND left New York bound for Providence on her final trip of the season with Captain Jesse Mott in command. Due to the vagaries of tide and current, and in a dense fog, the steamer “missed her marks” and ran ashore about 300 feet from a bluff called “Jacob’s Ladder”, some 300 feet north of the southern extremity of Bonnet Point. Over the next few weeks and months the side wheel steamer was torn to pieces with little being saved except for her machinery which would eventually be used in a later steam vessel of the same name. The wrecked RHODE ISLAND measured 335’ x 45’ x 15’ and displaced 2,742 tons and although loaded with passengers as she normally was, no lives were lost and only one person aboard was injured by the falling of a smokestack. Perhaps the most memorable aspect of this incident was the controversy that began immediately following the stranding. Although Captain Mott stated that he saw the light at Beavertail and heard the sound of the horn, accusations arose regarding whether or not the fog horn at Beavertail was being correctly operated at the time as the search for a specific cause other than a navigation error was sought. This controversy prompted an extensive study of the effects of fog on sound, a study which ultimately led to improved equip- ment for all lighthouses.
On August 23, 1893 another unlucky schooner ended her career on the rocks at Bonnet Point. This time, unlike the other wrecks which have taken place in this location, the wreck occurred at the north part of the point. Captain Kemp, in command of the schooner ETHEL SWIFT of Provincetown, encountered bad weather while fishing near the entrance to Narragansett Bay. The 95’ long, 141-ton schooner had been a commercial fisherman for just ten years when lost. Her owner was S.S. Swift who was a fairly well known owner of a number of fishing vessels based in Provincetown. An interesting anecdote to the loss of the ETHEL SWIFT is that within a one-week period there were three very boisterous storms that claimed numerous vessels throughout Rhode Island. The ETHEL SWIFT was lost between the first two of these storms which struck on August 21st, 24th and 29th of 1893. One more lost vessel in the Bonnet Point area is worthy of mention. The 38-foot cabin cruiser ARNIE BOY had the misfortune to be the victim of an engine room fire. The date was August 10, 1965 and the only person aboard was the owner, Armand Quarante. The cause was stated as leaking gasoline in the bilge area of the small craft. The Coast Guard was quick to re- spond and despite conditions of heavy fog at the time, managed to rescue the distressed mari- ner from his precarious perch on an unspecified rock in the area.
The seven wrecks lost at Bonnet Point represent just a small portion of the number of vessels which have found themselves in trouble along the shore of the town of Narragansett but illus- trate the dangers of this site to maritime interests. Only one other area in the West Passage can be considered by its record to be more dangerous—Whale Rock. That area will be the subject of a later article as the study of Rhode Island’s perilous coast continues.