Rhode Island’s Perilous Coast – Bonnet Point (Part 2)

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.