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.

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.