News extracts: Nov. 15, 1824: Shipwrecks near Wexford, at the Isle of Arran, and at Whitehaven
Alison Kilpatrick
Transcribed from the 2 December 1824 edition of The Enniskillen
Chronicle & Erne Packet newspaper, by permission of The British Library:
Shipwrecks.
From the Belfast Mercantile Register.
"By a letter received by our Collector, Sir Stephen May, it appears,
that on the 15th or 16th inst. the brig Marquis Wellington, of
Liverpool, Capt. Baxter, from this port, bound for New Orleans, was
wrecked on the north of the Rusk bank, about one mile south of Cahore
point, near Gorey, county Wexford, and about same distance from land.
Quantities of casks, hampers, &c. were seen drifting to the north; part
of the stern came ashore, by which the name was known. A trunk with the
name of Mr. Andrew M'Clean, jun. was also washed ashore.
"We find that the Marquis Wellington sailed from this port, with a
valuable cargo of linens, cotton goods, &c. on the 7th inst. and of
course was out 8 days when this disastrous event occurred. It is truly
melancholy to find, that besides the crew of this vessel, consisting of
16 persons, there were on board 2 steerage and 13 cabin passengers, some
of them belonging to respectable families in this town. As no letters
from any of them have been received, the worst is to be feared.
"The Betseys of Belfast, Smith, master, which sailed from this port
for Glasgow, on Tuesday morning last, was on the same night totally
wrecked on the Isle of Arran. It is feared all the crew and passengers
are lost, supposed to the extent of 20 persons. Capt. Dalzell, of the
Eclipse Steam Packet, sailed the same tide, states that towards the
evening the gale, which had been encreasing all day, became quite a
hurricane, and that he was for some hours under considerable
apprehension (although so well acquainted) of being able to make the
entrance of the Clyde, the light being invisible from the density of the
spray, and darkness of the night.
"In the gale of the 17th inst. the John Echlin, of and for this
port, Eustice, master, from Gibraltar, ran on shore near Whitehaven, the
cargo (wine and fruit) partly damaged, vessel scarcely expected to be
got off."
Notwithstanding what has been said above, as neither the boats nor
the oars of the Marquis Wellington have yet appeared, it is anxiously
hoped that the passengers and crew may have escaped to the Saltees or
some other islands. A short time will put an end to the state of painful
suspense in which the feeling mind must necessarily remain, while their
fate remains unknown.
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