Wrecked 28 April 1847
- Brig Exmouth of Newcastle | Captain Isaac Booth of Sunderland | Departed Londonderry on 25 April 1847 with 241 passengers | wrecked off Islay, Scotland 28 April 1847
Wrecked 19 May 1847
- Brig Carricks of Whitehaven | Captain Thompson of Sunderland | Departed Sligo on 5 April 1847 with 173 passengers | wrecked off Cap des Rosiers, Quebec
- Brig Miracle from Liverpool | Captain Elliott | Departed Liverpool with 400 passengers | wrecked off Magdalen Islands, Quebec | in same storm as The Carricks
Wrecked 29 April 1849
- Brig Hannah of Maryport | Captain Curry Shaw | Departed Warrenpoint with 200 passengers | wrecked 29 April 1849 –almost exactly 2 years after the Carricks
Shipwreck: Brig Carricks of Whitehaven
‘The Brig Carricks and others Shipwrecked
- The Belfast Commercial Chronicle, Saturday 3rd July, 1847
- CMSIED 9310129 (Transcript from the Linenhall Library)
“By the recent arrivals from Quebec, a most distressing shipwreck is announced to have occurred in the River St. Lawrence, to an English ship, with the loss of 170 of its ill-fated passengers. The vessel is called the Carrick, a brig between 200 and 300 tons burden, Captain Thompson, master, belonging to Sunderland.
She was chartered, we understand, for Irish emigration, early in April last, by Lord Palmerston, and left Sligo for Quebec in the latter part of that month, with a living freight of nearly 200 emigrants.
Previously she was properly surveyed by the government emigration agent, in accordance with the Passengers’ Act, and proved to be perfectly seaworthy for the expedition. The voyage, up to the time of the ship’s arrival in the river St. Lawrence, appeared to have been as desirable as could be wished at that period of the season, excepting the sad condition of the emigrants, most of them suffering greatly from fever.
On the night of the 19th of May, she encountered a heavy gale of wind, which, at about 2 o’clock on the following morning, drove her ashore on a dangerous shoal, situate about sixty miles eastwards of Cape Rosaries, where, in the course of two hours, she went to pieces. The scene is one described to have been one truly appalling.
Out of the 200 poor creatures, emigrants, on board, not more than 22 were saved. All the crew, excepting one boy, succeeded in saving themselves by clinging to the spars and boats. They were on the road to Quebec when the information was sent to England. The vessel is stated to be fully insured.”
Shipwreck: Exmouth of Newcastle
By fateful coincidence, a SECOND brig bound for Québec from Ireland wrecked off the Scottish coast of Islay – on 28th April 1847.
Of the 241 Irish emigrants who lost their lives on the 28th April 1847, 63 children under the age of 14, and 9 infants.
From an edited account from the Illustrated London News of May 8, 1847:
“We are sorry to have to record the loss of the ship Exmouth, under very painful circumstances, the loss of life being very great. According to the statement of three sailors, the sole survivors of the wreck, and who arrived in Glasgow on Saturday evening, the Exmouth, sailed from Londonderry for Quebec with a light south west breeze.
She had a crew of 11 men (inclusive of the captain Isaac Booth), and about 240 emigrants, consisting principally of small farmers and tradesmen, with their families. Many were females and children going out to join their fathers and protectors, who had already settled in Canada. There were also three cabin passengers, young unmarried ladies of the middle classes, two of them being sisters, on their way to join their relatives at St. John, New Brunswick. “
The Isle of Islay is the southernmost island of the Inner Southern Hebrides of Scotland. The Isle of Jura, the Kintyre peninsula and Northern Ireland are Islay’s neighbours. The Irish Saint Columba visited the Isle of Islay on his way north in about 720 AD, prior to founding the famous monastery on the Isle of Iona off the south-west tip of the Isle of Mull. In Gaelic, the island’s name is spelt Ìle and pronounced EE-leh by native Gaelic speakers.
Visit The Isle of Islay information website for a powerful reporting of the events.
Shipwreck: Brig Hannah of Maryport
The Brig Hannah of Maryport was wrecked by the ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, on the 29th April, 1849 –nearly two years to the day following the wreck of The Exmouth of Newcastle!
Under the command of Captain Curry Shaw, the Brig Hannah of Maryport set sail from Warrenpoint carrying an estimated two hundred passengers for Quebec. Most were primarily agricultural labourers with their wives and children.
As was to be expected for voyages at that time of year, the vessel encountered heavy winds, and a quantity of floating ice.
According to reports, the Hannah sank barely forty minutes after the collision with the ice. At least 60 souls were thought to be crushed to death between the ice or froze to death.
The cowardly master Captain Shaw and the other crew members took to the life boat abandoning the emigrants and their fates remain unknown.
- The Armagh Guardian report includes graphics details as reported in the Newry Telegraph (June 1949)
- The BBC documentary entitled The Ice Emigrants (2011) tells the incredible, true story of that voyage through the eyes of descendants from South Armagh and Ontario.
- Annual Famine Commemorations in Newry, Mourne and Down focus on the loss of the “Hannah”/
- CAUTIONARY NOTE: Conflicting Official Records
- It is important to keep flexible when researching historic documents. For example, in various ‘official reports’ the Miracle is said to sink either on 9th of May or the 19 of May 1847. Number of passengers can also vary depending on whether they counted children as full members, whether they counted the dead and other extenuating factors.
Shipwreck: ‘The Miracle’
The Armagh Guardian, Tuesday, 6 July, 1847
“Captain Elliott, sailed The Miracle from the port of Liverpool in the latter part of March 1847 for Quebec; besides her crew, she had on board no fewer than 400 emigrants. In a gale of wind, on the night of the 9th May, this unfortunate vessel was driven ashore on a reef of rocks off the Magdalen Islands, in a few hours, she became a complete wreck.
The moment she struck, her masts fell over board, and the Captain of the ship, seeing that the loss of his ship was inevitable, had the boats lowered, and, with his crew, exerted all possible means to preserve the lives of the emigrants, who crowded the decks in the greatest state of excitement.
After incessant zeal, the greatest part of the poor creatures were got away safely ashore on the island, but in two instances the boats struck against the wreck, were shattered to atoms and their living freight, amounting to nearly 70 persons, were drowned.
Before the vessel arrived off Magdalen Islands, a fever had broken out among the emigrants, which carried off 20.
The names of those who perished are not mentioned in the particulars received at Lloyd’s; the survivors are said to have been conveyed to Picton where they arrived on the 29th.
The vessel had been properly surveyed before her sailing from Liverpool; she was strongly built, and registered at Lloyd’s as 627 tons, having been built at St. John’s, New Brunswick, in 1841. It is not known if she was insured.”
The Eastern Chronicle, in speaking of the loss of the ship Miracle and the arrival of the passengers at Pictou, says:–
“The emigrants without exception were in the most deplorable condition; such as were comparatively well, were afflicted with swelled limbs and mortified toes, and they drew the most horrifying pictures of their sufferings. During the night on which the ship struck, upwards of sixty perished from exposure to cold and wet and from sickness and about 20 more died on the island: 281 were shipped for Pictou, two of those died on the passage, and within the short space of three days, thirteen more we are informed have died.”
Shipwreck: ‘The Miracle’
MARITIME NOTES
- (1847) The British American Navigator A Sailing Directory for the Island and Banks of Newfoundland, the Gulf and River of St. Lawrence, Breton Island, Nova Scotia, the Bay of Fundy, and the coasts thence to the River Penobscot, etc. by John Purdy, Hydrographer | Microform filmed from a copy of the original publication held by the Metropolitan Toronto Library, Canadian History Department now available online at archive.org