title: List of shipwrecks in 1891
text: # List of shipwrecks in 1891
  
  The list of shipwrecks in 1891 includes ships sunk, foundered, grounded, or otherwise lost during 1891.
  
  table of contents :
  
  | ← 1890 1891 1892 → ||||
  | - | - | - | - |
  | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr |
  | May | Jun | Jul | Aug |
  | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
  | References ||||
  
  ## January
  
  ### 2 January
  
  List of shipwrecks: 2 January 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Thames | United Kingdom | The Penzance steamer was on a voyage to London when she grounded on the Chesil Bank in thick fog. |
  
  ### 8 January
  
  List of shipwrecks: 8 January 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Kaffraria | United Kingdom | Part of the wreck of Kaffraria in March 2007The cargo steamer was wrecked in the River Elbe in Germany. |
  
  ### 9 January
  
  List of shipwrecks: 9 January 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | James W. Wherren | United States | The schooner was stranded in a storm at Barrancas Light, Pensacola, Florida. |
  
  ### 11 January
  
  List of shipwrecks: 11 January 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Charles H. Boynton | United States | The schooner was wrecked on Libby Island, near Machias, Maine and became a total loss. Crew made it to shore in her dories. |
  
  ### Unknown date
  
  List of shipwrecks: Unknown January 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Veteran | United States | The schooner left Gloucester, Massachusetts on 7 January for the Georges Bank and vanished. Lost with all 12 hands. |
  
  ## February
  
  ### 3 February
  
  List of shipwrecks: 3 February 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Senator Morgan | United States | The schooner was wrecked at Cow Bay. Crew made it to shore. |
  
  ### 5 February
  
  List of shipwrecks: 5 February 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Chiswick | United Kingdom | The 1,261-ton steamship ran aground in calm weather on the northeast ledges of the Seven Stones Reef, while bound for St Nazaire, France, with coal from Cardiff, Wales. The captain is supposed to have said "every man for himself" before going down along with ten crew and his ship. Eight survivors were picked up by the Sevenstones Lightship's longboat. |
  
  ### 6 February
  
  List of shipwrecks: 6 February 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Hattie G. McFarland | United States | The bark was stranded on Santa Rosa Island, Florida (30°19′N 87°18′W﻿ / ﻿30.317°N 87.300°W﻿ / 30.317; -87.300﻿ (Hattie G. McFarland)). |
  
  ### 7 February
  
  List of shipwrecks: 7 February 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Sarah E. Lee | United States | The schooner was wrecked at Lockeport, Nova Scotia in heavy seas, a total loss. Crew was rescued. |
  
  ### 18 February
  
  List of shipwrecks: 18 February 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Bruce | United Kingdom | The sailing ship capsized in New York Harbor. She was salvaged and placed in use as a coal storage hulk. |
  
  ### 19 February
  
  List of shipwrecks: 19 February 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Trignac | France | The steamer sprang a leak, blew up and sank within five minutes, between the Isles of Scilly and the Seven Stones Reef. She was carrying coal from Newport to St Nazaire. |
  
  ### 20 February
  
  List of shipwrecks: 20 February 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Teresa Garnham | Chile | The ship was sailing from Valparaiso to Chiloé when she struck a rock. The crew took to her boats and reached port. |
  
  ## March
  
  ### 1 March
  
  List of shipwrecks: 1 March 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | H.L.C. | France | The brigantine ran aground on the Mixon Shoal, in the Bristol Channel and was wrecked. Her crew survived. She was on a voyage from Port Talbot, Glamorgan, United Kingdom to Pornic, Loire-Inférieure. |
  
  ### 9 March
  
  List of shipwrecks: 9 March 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Dundela | United Kingdom | The cargo ship was wrecked at "Straythe" with the loss of a crew member. She was on a voyage from São Miguel Island, Azores, Portugal to Hull, Yorkshire. |
  
  ### 13 March
  
  List of shipwrecks: 13 March 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | USS Galena | United States Navy | While under tow by the tug USS Nina ( United States Navy), the decommissioned armed steamer ran aground in fog on Devil's Bridge — a reef off Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts — without loss of life. She was refloated several days later. Deemed damaged beyond repair, she was sold for salvage on 2 May 1892. |
  | USS Nina | United States Navy | While towing the steamer USS Galena ( United States Navy), the 137-foot (42 m) tug ran aground in fog on Devil's Bridge — a reef off Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts — without loss of life. She was refloated several days later, repaired, and returned to service. |
  | Roxburgh Castle | United Kingdom | The 1,222-ton cargo steamer was on a voyage from Newport, Wales, to Piraeus, Greece, with a cargo of coal when she collided with the sailing ship British Peer ( United Kingdom) 120 nautical miles (220 km; 140 mi) southwest of the Isles of Scilly during the Great Blizzard of 1891. Roxburgh Castle sank, losing 22 of her 24 crew members. |
  
  ### 15 March
  
  List of shipwrecks: 15 March 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | USS Triana | United States Navy | The 137-foot (42 m), 450-ton tug was wrecked off the coast of Massachusetts on a sandbar off the east end of Cuttyhunk Island because of a navigational error by her crew. She sank in up to 20 feet (6.1 m) of water just west of Canapitsit Channel at 41°25′15″N 070°55′02″W﻿ / ﻿41.42083°N 70.91722°W﻿ / 41.42083; -70.91722﻿ (USS Triana). |
  
  ### 17 March
  
  List of shipwrecks: 17 March 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Utopia | United Kingdom | Utopia The passenger ship collided with the battleship HMS Anson ( Royal Navy) in the Bay of Gibraltar and sank with the loss of 552 of the 880 people aboard. |
  
  ### 19 March
  
  List of shipwrecks: 19 March 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Bay of Panama | United Kingdom | The full-rigged ship was driven ashore at Penare Point, Cornwall with the loss of eight lives. She was on a voyage from Calcutta, India to Dundee, Forfarshire. |
  
  ### 20 March
  
  List of shipwrecks: 20 March 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Sovereign | Norway | The full-rigged ship was destroyed by fire while loading coal. |
  
  ## April
  
  ### 2 April
  
  List of shipwrecks: 2 April 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Amicus | United Kingdom | The barque was stranded on Flug Island Shoals hear the West Pass to Apalachicola Bay. Florida. |
  
  ### 6 April
  
  List of shipwrecks: 6 April 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Premier | United States | Carrying 18 fishermen, seven crewmen, and a cargo of 350 tons of cannery supplies, the 307.69-gross register ton, 141.7-foot (43.2 m), three-masted schooner was wrecked during a snowstorm in Ramsey Bay (55°10′N 160°00′W﻿ / ﻿55.167°N 160.000°W﻿ / 55.167; -160.000﻿ (Ramsey Bay)) in the Territory of Alaska on the south coast of the Alaska Peninsula. All on board survived. Premier was salvaged, repaired, and returned to service. |
  
  ### 15 April
  
  List of shipwrecks: 15 April 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Dashing Wave | United States | During a voyage in the Territory of Alaska from Sand Point to a destination identified as "Isatok" with a crew of eight and a cargo of 120 tons of general merchandise on board, the 141.46-ton 106-foot (32.3 m) schooner was wrecked without loss of life during a gale and heavy snowstorm in a location identified as "Coal Bay." This location often is equated with Coal Harbor (55°20′13″N 160°36′15″W﻿ / ﻿55.3369°N 160.6042°W﻿ / 55.3369; -160.6042﻿ (Coal Harbor)) on Unga Island in the Shumagin Islands, but it might instead be Coal Bay (55°22′N 161°22′W﻿ / ﻿55.367°N 161.367°W﻿ / 55.367; -161.367﻿ (Coal Bay)) on the south coast of the Alaska Peninsula. The wreck may also have occurred in Zachary Bay (55°20′44″N 160°37′54″W﻿ / ﻿55.3455°N 160.6316°W﻿ / 55.3455; -160.6316﻿ (Zachary Bay)) – often called "Coal Bay" at the time – on the coast of Unga Island, and some early reports place it somewhere in the Bering Sea, while an 1892 report places it on Hair Seal Cape – now known as Seal Cape (55°59′42″N 158°25′58″W﻿ / ﻿55.9950°N 158.4328°W﻿ / 55.9950; -158.4328﻿ (Seal Cape)) – on the south coast of the Alaska Peninsula. |
  
  ### 19 April
  
  List of shipwrecks: 19 April 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Lydia Skolfield | United States | Carrying a cargo of cottonseed oil, the square-rigged ship was wrecked in fog without loss of life at Newport, Rhode Island, off Bateman's Beach, just east of Butter Ball Rock. Her wreck sank in up to 30 feet (9.1 m) of water at 41°27′31″N 071°21′41″W﻿ / ﻿41.45861°N 71.36139°W﻿ / 41.45861; -71.36139﻿ (Lydia Skolfield). |
  
  ### 23 April
  
  List of shipwrecks: 23 April 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Blanco Encalada | Chilean Navy | 1891 Chilean Civil War: The Almirante Cochrane-class central battery ship was sunk by a torpedo gunboat in the port of Caldera, Chile. |
  
  ### 28 April
  
  List of shipwrecks: 29 May 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | SS Lawrence | New Zealand | The 399grt collier damaged her propellor on the Mōkihinui River bar and broke her back on the beach. |
  
  ## May
  
  ### 2 May
  
  List of shipwrecks: 2 May 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Sadie F. Caller | United States | During a voyage from San Francisco, California, to Chignik Bay, Territory of Alaska, carrying 158 cannery workers as passengers, a 450-ton salmon-canning outfit as cargo, and a crew of 10, the 413.81-gross register ton, 393.25-foot (119.86 m) schooner was wrecked on a sand bar whose position had shifted without the knowledge of the crew, altering the navigable channel, at the entrance to Chignik Bay Harbor (56°18′N 158°24′W﻿ / ﻿56.300°N 158.400°W﻿ / 56.300; -158.400﻿ (Chignik Bay Harbor)) on the Gulf of Alaska coast of the Alaska Peninsula near Chignik. The steamer Polar Bear ( United States) towed her to shore two hours later, and she was beached and declared a total loss. By 1913, her wreck reportedly had sunk in 60 feet (18.3 m) of water. |
  
  ### 3 May
  
  List of shipwrecks: 3 May 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Clan Lamont | United Kingdom | The ship ran aground and sank off Vindiloas Point, Batticaloa, Sri Lanka. |
  
  ### 17 May
  
  List of shipwrecks: 17 May 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Martaban | United Kingdom | The barque ran aground and was wrecked off the coast of Cuba. She was on a voyage from the Salt River, Jamaica to Glasgow, Renfrewshire. |
  
  ### 21 May
  
  List of shipwrecks: 21 May 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Thomas Hume | United States | The lumber schooner sank in Lake Michigan in a squall. Lost with all 6 hands. |
  
  ## June
  
  ### 4 June
  
  List of shipwrecks: 4 June 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Fayette Brown | United States | The schooner was rammed and sunk by Northern Queen (flag unknown) in Pelee Passage in Lake Erie in 60 feet (18 m) of water. One crewman of Fayette Brown jumped aboard Northern Queen and the rest were rescued from her rigging by Robert Mills (flag unknown). The wreck was removed in 1893. |
  
  ### 16 June
  
  List of shipwrecks: 16 June 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | David F. Low | United States | The schooner was wrecked at Port au Port, Newfoundland in heavy seas. Crew was rescued. |
  
  ## July
  
  ### 18 July
  
  List of shipwrecks: 18 July 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Princesse Stephanie | Belgium | The steamer was wrecked off Christiansand, Norway. |
  
  ### Unknown date
  
  List of shipwrecks: Unknownd date in July 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Harrier | United Kingdom | Harrier The schooner was wrecked on the Great Barrier Reef. |
  
  ## August
  
  ### 27 August
  
  List of shipwrecks: 27 August 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | John J. Whittier | United States | The schooner was wrecked at Flower's Cove, Newfoundland. Crew was rescued. |
  
  ### Unknown date
  
  List of shipwrecks: Unknown August 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | H. A. DeWitt | United States | The schooner was found aground and abandoned four miles (6.4 km) east of St. Andrews Bay, Florida. |
  
  ## September
  
  ### 5 September
  
  List of shipwrecks: 5 September 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | USFC Grampus | United States Fish Commission | The schooner, a fisheries research ship, was on a voyage from Hyannis to Woods Hole, Massachusetts, with U.S. Fish Commissioner Marshall McDonald and his wife and daughter, Assistant U.S. Fish Commissioner J. W. Collins, and two female guests aboard when she ran aground on L'Hommidieu Shoal in Vineyard Sound during a southeasterly storm. McDonald, Collins, McDonald's family members, and the other two women made it safely to Falmouth, Massachusetts, in a dory, and Grampus later was refloated and returned to service. |
  
  ### 6 September
  
  List of shipwrecks: 6 September 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Fiji | United Kingdom | The barque was wrecked at Moonlight Head, Victoria with the loss of twelve of her 26 crew. She was on a voyage from Hamburg, Germany to Melbourne, New South Wales. |
  
  ### 7 September
  
  List of shipwrecks: 7 September 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | City Point | United States | Labor Day gale: The schooner was lost with all hands. |
  | Paul and Essie | United States | Labor Day gale: The schooner was wrecked at Black Point, Nova Scotia. Crew saved. |
  | Percy | United States | Labor Day gale: The fishing schooner sank on the Georges Bank in a gale. Lost with all 12 crewmen. |
  
  ### 13 September
  
  List of shipwrecks: 13 September 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | John S. McQuin | United States | The schooner was wrecked near Bath, Maine. Crew saved. |
  
  ### Unknown date
  
  List of shipwrecks: Unknown September 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Ada | United States | The schooner disappeared on a fishing trip out of Pensacola, Florida. Lost with all five crew. |
  
  ## October
  
  ### 1 October
  
  List of shipwrecks: 1 October 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Clytie | United States | The schooner went ashore near Matinicus Island, bilged and sank. Crew saved. |
  
  ### 3 October
  
  List of shipwrecks: 3 October 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | William Lewis | United States | While on an Arctic whaling voyage, the 463-gross register ton, 134-foot (41 m) steam bark was wrecked during a gale and snowstorm off Point Barrow, Territory of Alaska, when she became stranded on a snow-covered sandspit that her captain mistook for slush ice floating on the sea. The steamers Belvedere and Navarch (flags unknown) rescued her entire crew of 45. During salvage operations, the wreck of William Lewis was destroyed by an accidental fire on 20 March 1892. |
  
  ### 10 October
  
  List of shipwrecks: 10 October 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | USS Despatch | United States Navy | The steamer was wrecked without loss of life on Assateague Island off the coast of Virginia during a gale. |
  
  ### 13 October
  
  List of shipwrecks: 13 October 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Ora et Labora | Norway | The brig was driven ashore and wrecked near Chesil Cove, Dorset, United Kingdom. |
  
  ### Unknown date
  
  List of shipwrecks: Unknown date October 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Red Wing | | The schooner was driven ashore and wrecked on the coast of Delaware just south of the Indian River Inlet during a gale, killing her entire crew of six. |
  
  ## November
  
  ### 9 November
  
  List of shipwrecks: 9 November 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Maude M. Lane | United States | The schooner barge sank 95 miles (153 km) south southwest of Pensacola, Florida. |
  
  ### 11 November
  
  List of shipwrecks: 11 November 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Benvenue | United Kingdom | The full-rigged ship was driven ashore and wrecked at Sandgate, Kent with the loss of five lives. Twenty-seven survivors were rescued by the lifeboat Mayer de Rothchild ( Royal National Lifeboat Institution). |
  | Rappahannock | United States | The full-rigged ship caught fire due to spontaneous combustion in her cargo of coal and was beached and burned out in Cumberland Bay, Juan Fernandez Island, Juan Fernandez Islands, Chile. The captain, his wife, two daughters, and 30 crew were eventually rescued by the government steamer Huemial ( Chile). |
  
  ### 15 November
  
  List of shipwrecks: 15 November 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Minnie Davis | United States | The schooner was sunk in a collision with the schooner Hunter Savidge ( United States) 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) off Point Morvia Light or Bar Point, in Lake Erie. The wreck was blown up in April 1893 as a hazard to navigation. |
  
  ### 22 November
  
  List of shipwrecks: 22 November 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Samuel Mather | United States | The wooden steam cargo ship sank after she was rammed by the steel cargo ship Brazil (flag unknown) in heavy fog in Whitefish Bay, Lake Superior. |
  
  ## December
  
  ### 4 December
  
  List of shipwrecks: 4 December 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Ogemaw | United States | The steam barge sprung a leak and sank between Point Peninsula and Poverty Passage in 65 feet of water. Raised in 1893, rebuilt and returned to service in 1894. |
  
  ### 5 December
  
  List of shipwrecks: 5 December 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Merannio | United Kingdom | En route for Newport from Bilbao with a cargo of 1,300 tons of iron ore, the ship hit the Seven Stones Reef, but managed to reach St Ives, Cornwall where a 10 ft (3 m) hole was found in her bow. |
  
  ### 8 December
  
  List of shipwrecks: 8 December 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Torbay Lass | United Kingdom | After unloading her cargo of coal on St Michael's Mount, the Brixham schooner was under tow by the tug Merlin (flag unknown) when Merlin suffered a drop in steam pressure and Torbay Lass drifted onto the Cressars off the promenade at Penzance, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The steamship Lady of the Isles ( United Kingdom) pulled her clear, but she sank after a few hundred yards, within a few hundred metres of Penzance harbour. |
  
  ### 10 December
  
  List of shipwrecks: 10 December 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Drumblair | United Kingdom | The ship was driven ashore on Sully Island, Glamorgan. Her crew either took to the ships' boats or were rescued by the lifeboat Joseph Denman II ( Royal National Lifeboat Institution). Drumblair was on a voyage from Barry, Glamorgan to Mauritius. She was later salvaged, repaired and returned to service. |
  
  ### 18 December
  
  List of shipwrecks: 18 December 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Abyssinia | United Kingdom | The cargo liner burned and sank in Mid Atlantic Ocean, no casualties. All rescued by Spree ( German Empire). |
  
  ### 23 December
  
  List of shipwrecks: 23 December 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Felicete | France | The brig ran aground at Port Eynon Point, Glamorgan, United Kingdom, and was wrecked. Her crew survived. She was on a voyage from Nantes, Loire-Inférieure to Swansea, Glamorgan. |
  | Oakland | New South Wales | The passenger-cargo ship ran aground on the southern breakwater at Ballina, New South Wales, Australia. She was refloated, repaired, and returned to service. |
  
  ### 29 December
  
  List of shipwrecks: 29 December 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Maggie | United Kingdom | The sailing vessel collided with the passenger-cargo steamer Inishtrahull ( United Kingdom) in the Irish Sea just off the Kish Bank off the east coast of Ireland. Her crew were rescued by Inishtrahull, after which Maggie drifted away in a sinking condition and probably sank somewhere near the Kish Lighthouse. |
  | Dexter Clark | United States | The schooner sank after bottoming on Flug Island Shoals near the West Pass of Apalachicola Bay, Florida. |
  
  ## Unknown date
  
  List of shipwrecks: Unknown date 1891 :
  
  | Ship | Country | Description |
  | - | - | - |
  | Sarsfield | United Kingdom | The brigantine ran aground at Rhosilli, Glamorgan, Wales, and was wrecked. All seven people on board survived. |
  | Sea Serpent | United States | The clipper's crew of 17 abandoned her at sea at (46°N 40°W﻿ / ﻿46°N 40°W﻿ / 46; -40﻿ (Sea Serpent)) and were rescued by the barque Gulnare (flag unknown). The derelict Sea Serpent was sighted on 18 October by the barque Ardgowan (flag unknown), having drifted 1,120 miles (1,800 km) unmanned in 93 days. Sea Serpent was sighted 19 times before disappearing. |
  | Annie | United Kingdom | A steamer carrying wood from Sävenäs, near Skellefteä, to Sutton Bridge ran aground off Umeå due to navigational error. The ship was taken under tow but sank. The crew was rescued. |
  