(first report) The Newcastle screw steamer was out of Savannah with cotton for Revel.[4] Farnley left Dartmouth on 26 December 1880 and, on an unreported date, two bodies and several bales of cotton were washed up on the coast of Jutland, near Ringkøbing.[5]
The cargo ship ran aground on the Sunk Sand, in the North Sea off the coast of Kent. Her crew took to the lifeboats and were rescued by another vessel.[8]
6 January
List of shipwrecks: 6 January 1881
Ship
State
Description
Unnamed
A large steamer when ashore on the Goodwin Sands and sank with all hands.[9]
7 January
List of shipwrecks: 7 January 1881
Ship
State
Description
John Tillotson
The steamer Idlewild collided with the Tittleson barque John Tillotson which foundered within five minutes. The pilot and five of the crew drowned.[10]
The American ship McLauria found the British barque, in poor condition, in the Atlantic on 28 January. Eight of the crew were taken on board with the captain and mate staying on the Harvest Queen, which foundered during the night.[30]
The Nantes brigantine foundered and became a total wreck on the beach at Perranuthnoe, Cornwall while bound from Audierne, France to Cardiff, Wales with a cargo of potatoes. The crew were saved by the Prussia Cove rocket appartatus.[38]
The Searsport, Maine barque bound for London from Victoria, Vancouver Island carrying a mixed cargo of oil, tinned fish, wool, etc, foundered at Praa Sands, Cornwall. The crew were saved by the Prussia Cove rocket appartatus and the ship became a total loss after it caught fire.[38]
The Port Madoe schooner ran ashore on the rocks off Porthoustock, Cornwall while en route to Cork from London. The crew attracted attention by lighting a tar-barrel and the ship and cargo of railway sleepers was destroyed. The crew were rescued by the Porthoustock lifeboat.[42]
The ship left New York, on 21 February, with a cargo of tobacco for Bordeaux. Liverpool was abandoned when on her beam-ends and the crew were picked up by the Norwegian barque Valkyrien and some were landed in the Isles of Scilly.[44]
The Sunderland steamer struck the west point of Ushant and foundered. Stamford was out of Bilbao for Middlesbrough with a cargo of mineral. Thirteen of the crew died.[48]
Unnamed
The Rocket Brigade shewn alacrity last week to reach the scene of the wreck in Hoblyn's Cove, St Agnes, Cornwall.[49]
The Croisec vessel left Charlestown with china clay for Nantes. She was driven ashore, a few hours after she left port, at Apple-tree on the south Cornish coast. The five crew lost their lives.[50]
The 8.1-ton schooner was wrecked on the coast of the Territory of Alaska 30 nautical miles (56 km; 35 mi) east of the entrance to "Behring Bay" – probably a reference to Yakutat Bay, which historically was sometimes known as "Bering Bay" – after she lost her rudder in a storm. All seven people aboard survived.[55]
The Guernsey schooner sank after a collision with the steamer Solent off the Longships, Cornwall, causing the death of the master. Speed was carrying salt from Runcorn to Jersey and the surviving crew were picked up by Victua and landed at Plymouth.[59][60]
The Padstow registered schooner struck a rock while on a course between Land's End and the Longships. The schooner began to take on water and was taken in tow by the steamer Mary Monica for Mount's Bay. After two hours the crew went on the steamer and after another hour of tow Annie sank.[63]
The passenger steamer struck the reef off Waipapa Point in the Catlins, New Zealand, on 29 April, and sank the next day. This is the worst civilian shipping disaster in New Zealand's history with 131 deaths; only twenty of the 151 passengers and crew survived.
The steamship collided with the Andalusia in the North Sea, off the Farne Islands and sank within five minutes. Fourteen of her crew drowned and four survived.[69]
While carrying passengers back to downtown London, Ontario, Canada during Victoria Day celebrations, the steamboat sank in the Thames River, due to overcrowding causing her to strike a rock in the shallow river and ultimately capsize. Approximately 182 people drowned out of a total of 600 on board.[74]
The steamer collided in thick fog with the Castilian in the River Mersey. Taken under tow by the steam tug Hercules, a few minutes later, she was run into by the mail steamship African and sank. The crew were landed at Liverpool.[75]
The barque was run down by the Haytien and abandoned while returning to Hampton Roads from Bordeaux with iron ore. The crew were taken off the barque but the captain died within an hour.[78]
The White Star Line ocean liner ran aground in fog at Kilmore, County Wexford, Ireland, and remained stuck for two days. All the passengers were safely landed at Waterford. She sprang a leak in her engine room after being re-floated and was beached at Wexford Bay. She had to be patched up and pumped before returning to Liverpool.
26 July
List of shipwrecks: 26 July 1881
Ship
State
Description
Unnamed
Thirty lives were lost when three sailing vessels sank during a ″terrific gale″ at East London.[81]
The crew abandoned their vessel in the Pacific Ocean, while carrying coal from Newcastle to San Francisco, after it was destroyed by fire. The nine crew reached Chilbe, Chile in the lifeboat, taking nine days to cover 800 miles.[85]
The tug blew up and sank in the Chicago River at the Clark Street Bridge, Chicago as a result of a boiler explosion. Later towed to Miller's Dry Dock and rebuilt. Two crewmen killed.[87][88]
Courier
The schooner foundered and the crew were landed at Falmouth, Cornwall on 12 September by Golden Sea.[89]
The steam exploration yacht of Benjamin Leigh Smith was heavily damaged by floating ice on 21 August and sank near Cape Flora, Franz Joseph Land. The owner and his crew were all rescued almost a year later.[90]
With approximately 60 passengers and crew aboard, the 227-foot (69 m), 875-gross register ton coastal sidewheel paddle steamer struck a reef — the south ledge of Mark Island — in Penobscot Bay off the coast of Maine and sank without loss of life. She later was refloated, rebuilt, renamed City of Key West, and placed back in service.[91]
The brig was lost on the coast near the Para River while carrying coal from Cardiff to Para. The crew of eight were rescued following two days in the ship's boat.[92]
The Hayle barque filled with water and sank about 500 miles (800 km) from the Isles of Scilly. The seven crew took to the ships boat and were picked up my a Norwegian ship. The barque was carrying iron ore from Samanco, Peru to Liverpool.[93]
A fire in the forecastle spread to the rest of the barque while docked at Milford Haven. Both the ship and the cargo of timber were destroyed with no loss of life.[95]
The Penzance steamer was hit amidships by the Plover, in the Warp Channel at the mouth of the River Thames and sank shortly after. The cargo and crew were lost.[97]
Unknown date
List of shipwrecks: unknown
Ship
State
Description
Elizabeth Irving
A number of crew drowned in the Fraser River while trying to escape from the burning steamer.[98]
St Louis
The brig sank off Beachy Head following a collision with the Seriol Wyn. Eight crew of the St Louis drowned.[99]
The Cape Mai steamer struck a rock and started to take on water, the captain altered course for Simon's Bay, near Cape Town, at initially 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph). At ten in the evening the engines were stopped and the ship's boats lowered but the ship sank quickly, along with four of the ship's boats, drowning 236.[100]
After her drive shaft broke on 4 October, the passenger liner sank in the Indian Ocean 400 miles (640 km) off the Chagos Archipelago. Six lifeboats were launched; three were found and their occupants rescued, but the other three, with 90 passengers and crew aboard them, disappeared without trace.[101] The captain and thirty-eight crew and passengers were landed at Aden on 13 November by Madeira.[102]
While carrying coal from Burnt Island, the Dundee steamer sank off the Norwegian coast. The crew were saved.[104] The master was reprimanded for having an unfit ship and the crew were drunk because they felt that ″... as the vessel did not look very well, and they thought they might as well go down with a bellyful of whisky as a bellyful of water.″[105]
Unknown
During a gale a vessel sank off Formby with the loss of all hands.[104]
The barque sank in the North Sea. Eight of the crew were taken to Yarmouth by the Seaflower and the other four were picked up by fishermen from Lowestoft.[106]
The steamer left Liverpool for Bombay on 18 October and foundered in the Atlantic three days later. Some of the crew and passengers took to the boats the day before she sank, and ten people were picked up by the steamer Palestine, There were not enough lifeboats and nineteen were left on board. Clan Macduff were picked up by the Cork Liner Upupa and taken to Plymouth.[112]
The crew abandoned their vessel, while en voyage from Cardiff to Nantes with coal, at lat. 50.15N and long. 11.10W, following six days of heavy weather. They were picked up by the Variverts and taken to Falmouth.[113]
The 1,821-ton screw steamer went ashore below a cliff, 10 miles (16 km) from Mugia, Portugal during fog. The Cardiff owned vessel was carrying pig iron from Bilbao to Cette, France.[124][125] The crew survived.[123]
The steamer was sunk in a collision with Carlingford (United States) on a squally night 10 miles east of Dunkirk, New York 10 miles off shore. Three crewmen killed when a lifeboat was capsized by the sinking ship.[126][127]
The schooner was sunk in a collision with Brunswick (United States) on a squally night 10 miles east of Dunkirk, New York 10 miles off shore. One crewman killed. Wreck discovered in mid 1990s.[128][129]
The small steamer broke from her moorings in St Mary's Pool, Isles of Scilly and went ashore at William's Bay, becoming a total wreck. Gem was bound for South Africa for employment as a river boat.[130]
The barque, built by the Sunderland Shipbuilding Company in 1878, departed Cardiff, Wales, for Zanzibar on 14 September 1880. During the voyage, the captain, Richard Prichard of Llanbedrog, Wales, died and the mate, John Jones, took command. On the journey back to Liverpool, Barbara docked at Queenstown (Cobh), Ireland, and Jones enlisted a channel pilot, Thomas Lewis, to steer the remaining journey to Liverpool. A series of blunders followed and it appears Lewis was not qualified. In great confusion, Barbara was steered off course in heavy seas, the anchors were deployed but dragged, and the ship drifted onto rocks at Freshwater West, Pembrokeshire. All sixteen crew were saved except Jones, who drowned.[131]
The London steamer was abandoned in the North Sea, while on a voyage from Cronstadt, Russia to her home port with grain. The crew were landed at Great Yarmouth.[134]
The Liverpool barque foundered in the Atlantic while en route to St Johns. Five men from the barque Lowood died when attempting to save the crew of the Bendon.[137]
The steamer disappeared without trace after passing the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom, on 22 November. She is believed to have foundered in the Atlantic Ocean on or about 27 November.[141]
The barque hit the Shark's Fin, the northernmost rock of the Longships reef and became a total wreck. She was carrying pitwood for the collieries in South Wales from Bordeaux.[145] Wreckage was washed up below the Levant mine and in Portheras Cove.[146]
The three-masted schooner bound for Santander, Spain from Newport, with coal, grounded at the entrance to the Hayle River, Cornwall and became a total wreck. The crew and pilots were taken off by the Hayle lifeboat Isis.[148]
The Newcastle steamer was abandoned in the Atlantic following the loss of her rudder, while on a voyage from Montreal to Rotterdam. The steamer became a total wreck and the crew were rescued by Germanic.[155]
The ship caught fire and was abandoned at Christmas in latitude 3 N longitude, 110 W. Some of the crew were picked up by the Cochin and have not been heard of since. Five more were picked up by a steamer, off the coast of Lower California and are believed to be from the Milton.[156]
^"Our Ships and our Sailors". The Cornishman. No. 179. 15 December 1881. p. 4.
^Chesneau, Roger, and Eugene M. Kolesnik, Conway′s All the World′s Fighting Ships, 1860-1905, New York: Mayflower Books, 1979, ISBN0-8317-0302-4, p. 414.
^"Disaster at Sea". The Cornishman. No. 176. 24 September 1881. p. 6.
^"Apprehended Loss Of A Ship And 16 Lives". The Cornishman. No. 156. 7 July 1881. p. 7.