Powhattan (1837)

The Powhattan or Powhatan was a United States ship that is best remembered as one of the New Jersey shipwrecks with the greatest loss of life. The number of victims varies, according to sources, between 200 and 365.[1]

History
United States
Launched: 1837
In service: February 2, 1837
Fate: Wrecked April 16, 1854
General characteristics
Type: Three Masted
Tons burthen: 598 7/95
Length: 132' 10"
Beam: 31' 7"
Propulsion: Sail
Sail plan: Square Rigged

The Powhattan was an emigrant ship transport of 598 tons gross. It was registered as a new vessel on February 2, 1837, with W. Graham as owner and D. Griffith as master (captain). The ship was built in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1836–1837 and made several trips across the Atlantic from England, France and the Netherlands to the ports of Baltimore and New York.

About the first of March 1854, the Powhattan sailed from the port of Le Havre, France, destined for New York City.[2] It was carrying more than 200 German emigrants.[3] After encountering a storm off the New Jersey coast it went aground about 5:00 p.m. on April 15, 1854, on the shoals near Harvey Cedars, New Jersey[4] (latitude 39 33 00 North −74 13 00 West [5]), about six miles south of the Harvey Cedars Lifesaving Station.[4] The ship remained afloat until the following day, April 16, 1854, whereupon it broke apart resulting in the deaths of the entire crew and passengers. At the time of the accident, the ship was commanded by Captain James Meyers (or Myers) of Baltimore.[6] The victims washed onto the beach as far south as Atlantic City, where they were buried in three cemeteries. Fifty-four were interred in a mass grave at Smithville Methodist Church and 45 were buried in Absecon. The majority of the bodies, about 140, washed ashore at Peahala on Long Beach Island. These victims were buried in pauper's graves in the Baptist cemetery in nearby Manahawkin. The cemetery now includes "The Unknown from the Sea" monument erected by the State of New Jersey in 1904 honoring all the victims of the Powhattan shipwreck.[7][8] The Powhattan disaster served as an impetus for the purchase of the site for the Absecon Lighthouse later in 1854.[9][10]

Voyages from 1837 to 1854
Departure date Port of departure Arrival date Port of arrival Master Purpose
July 25, 1837 Le Havre, France September 4, 1837 Baltimore? Griffith Transport British and Irish immigrants
Unknown Mobile, Alabama October 13, 1837 Baltimore? Griffith Unknown
Unknown Liverpool, England May 2, 1838 Baltimore Griffith Unknown
Unknown Liverpool, England June 21, 1846 Baltimore Haydon Irish and British immigrants[11]
Unknown Le Havre, France January 1, 1847 New Orleans Stone 207 passengers [12]
Unknown Le Havre, France July 31, 1847 Unknown Unknown Unknown[13]
Unknown Liverpool, England Dec 2nd, 1847 Baltimore ??? Irish immigrants [14]
Unknown Le Havre, France May 5, 1848 New York Unknown German immigrants [15][16]
Unknown Le Havre, France April 2, 1852 New York Unknown French, Swiss [17][18]
Unknown Rotterdam, Netherlands November 29, 1853 New York Myers Dutch and German immigrants [19][20][21]

Sources
  • Great Storms of the Jersey Shore, by Larry Savadove and Margaret Thomas Buchholz, published by Down the Shore, 1993
  • The New York Times April 21, 1854
  • The Baltimore Sun, April 21, 1854, Friday morning edition
  • The Daily Alta California, May 19, 1854 [22]
  • A Heavy Sea Running: The Formation of the U.S. Life-Saving Service, 1846–1878 By Dennis R. Means, Winter 1987, Vol. 19, No. 4 [23]
  • Brigantine Beach, New Jersey website [24]
  • New Jersey Museum of Boating, Inc., Bay Head, New Jersey
  • Maritime Heritage Project www.MaritimeHeritage.org, Post Office Box 2878, Sausalito, California, 94966 [25]
  • Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild
  • Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society, 1884, published January 17, 1884, page 82–83 [26]

References
  1. Somerville, George B. (January 17, 2018). "The Lure of Long Beach". Long Beach Board of Trade. p. 73. Retrieved January 17, 2018 – via Google Books.
  2. "The Wrecks At Absecom: Total Loss of the Powhattan" (PDF). The New Times. April 20, 1854.
  3. The University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Letters and Science, Max Kade Institute, New Acquisitions, Fall-Winter 2003, Subject Collection, Karl Althoff, "The Shipwreck of the Powhattan: Tragedy for Emigrants from Budenthal in 1854." The Palatine Immigrant, vol. 28, no. 3, June 2003, pp. 26–29.
  4. Means, Dennis R. (Winter 1987). "A Heavy Sea Running: The Formation of the U.S. Life-Saving Service, 1846 - 1878". Prologue Magazine. National Archives. 19 (4): 223–43. PMID 11617965.
  5. Shipwrecks off the New Jersey Coast by Walter and Richard Krotee, Middle Atlantic Underwater Council, Underwater Society of America, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1966 edition
  6. Brown, Allen Henry (1886). "Jonathan Pitney, M. D.: Fifty years of progress on the coast of New Jersey". Internet Archive. Daily Advertiser Printing House. Retrieved November 23, 2015.
  8. "The Powhatan Tragedy". www.RogerKreuz.com. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  9. "New Jersey Lighthouse Society - Absecon Lighthouse". www.NJLHS.org. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  10. "Absecon Lighthouse - Cyberlights Lighthouses". www.Cyberlights.com. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  11. O'Brien, Al. "ISTG Vol 6 - Ship Powhatan". ImmigrantShips.net. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  12. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-05-05. Retrieved 2009-09-30.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. "Manifest Header Data File, 1834 – ca. 1900: Manifest 46237: Powhattan". Data Files Relating to the Immigration of Germans to the United States, created ca. 1977–2002, documenting the period 1850–1897. National Archives. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
  14. "Ship Powhatan; Liverpool, England to Baltimore, Maryland; 2 December 1847". Transcribed by Janice Peterson. Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild. June 6, 2005. Retrieved November 24, 2015.CS1 maint: others (link)
  15. "Manifest Header Data File, 1834 – ca. 1900: Manifest 46820: Powhattan". Data Files Relating to the Immigration of Germans to the United States, created ca. 1977–2002, documenting the period 1850–1897. National Archives. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
  16. "Castle Garden". www.CastleGarden.org. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  17. "Manifest Header Data File, 1834 – ca. 1900: Manifest 6848: Powhattan". Data Files Relating to the Immigration of Germans to the United States, created ca. 1977–2002, documenting the period 1850–1897. National Archives. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
  18. "Castle Garden". www.CastleGarden.org. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  19. Green, Harry. "ISTG Vol 9 - Powhatan". ImmigrantShips.net. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  20. "NARA - AAD - Display Full Records - Manifest Header Data File, 1834 - ca. 1900". AAD.Archives.gov. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  21. "Herman Joseph Meiring". RogerKreuz.com. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  22. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2009-09-09.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  23. "A Heavy Sea Running". Archives.gov. August 15, 2016. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  26. Society, New Jersey Historical (January 17, 1885). "Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society". New Jersey Historical Society. pp. 82–83. Retrieved January 17, 2018 – via Google Books.

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