Approximately eleven ships have been wrecked off New Jersey over a period of two hundred years on New Year’s Eve. Here’s a potpourri of what is known. Most information is taken from the New Jersey Maritime Museum Shipwreck Data Base.
Late December 1777 was a bad year for both American and British ships in the Delaware River. There were a number of them fighting during the Revolution. In the fall the British had captured Philadelphia; and the rebels wanted to block the re-supplying of British vessels and troops in addition to their advance against General Washington’s troops.
Three ships were sunk on New Year’s Eve of 1777: The English brigantine John and the English transport Lord Howe were stripped and then burned by the Americans in the Marcus Hook area of the Delaware River. Nothing else is known except that they were listed as British war losses.
An armed schooner, Industry, was also looted and set afire in the Delaware north of Philadelphia. There is no information as to what flag this ship was flying.
The schooner Charles Dennis was crushed in the ice in Delaware Bay on Dec. 31, 1859. According to a US Life Saving report, this schooner with a crew of five was going from Port Richmond on the Delaware River to New Bedford MA loaded with coal.
While at anchor off 14’ Bank, several miles from Cape May, (the ship) was cut through by the ice and sank. Drifting with the floating ice and totally unmanageable, the boat was discovered by the lookout on the roof of Station #40 at Cape May with a signal of distress flying. The boat was about five miles distant from the shore and deemed impossible toreach with the station life boat on account of the ice.
The keeper hurried to the US Signal Station and telegraphed to Lewes, DE asking that a steam tug be dispatched.
Miraculously, the tug reached the ice flow and saved those aboard. The life saving boat from Cape May was dragged back to safety along the ice. The schooner Charles Dennis was crushed and ultimately sank. It must have been a proud time for the two US Life Saving Stations working together to save those in peril during the cold New Year’s Eve.
Heading from New York to Richmond, VA, the schooner Henrico was stranded off Barnegat Light in 1855.
Flora, a bark loaded with cotton, wrecked off Squan Beach on New Year’s Eve of 1865. She was en route from Mobile, AL to New York.
At 4 a.m. on New Year’s Eve day of 1881, the schooner Joseph F. Baker became stranded off Townsends Inlet South Bar. The Townsends Inlet Station #34, Ludlam’s Beach Station #33, and Stone Harbor Station # 35 all helped to rescue the crew of eight under the leadership of Captain Davies. The cargo was listed as ballast; the value of the ship at $2,500. The ship had been built in Kennebunk, ME in 1874 and was owned by C. S. Stillwell. The Joseph F. Baker was towed off the sandbar by a hired tug.
The 161-foot iron freighter Alpha had almost reached her destination of Atlantic City when she ran aground one mile off shore on New Year’s Eve 1881. She carried a crew of 13 with a “general cargo” listed by the NJ Maritime Museum Shipwreck Data Base.
This 30-year-old vessel was built in Philadelphia and was leaving from there. A large ship, the Alpha was 23 feet wide and drew 8 feet. She was valued at $25,000 with a cargo worth $6,000. Luckily this US ship was refloated.
What was the fishing boat Angie and Irene doing 50 miles off Cape May in a bad storm on New Year’s Eve day of 1962 with three people aboard?
Built of wood in 1957, the 62 foot boat was commanded by Captain Harry Brown. This Atlantic City fishing boat should not have been out in a widely predicted storm with 75mph winds. A distress call was made when part of the deckhouse was blown off. No lives were lost and the boat was towed in by the US Coast Guard.
Our last New Year’s Eve Day catastrophe was a 33-foot sport fishing boat that caught fire and exploded in her slip at Schellengers Landing, Wildwood, in 1983. The Taurus sank at the dock and nothing else is recorded.
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Source: Asbury Park Press
