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Wreck of the Brig Dispatch Londonderry-Quebec

Strabane Morning Post, Tuesday September 02, 1828

Brig Dispatch Captain William Lancaster, from Londonderry May 29th 1828 to Quebec - the survivors arrived at Halifax (from Port aux Basque, Newfoundland), aboard the HMS Tyne on July 26th 1828.

Acadian Recorder August 2nd 1828:— HMS Tyne - with 152 men, women and children (including 10 of the crew and the mate) saved from the brig Dispatch, bound from Londonderry to Quebec, wrecked off Newfoundland. \"The whole of these unfortunate people, we learn, were in comfortable circumstances, one of whom, a Scotchman, had property to the amount of £500 on board, and he is now left with a family of 13 children, entirely destitute; indeed all that any of them have saved are a few clothes which were washed on shore.\"

The Acadian Recorder and the Strabane Morning Post both record the ship-name as Dispatch, however, the brig Despatch, 187 gross tons, was built at Whitehaven by Thomas Kirk and was launched on the 28th February 1801. She was registered at Workington in 1828, the same year as her loss.

On July 10th 1828, Despatch ran aground on a reef three miles offshore from Isle aux Mort, near Port aux Basques. Attempts to launch a lifeboat ended when the captain and others were swamped by high waves and lost. Subsequent attempts by the crew were only partly successful. A few managed to make to safely on shore, and others on a nearby island while a few remained clinging to the shipwrecked vessel. Several lives were lost during the next two days. A gentleman named George Harvey, became aware of the wreck, and on July 13th, accompanied by his 17 yr-old daughter Ann and 12 yr-old son, rowed for two hours through heavy rain, surf and strong winds until they came upon the shipwrecked Despatch and its survivors. For the next three days, George and his two children risked their own lives to aid the survivors To honour their heroic efforts, the Governor of Newfoundland, Sir Thomas Cochrane, gave George Harvey £100 sterling and a gold medal.

Londonderry Journal Office Londonderry
Wednesday, August 27

Loss of the Brig Dispatch

The Following melancholy letter, detailing the loss of the above vessel, which sailed from this Port, bound for Quebec, with passengers, in May last, has been received by Marcus S. Hill, Esq. our collector:—

H M S Tyne, 26th July, 1828


Sir.— The accompanying list contains the names of 158 men, women, and children, exclusive of the mate and all the crew, 9 in number, who were saved from the wreck of the Dispatch, of Workington, commanded by the late William Lancaster, (drowned) which sailed from Derry, on the 29th May for Quebec—
The brig was wrecked on a rock, about eighteen miles to the eastward of Cape Ray, and distant from the Main three-fourths of a mile, on the evening of the 10th of July, and it was only by watching the occasional fall of the surf for a few hours each day; till the following Tuesday, that the mate and crew with two boats, and the assistance of a fisherman in a small boats 12 feet long, saved those in the accompanying list. The mate informs me that 200 passengers were said to be on board, though he thinks several infants were not reckoned, as their passage was not paid, and the crew, master included, were eleven in number.
Four men and ten children died on the rock from starvation, five children and one woman, died on the beach, four men perished in the woods, and one woman and one boy in the boats of this ship, whilst on their passage from the place of shipwreck. By a comparison of numbers, it appears that thirty-six at least were drowned; of that number two infants were washed from their mother\'s breast, whilst on the rock, and of one family, six were swept off after they obtained a footing.
I have taken the liberty of troubling you with the list, as from your situation at the port whence the vessel sailed, you will most propably have the readiest means of making the same known, and thus quieting the feelings of relatives and friends at once.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
R. Grant


To the Collector of Customs, Londonderry.

A list of Persons saved from the wreck of the Brig Dispatch of Workington, William Lancaster, late Master, and conveyed from Port aux Basque, Newfoundland, to Halifax, in His Majesty\'s Ship Tyne:—H

         
   
County of Tyrone
   

Michael Sheils
James M\'Gonagle
and Margaret his sister
Edward M\'Gowan
Joseph Smaley and his wife and child
John Smaley and his wife and two children (family name was Smiley)
Hamilton Parkhill and his wife, child, and sister, (brother lost)
John M\'Partridge, Mary his wife and James, Archibald, John, Samuel, and Martha their children
Mary M\'Manus
all of Donagheady

John Henderson, Skirts {Castlederg}

John Scott, Ardstraw

 

Robert Shaw and his wife and child John Nickson and Margaret his wife John Bagster {Baxter}
Martha Baxter his mother
and Thomas and James his sons (two sons and two sisters lost)
Thomas and William, brothers of John Bagster {Baxter}
George his nephew
Annie and Catharine his sisters
all of Cappagh

George Boyle and
James Monaghan, Kirskiddy

Edward Sheils and James Armstrong, Drumra

 

Charles Cochran, Strabane, (died on board the Tyne on the morning of the 26th of July)

John Williamson
Wm. Moor
Wm. M\'Monagle
and C. M\'Monagle his mother
Robert Gorman
Margaret Gordon (her husband lost) Catharine Bryan
all Leckpatrick.

Hugh Harper, Termonamongan

Alexander Kail,{Kyle} Termonamongan,
and Eliza his wife.

         

 

 

County of Donegal

 

 

James Gallagher, Rathmullan

James Dougherty, Turboil

Charles Porter and James Roulston, Langfield

Hugh M\'Laughlin, Dunnamore

Mathew Fulton, Tullaghabegley

 

Thomas M\'Clean
Alexander M\'Cauley and Mary his wife, (one son lost)
Dennis Dougan and Anne and Grace, his two daughters
of Ray Letterkenny

Jaffles Smyth, Ostragh

Samuel Spence, Tullaghaghness

 

John Armstrong,

David O\'Hara
John O\'Hara and Mary his wife
Joseph Hart and Mary his wife, and Thomas, Margaret and Eliza, their children, (lost two sons;)
Margaret Thompson
Noble Kilgrace and his wife Rachael
of Urney

         

Alexander Aldjo{Algeo}
David Hamilton
Martha his sister and Robert his brother, (father, mother) and two sisters lost)
of Tullybeg

Hugh Doughal, Cloaghaneely

 

William Ayers
Mary Graham, (her husband lost)
Rose Gallagher
of Raphoe

James Williams and Mary his wife, Burt

 

Anne Duncan
Mary Mahaffy and her two nephews, James and John King
(her father, mother, and sister lost)
Mary M\'Monagle and her son James, (one child lost.)
of Taughboyne St Johnston


John Brown and Isabella his wife, (one son lost)
Mary McBeth
of Donoughmore

 

Charles Smullen and his wife and child, and William Cassidy, his step-son, Tullaghabegly

Eleanor Johnston, Templecarn

 

Robert Moore his wife Margaret and child Sarah, Ramelton

Patrick Callaghan and his wife Lydia, Conwell

         
   
County of Londonderry
   
John M\'Mullan and James his brother, (father, mother, two sisters, nephew, and female servant lost)
of Termanveny
  Thomas M\'Cleland
William M\'Cleland
William White
of Drumachose
  John M\'Master
Martha his sister, and William his brother;
of Glendermot
         

John Craghan, Upper Cumber

James M\'Ginnis, Aughanloo

John Hull
Robert Hull
Balteagh

Benjamin M\'Kay, Macquanane
{Macosquin}

 

Patrick M\'Manus
Rose O\'Neill
Cumber

James Marshal, Glendermot

George Steel, Drumachose (his brother lost)

 

Sarah Anne Hyndman
James Robinson
Cloghore Glendermot

James Cerrigan
Robert M\'Elhenny
Faughanvale

Biddy Mullens, Banagher

         

James M\'Culloch, his wife and child, (one son lost)

Kill, County Cavan

 

Neal M\'Taggart

Daniel Arnott, his wife,
John, Daniel, and David, his sons grown up, Duncan, aged 10, Andrew 1, Elizabeth grown up, Agnes 14, Catharine 12, Jane 8, Mary 5, and Martha 3

all of Campbeltown, Argyleshire

 

William Fazill and Anne his wife, (one son lost)

Killaid,{Killead} County Antrim

     
General Abstract
Persons embarked, (crew of 11 included)
211
Accounted for of these in foregoing statement, (including 29 who perished)  
181
Master lost  
1
Mate and crew saved  
10
   
192
Unaccounted for  
18

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