1831 – Apr 9, gale, schooner Warrior grounds/breaks, Sandy Point bar, Block Isl., RI–  ~22

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 9-5-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–22  (estimated) Dionis, Janet. “Wreck of the Warrior, 1831…” Block Island Times, 4-14-2023.

–21  (probably)  Snow. Great Storms and Shipwrecks of New England. 1943, p. 213.

Narrative Information

Dionis, Janet. “Wreck of the Warrior, 1831…” Block Island Times, 4-14-2023: “….

“The Warrior was a two-masted schooner, just shy of four years old. On Friday, April 9 of that year, a storm blew in that imperiled ships and caused damage to inland structures from New Jersey to the Canadian Maritimes. Without the benefit of modern-day weather forecasting, the Warrior left Boston with passengers and 30 tons of iron. It made a stop in Osterville, where the first mate, 17-year-old George “Thatcher” Lovell resided. His father, G. T. Lovell was sometimes the captain, and part owner, of the Warrior. He did not sail with his eldest son on this run. From the same area of Cape Cod was “young Mr. Morton Crocker,” of West Barnstable, likely part of the crew. The captain for this voyage, Oliver Scudder, also of West Barnstable, was a part owner of the ship, and may have been Thatcher’s uncle by marriage.

“he Barnstable Patriot reports that the ship left Osterville and made a brief stop in Tarpaulin Cove of the Elizabeth Islands, perhaps to assess the weather and debate the risk of proceeding. By Friday night, the schooner was sheltering with two other vessels, the Luna and the Rickey, “under the lee of Block Island.” A sudden change in wind direction caused the Warrior to become trapped with a fouled anchor within the arc of the Hummock; the sandbar that extends from Sandy Point, which at the time was longer and more substantial. The other two vessels were able to navigate to deeper water to avert disaster.

“Benjamin T. Coe, the Customs Inspector of Block Island, and an eyewitness of the wreck, wrote to agents of the Warrior: ‘It is impossible to describe the awful situation of that vessel when she first came on shore, the sea breaking over her masts, and seven souls hanging to her rigging, not more than 150 yards from us, and completely out of the power of man to render assistance…’ (Providence Sunday Journal: April 18, 1909. Newport Historical Society).

“Another eyewitness told The New York Gazette: ‘the main mast went as the schooner broke in two at the quarter deck, the bottom floating out, and her cargo bursting forth, … like feathers out of a bed when ripped open.’

“Welcome Dodge was 19 years old when he watched the mortal struggle from shore. He said ‘that repeated efforts made by locking hands to reach the passengers by a living chain failed… and as the sea tide fell off the sand next to the vessel was bare, but a gulch between the ship and the shore swallowed each one of its victims when an attempt was made to cross it’ (Providence Sunday Journal: April 18, 1909. Newport Historical Society).

“The same scene is described in Livermore’s History of Block Island: ‘the bar from the shore to the ship was sometimes naked between the heavy seas passing over it from the westward … one of the sailors… as he saw no hope of assistance from the hundreds on shore he made the desperate effort of running on the sandbar to the land between seas, but when little more than half way he saw a high wave driven with great violence coming upon him, he bravely turned and met it head fore most, and soon after was picked up dead upon the beach.’

“The islanders sheltering in the first of the North Lights could do nothing but bear witness. There was no life-saving apparatus on the island in 1831. The winds blew with hurricane force and prevented boarding what was left of the ship until Sunday. All they could do was post watches to collect the bodies as they came ashore. When the weather finally allowed islanders to board the remnants of the bow ‘near the windlass were found four dead bodies, bracing against a temporary bulwark. They had apparently died of exposure… the chain cable was found fouled, in the hawsehole. So completely was the vessel broken up that there was not a piece of timber more than 20 feet long that came on shore’ (New York Spectator).

“When news of the wreck reached the port of New York, a sailor, John William Hutchins, contacted the editors of the New York Gazette with information on passengers of the Warrior. Hutchins served on the Messenger, which had recently come into Boston from Calcutta. Seven of his mates boarded Warrior, ultimately headed to Philadelphia. They were: John Lattimer, Alexander Bradley who prophetically had a tattoo of a fouled anchor on his arm, Thomas Burns, James G. Rowland, who was seen wrestling the waves for 30 minutes before he succumbed to the sea, Thomas Van Wyck, Samuel Barclay, William Lane, Messenger’s cook, two women, and the wife of the steward of the Warrior. The Barnstable Patriot reported that there were also eight soldiers from Fort Independence on the ship.

“A clothing bag marked with ‘Capt. G. T. Lovell’ washed ashore hours before the body of young Thatcher. News reports first identified him as the captain of the Warrior because the clothes he wore had the same markings. He was wearing his father’s hand-me-downs. When his father later came to Block Island to recover the body of his son, and that of Capt. Scudder, he found they had been buried in the Island Cemetery along with five other men.

“Estimates of the number of lives lost settle in at 22, but a passenger list was never found. The New York Spectator posted a notice that a coroner’s inquest was held for a body that was recovered at Point Judith. The man was well-dressed in linen and silk and bore the emblem of free commerce in India Ink on his arm: an American eagle with the caption “Free Trade and Sailors’ Rights,” the rallying cry for the war of 1812. ‘If more perished on board they must have been driven toward Vineyard Sound by the counter current as was most of the cargo.’….”

Sources

Dionis, Janet. “Wreck of the Warrior, 1831: The Tragic Sojourn of Thatcher Lovell and Capt. Oliver Scudder.” Block Island Times, 4-14-2023. Accessed 9-6-2024 at: https://www.blockislandtimes.com/columnists/wreck-of-the-warrior-1831-the-tragic-sojourn-of-thatcher-lovell-and-capt-oliver-scudder/article_f84e2aea-dad9-11ed-abb6-778062684fec.html

Snow, Edward Rowe. Great Storms and Shipwrecks of New England. Boston: Yankee Publishing Company, 1943.