1849 — March 1, ship Franklin grounds, Newcomb Hollow, Wellfleet, Cape Cod, MA — 11

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 9-13-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–11  McGuiggan. “Isaiah Hatch and the Wreck of the Franklin.” Provincetown Independent, MA. 9-19-2021

–11  Snow. Great Storms and Shipwrecks of New England. 1943, pp. 270-272.

Narrative Information

McGuiggan. “Isaiah Hatch and the Wreck of the Franklin.” Provincetown Independent, MA:

“….Sailing from Deal, England under the command of Capt. Charles Smith, the Franklin was a Boston vessel owned by John W. Crafts and James W. Wilson. Carrying passengers and cargo, the Franklin appeared to have ventured too close to the bars off Wellfleet on that fateful Thursday morning [March 1], and though the winds were moderate, the weather fair, and the anchorage good, she slipped her chains and was driven ashore, breaking into pieces. Among those who witnessed the tragedy was John Young Newcomb, the “Wellfleet Oysterman” of Thoreau’s Cape Cod. Historian Edward Rowe Snow writes that 33 souls were aboard the Franklin, 11 of whom — including the captain and first mate — perished when their lifeboat lurched in the heavy surf and pitched them into the breakers. Those who stayed with the Franklin were rescued. The ship’s valuable cargo, including wool, linseed oil, nutmegs, and a coarse, heavy linen known as tow cloth, was strewn along the shore….”

Snow, Edward Rowe. Great Storms and Shipwrecks of New England. 1943, pp. 270-272:

“ ‘Mr. Hopkins of Wellfleet arrived in this city last night and states that the ship Franklin, Capt. Smith from London, of and for Boston, went ashore at Wellfleet, Cape Cod, on Thursday morning, at nine o’clock, and Capt. Smith, with the first mate, and eight others, perished. Twenty of the passengers and crew were saved. The ship went to pieces and her cargo was scattered along the shore.’

“Thus did the inhabitants of Boston and New England, through the pages of the Boston Courier for March 3, 1849, learn of a shipwreck….The actual number of persons aboard the Franklin was thirty-three, of whom eleven were drowned….”

Sources

McGuiggan, Amy Whorf. “Isaiah Hatch and the Wreck of the Franklin.” Provincetown Independent, MA. 9-19-2021. Accessed 9-12-2024 at: https://provincetownindependent.org/community/2021/09/29/isaiah-hatch-and-the-wreck-of-the-franklin/

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