1872 — Dec 26, gale, ship Peruvian grounds/breaks, Peaked Hill Shoals, Cape Cod, MA–22-28
Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 9-1-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/
Blanchard note: While we show a fatality range of 22-28, reflecting the numbers noted in the sources below, we note that we also read a number of other newspaper articles than we reflect below which reported 25 deaths. Thus we are lead to believe that there were 25 deaths, though none of sources are convincing that this was an authoritative number.
–28 Dalton, J. W. The Life Savers of Cape Cod. Project Gutenberg eBook. 2023.
–25 Evening Courier & Republic, Buffalo, NY. “The Sinking of the Ship Peruvian.” 12-28-1872
–25 U. S. Central Publishing Co. Important Events of the Century: 1776-1876. 1876, p. 177.
–24 Small, Isaac M. Shipwrecks on Cape Cod. North Truro, MA. 1-1-1912, p. 17.
–22 The World, NY. “Shipwrecks on Cape Cod. Loss of the Peruvian…” 12-29-1872, p. 8.[1]
Narrative Information
Dalton, J. W. The Life Savers of Cape Cod. Project Gutenberg eBook. 2023:
“The first wreck which Captain Worthen went to after his appointment as keeper [Highland Station] was on Dec. 25, 1872, before the station was built. With volunteers he rescued fourteen men, the whole crew of the German bark Francis, which became a total loss. The same night another vessel, the Peruvian, was lost on the coast, and her crew of twenty-eight perished.”
Small, Isaac M. “Loss of the Ship Peruvian.” Pp. 17-21 in Shipwrecks on Cape Cod:
“Over the North Atlantic ocean and the coast of Cape Cod on the night of the 26th of December, 1873 [incorrect – newspapers make clear the wreck was Dec 26, 1872], swept a gale and storm so fierce and wild that even dwellers of the coast were surprised. With almost hurricane force the wind-driven sea rushed in mountainous waves towards the outlying sand bar and hurled themselves with a terrific roar on the sands of the beach.
“Many weeks before from the smooth waters of the harbor of Calcutta the American ship Peruvian had passed out into the deep sea and with a blue sky and favoring breeze had spread her white sails and headed for home on her long voyage. Beneath her decks was stored a valuable cargo of sugar and block tin and Boston was her destination.
“The ship was in command of Captain Charles H. Vannah. And she carried a crew of 24 men. With such a bright departure they were anticipating a quick and safe voyage. All had gone well with ship and crew until this fateful December morning. All day long the snow had fallen thick and fast, driven over the deck of the ship and through her rigging by the ever increasing gale. Riotous waves lifted the big ship to their crests only to plunge her the next moment into the depths of the deep hollows as they tore madly away in the approaching darkness.
“Captain Vannah had been unable for 24 hours to obtain an observation, but he knew that his ship was approaching the coast of Cape Cod. Hoping every moment that some slight abatement in the storm might give him a chance to pick up some outlying beacon or the glimmer of some friendly lighthouse he kept the ship’s head to the north with all the sail upon the spars that they could stand without breaking. Higher and stronger ran the seas, wilder and more terrific blew the gale, often across the ship’s decks swept the huge waves, while all about them the dark skies lowered and the angry waters swirled when suddenly, just before midnight with a terrible plunge and an awful crash the ship struck the sand bars of the dreaded Peaked Hill Shoals, nearly a mile from shore; then utter confusion reigned on the ship. Up to that time only occasional seas had swept her decks; now the huge waves in torrents constantly swept her and pounded unceasingly her breaking decks. Boats, deck fittings and everything movable was swept away in the darkness and the turbulent sea; her crew driven to the rigging found there only a temporary place of escape; soon came a mountain-like wave, overtopping all those which had preceded it and thundered over the doomed ship, tearing away all of her masts and portions of her deck, hurling the entire ship’s crew into this mass of thrashing wreckage and churning sea, and their last sad cries were hushed in the mad seas that covered them.
“With the first glimmer of approaching daylight men hurried to the outer beach, believing that some terrible disaster had occurred. They found the shore for miles covered with portions of the cargo and many broken timbers of the lost ship, but owing to the distance from shore to where the
ship went down only three bodies were ever recovered and those only after many days of washing
about in the surf….”
U.S. Central Publishing: “Dec. 26. – Great Storm throughout the country and along the coast; many shipping disasters result. The bark Kadosh wrecked in Massachusetts bay; seven lives lost. Ship Peruvian lost on Massachusetts coast, and all hands, 25 in number drowned.” (US Cen. Pub. Important…, p. 177.)
Newspapers
Dec 27, Brooklyn Daily Eagle: “Boston, Mass., December 27. The ship Peruvian, Captain Varmah, from Singapore, via Sourahaya, for Boston, struck on Peaked Hill Bar, Cape Cod, during the storm of last night, and went to pieces. The crew were all drowned. Part of the cargo was washed ashore. Captain Varmah belonged in Maine, was unmarried, and on his first voyage as Commander. Tshe names of the other persons on board are unknown, except Mr. Drew, one of the mates, whose brother is master of the ship Franklin, belonging to the same owners and now due at this port…” (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, NY. “Marine Disasters. Ship Singapore Stranded – All Lost…” 12-27-1872, p. 4.)
Dec 28, Buffalo Evening Courier & Republic: “A Boston special says that the number of lives lost by the sinking of the ship Peruvian is 25. The ship had a cargo valued at nearly a million dollars, consisting of costly products from East India.” (Evening Courier & Republic, Buffalo, NY. “The Sinking of the Ship Peruvian.” 12-28-1872, p. 3.)
Dec 29, The World, NY: “(Boston Post, December 28, 1872.) Ship Peruvian, Captain Vannah, from Singapore July 8, via Sourabuya [Surabaya?] in September, struck on Peaked Hill bars, about two miles back of Providence-town, Cape Cod, on Thursday night, during the heavy east northeast gale, and soon went to pieces. She usually carried sixteen or eighteen men before the mast, besides a cook, steward, two mates, and captain. She had a cargo of sugar, gambier, tin, &c., most of which is lost; a comparatively small portion drifted ashore and has been saved…The Peruvian was a good ship, 1,156 tons, and about fifteen years old, having been built at East Boston in 1857 for Messrs. William F. Weld & Co., who have since kept her in constant employment, most of the time in the East India trade. The vessel and cargo were worth nearly $400,000, and the insurance is understood to amount to about $370,000…
“Captain Vannah was a very active and intelligent young man. This was his first voyage as master, he having formerly sailed as first officer with Captain Drew, of the ship Franklin. Captain Drew’s brother, a young man of nineteen years, had become third officer of the Peruvian….
“Among the seamen we only hear of one Boston man, viz., Patrick Desmond, aged twenty-five, whose father is a well-known stevedore. Many of the others are supposed to have been new men, shipped in the East Indies. Captain Vannah belonged in Maine, and was unmarried.
“It is supposed that he had discovered Highland Light and was endeavoring to fetch into the Bay, but losing sails, drifted too far to leeward, or that having made up his longitude he supposed himself still clear of the land and decided to heave to, under close-reefed topsails, and await better weather.
“The outer Peaked Hill Bar, on which she struck, has about fifteen feet of water on it at low tide, and as the ship drew some twenty feet, she might have touched even at high water, in such a mountainous sea. The bar extends out about a mile from the beach. The poor fellows on board the ship had no chance with boats, if they could have cleared them from their lashings, as the second or third wave probably scooped the sand from around the ship – as is often the case – keeling [unclear] her off shore. All human efforts were then unavailing. It was a short but agonizing struggle, and twenty-two men, after a long absence from friends, passed into eternity – some of them within forty miles of their homes, and almost within gun-shot of the wires which a few hours before could have instantly communicated the welcome intelligence of their approach and supposed safety to anxious ones on shore.” (The World, NY. “Shipwrecks on Cape Cod. Loss of the Peruvian…” 12-29-1872, p. 8.)
Sources
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, NY. “Marine Disasters. Ship Singapore Stranded – All Lost…” 12-27-1872, p. 4. Accessed 9-15-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/brooklyn-daily-eagle-dec-27-1872-p-7/
Dalton, J. W. The Life Savers of Cape Cod. Project Gutenberg eBook. March 29, 2023. Accessed 9-15-2024 at: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/70407/70407-h/70407-h.htm
Evening Courier & Republic, Buffalo, NY. “The Sinking of the Ship Peruvian.” 12-28-1872, p. 3. Accessed 9-15-2024: https://newspaperarchive.com/buffalo-evening-courier-and-republic-dec-28-1872-p-3/
Small, Isaac M. “Loss of the Ship Peruvian.” Pp. 17-21 in Shipwrecks on Cape Cod. North Truro, Highland Light, Mass. January 1, 1912. Accessed 9-15-2024 at:
https://provincetownhistoryproject.org/PDF/046_245_541-shipwrecks-highlands-coast-of-cape-cod.pdf
The World, NY. “Shipwrecks on Cape Cod. Loss of the Peruvian and Kadosh – Twenty-Nine Lives Lost.” 12-29-1872, p. 8. Accessed 9-15-2024 at:
https://newspaperarchive.com/world-dec-29-1872-p-8/
United States Central Publishing Co. Important Events of the Century: 1776-1876. NY: U.S. Central Pub. Co., 1876. Google preview accessed 1-22-2018 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=OGZt1HGsgmEC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
[1] Though it is written that twenty-two men were lost, this does not appear to be based on specific reported but seems to derive from a statement at the top of the article to the effect that “She usually carried sixteen or eighteen men before the mast, besides a cook, steward, two mates, and captain.” That would be 21-23.