List of shipwrecks in 1875

The list of shipwrecks in 1875 includes ships sunk, foundered, grounded, or otherwise lost during 1875.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

table of contents

1875
Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr
May	Jun	Jul	Aug
Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Unknown date
References

January

1 January

List of shipwrecks: 1 January 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Surprize	United Kingdom	The pilot cutter foundered in the Bristol Channel off Ilfracombe, Devon. Two crew were rescued by the schooner Britannia ( Sweden).[1]

2 January

List of shipwrecks: 2 January 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Britannia	Sweden	The schooner ran aground at Port Eynon, Glamorgan, United Kingdom. All on board survived. She was on a voyage from Le Havre, Seine-Inférieure, France to Cardiff, Glamorgan.[1]

22 January

List of shipwrecks: 2 January 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Mediator	United States	Carrying general cargo, the screw steamer was wrecked at North Point on Barnegat Shoals, 0.8 nautical miles (1.5 km; 0.9 mi) off Harvey Cedars, New Jersey. Her wreck sank six hours later. Her entire crew survived.[2][3]

24 January

List of shipwrecks: 24 January 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Marie Reine	France	The barque was driven ashore and wrecked at Chesil Beach, Dorset, United Kingdom.[4]

Unknown date

List of shipwrecks: Unknown date 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Georgia	Canada	The steamship foundered off Maine, United States.

February

14 February

List of shipwrecks: 14 February 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Floresta	United Kingdom	The 299-ton Sunderland barque grounded on the Seven Stones Reef, between the Isles of Scilly and Cornwall in fog and quickly sank; her crew of ten were landed at Falmouth, Cornwall by the St Malo lugger Josephine.[5]

15 February

List of shipwrecks: 15 February 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Una	New Zealand	The 20-ton ketch-rigged steamer sank in the harbour at Napier, New Zealand, after her covering plates gave way.[6]

16 February

List of shipwrecks: 16 February 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Havre	United Kingdom	The LSWR Channel Packet from Southampton, foundered on Platte Boue rock with 92 survivors. Passengers were put ashore on Amfroque; the wreck was found lying across that of Waverley ( United Kingdom), which had hit the same rock in 1873.[7][8][9]

24 February

List of shipwrecks: 24 February 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Gothenburg	United Kingdom	Artist's impression of the wreck of SS Gothenburg. The McMerkan, Blackwood and Company steamship foundered off the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. At least 98 lives lost.
Janet Grey	New Zealand	The 27-ton cutter went ashore near Mercury Bay, New Zealand and became a wreck.[10]

March

9 March

List of shipwrecks: 9 March 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Columbus	United States	Accidentally rammed and sunk by the White Star Line ocean liner Adriatic ( United Kingdom) in the Crosby Channel at Liverpool.

Unknown date

List of shipwrecks: Unknown date March 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Euphrosyne	New Zealand	The 75-ton schooner sailed from Dunedin on 14 March for Oamaru and was not seen again. She carried a crew of six.[10]
Melbourne	Victoria	The 53-ton schooner sailed from Lyttelton Harbour, New Zealand, on 1 March. Wreckage from the ship was discovered in mid-March close to the northwestern tip of the South Island and two bodies, one believed to have been of the ship's captain, were found washed ashore on Farewell Spit towards the end of the month.[10]

April

23 April

List of shipwrecks: 23 April 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Joseph Straker	United Kingdom	The steamship was driven ashore on Norderney, Germany. She was on a voyage from Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland to Hamburg, Germany.[11]

May

7 May

List of shipwrecks: 7 May 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Schiller	Germany	The German Transatlantic Steam Navigation Line owned ocean liner ran aground in fog on the Retarrier Ledges, Isles of Scilly, with the loss of 335 lives.[12]

8 May

List of shipwrecks: 8 May 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Elderslie	New Zealand	A fierce gale and heavy swell hit the New Zealand port of Timaru, where the 203-ton schooner was at anchor. While attempting to leave the roadstead she became enfouled and drifted onto rocks, becoming a total wreck.[10] Two other ships were wrecked at Timaru on 9 May during the same storm (see below)

9 May

List of shipwrecks: 8 May 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Cyrene	New Zealand	The 527-ton barque succumbed to the same storm at Timaru, New Zealand, that also wrecked the Elderslie and the Princess Alice (qv). The Cyrene took on water during the early part of the storm, and in the early hours of 9 May her cable parted and she ran aground and was wrecked. Her crew of 12 were landed safely.[13]
Princess Alice	New Zealand	The 267-ton brig succumbed to the same storm at Timaru, New Zealand, that also wrecked the Elderslie and the Cyrene (qv). Her anchor dragged and she found herself close to shore. He cable then parted and she was thrown among the breakers. The captain ordered her to be run ashore to save the lives of those on board, all of whom were safely rescued.[13]

June

4 June

List of shipwrecks: 4 June 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Julia	New Zealand	The 16-ton cutter was driven onto a reef near Kawau Island in New Zealand's Hauraki Gulf by a gale and was wrecked.[13]

5 June

List of shipwrecks: 5 June 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Success	Unknown	The 59-ton schooner was one of three schooners which were driven ashore while trying to stand to sea for safety during a severe gale at Timaru, New Zealand. The other two ships, Elibanks Castle and Wild Wave, were both successfully refloated and all their crews survived, but Success became a total wreck close to the mouth of the Ashburton River, and the ships crew of four were all lost.[14]
William and Mary	New Zealand	The 47-ton schooner capsized during a gale to the north of Kapiti Island. All but one of the ship's crew of five men drowned.[14]

13 June

List of shipwrecks: 13 June 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Geffrard	Australia	The Fred Davis (Melbourne)-owned brig run aground on a sandbank after the anchor chain parted off Quindalup, Western Australia.[15]

18 June

List of shipwrecks: 18 June 1875

Ship	Country	Description
USS Saranac	United States Navy	The sloop-of-war was wrecked on the submerged Ripple Rock in Seymour Narrows off Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada.

24 June

List of shipwrecks: 24 June 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Caroline Phillips	United Kingdom	The schooner was wrecked on the Mixon Shoal, in the Bristol Channel with the loss of all four crew.[1]

Unknown date

List of shipwrecks: Unknown date June 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Pacific	New Zealand	The 51-ton schooner left Timaru bound for Manukau Harbour, Auckland on 4 June with eight crew and one passenger. She was not seen again.[13]

July

14 July

List of shipwrecks: 14 July 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Lerwick	New Zealand	The 14-ton cutter stranded on rocks in Bluff Harbour, New Zealand, and became a wreck.[16]

16 July

List of shipwrecks: 16 July 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Champlain II	United States	Champlain II The steamship was wrecked near Westport, New York.

21 July

List of shipwrecks: 21 July 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Forfait	French Navy	An artist′s impression of Forfait sinking. The screw corvette sank without loss of life in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the east coast of Corsica after colliding with the ironclad central battery ship Jeanne d'Arc ( French Navy) during naval exercises.[17]

23 July

List of shipwrecks: 23 July 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Hero	New Zealand	The 29-ton cutter was discovered floating empty and abandoned off the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. Only one of the crew of three survived, who came ashore near Mokau. The ship had sprung a leak and was labouring in a heavy swell when the mast gave way. The crew took to the ship's boat, but it capsized and the other two crew members were drowned.[16]

Unknown date

List of shipwrecks: Unknown date July 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Chanticleer	New Zealand	The 186-ton brig sailed from Oamaru, New Zealand for Tasmania on 9 July, with a crew of 10 on board. She was not seen again.[14]
Dauntless	New Zealand	The 72-ton schooner left Moeraki, New Zealand, for Wellington on 10 July with a crew of six, and was not seen again.[18]
Pearl	New Zealand	The 59-ton schooner sailed from Auckland for Lyttelton Harbour on 8 July, with a crew of five. She was not seen again.[16]

August

18 August

List of shipwrecks: 18 August 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Mistletoe	United Kingdom	The schooner sank with the loss of three lives after colliding with the royal yacht HMY Alberta ( Royal Navy) in the Solent. Alberta rescued Mistletoe's survivors.[19]

26 August

List of shipwrecks: 26 August 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Comet	United States	The W. M. Hanna and George W. Chapin (Cleveland, Ohio)-owned commercial wooden propeller ship collided with Manitoba (flag unknown) at Whitefish Bay of Lake Superior and sank. Ten lives were lost.

Unknown date

List of shipwrecks: Unknown date August 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Emily	New Zealand	The 17-ton ketch sailed from Collingwood, New Zealand for Nelson on 18 August, with a crew of two. She was not seen again.[16]

September

1 September

List of shipwrecks: 1 September 1875

Ship	Country	Description
HMS Vanguard	Royal Navy	An 1887 illustration of HMS Vanguard (right) sinking. HMS Iron Duke is at left. The Audacious-class central battery ironclad sank after a collision with the central battery ironclad HMS Iron Duke ( Royal Navy) near Kish Bank, Ireland.

8 September

List of shipwrecks: 8 September 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Edith	United Kingdom	The London and North Western Railway paddle steamer sank after a collision with the paddle steamer Duchess of Sutherland ( United Kingdom) off Holyhead, Wales. She was salvaged in 1877, rebuilt and returned to service.[20]

9 September

List of shipwrecks: 9 September 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Tanner	United States	The Barque stranded south of Milwaukee, Wisconsin in a Gale. She sank in 20 feet of water, later breaking up. Her Captain drowned. The rest of her crew was rescued.[21]

11 September

List of shipwrecks: 11 September 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Alert	New Zealand	The 43-ton ketch stranded at the mouth of the Patea River, New Zealand, and became a total wreck.[16]

14 September

List of shipwrecks: 14 September 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Tawera	New Zealand	The 55-ton schooner was discovered wrecked and stranded to the north of the entrance to the Kaipara Harbour, with no sign of crew on board. The bodies of two of the five crew washed up several days later. Tawera had sailed from Foxton and was en route to Kaipara Harbour.[22]

20 September

List of shipwrecks: 20 September 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Sitka	United States	The schooner was driven ashore and wrecked near Wrangell in Southeast Alaska.[23]

27 September

List of shipwrecks: 27 September 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Ellen Southard	United States	The wreck of Ellen Southard The full-rigged ship, owned by T. J. Southard of Maine, was wrecked in a hurricane at the mouth of the River Mersey, Liverpool, England and broke up. Her captain, his wife, six other crewmen, the pilot and three rescuers were killed when a large wave capsized the lifeboat. 12 rescuers and 8 crewmen survived the capsizing. The United States Congress awarded 27 first-class gold Lifesaving Medals to the local lifeboat men.[24]

October

5 October

List of shipwrecks: 5 October 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Boyd	New Zealand	The 16-ton schooner ran aground south of the mouth of the Motu River, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, during a gale and became a wreck.[25]

16 October

List of shipwrecks: 16 October 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Bruce	New Zealand	The 204-ton steamer hit rocks and foundered near Taiaroa Head while trying to enter Otago Harbour, New Zealand, in a thick fog. She was en route from Timaru to Dunedin. All crew and passengers were saved.[26]

20 October

List of shipwrecks: 20 October 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Cornelia	Belgium	The fishing trawler was struck by Khedive and sunk in the River Scheldt, near Bath, Netherlands.[27] Khedive was undergoing sea trials prior to delivery.

31 October

List of shipwrecks: 31 October 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Brunette	New Zealand	The 18-ton cutter stranded on sunken rocks at Tairua and became a wreck.[28]
Magenta	French Navy	An accidental nighttime galley fire aboard the Magenta-class broadside ironclad while she was in port at Toulon, France, spread out of control and reached her after ammunition magazine, causing her to explode and sink 2 hours 55 minutes after the fire broke out.[29]

November

6 November

List of shipwrecks: 6 November 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Pacific	United States	The paddle steamer sank after colliding with Orpheus (flag unknown) off Cape Flattery, United States. At least 318 lives lost.

7 November

List of shipwrecks: 7 November 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Alberta	United Kingdom	The schooner foundered off Cardigan. Her crew survived.[30]

8 November

List of shipwrecks: 8 November 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Calcutta	Canada	The ship wrecked on the north side of Grindstone Island in the Magdalen Islands, Quebec. Twenty-three of 28 persons drowned.

9 November

List of shipwrecks: 9 November 1875

Ship	Country	Description
City of Waco	United States	The Mallory Line (New York) steamship sank after an on-board fire off Galveston, Texas, with the loss of 56 lives.

19 November

List of shipwrecks: 19 November 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Johanna Antoinette	Netherlands	The three-masted schooner was lost off Cardigan, United Kingdom. Her crew were rescued by John Stuart ( Royal National Lifeboat Institution).[30]
Saladin	Netherlands	The two-masted schooner was wrecked at Cardigan.[30]

23 November

List of shipwrecks: 23 November 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Foscolo	Kingdom of Italy	The 452-ton ship from Naples struck the Seven Stones Reef while bound from Montevideo for Dundee with scrap iron and bones. She managed to reach Crow Bar in the Isles of Scilly and sank in the shallows. She was later refloated.[5]

December

6 December

List of shipwrecks: 6 December 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Deutschland	Germany	The wreck of Deutschland. The Norddeutscher Lloyd steamship was wrecked on Kentish Knock sandbank with the loss of 78 lives.

14 December

List of shipwrecks: 14 December 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Gitana	United Kingdom	The steamship was wrecked near the Vinga Lighthouse, Sweden. She was on a voyage from West Hartlepool, County Durham to Gothenburg, Sweden.[31]

16 December

List of shipwrecks: 16 December 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Alice Gray	United States	The steamboat sank in the Missouri River at Rocheport, Missouri, after her boiler exploded.[32]

22 December

List of shipwrecks: 22 December 1875

Ship	Country	Description
HMS Goliath	Royal Navy	The Vanguard-class ship of the line, in use as a pauper training ship for workhouse boys, was destroyed by fire at Grays, Essex, England.[33] Of the approximately 500 on board, 23 of the boys were killed.
Jenny	Russia	The barque was driven ashore and wrecked at Pilton, Devon, United Kingdom and was wrecked. Her crew survived. She was on a voyage from Pensacola, Florida, United States to Bristol, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom.[1]

26 December

List of shipwrecks: 26 December 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Lady of the Lake	New Zealand	The 60-ton steamer struck a reef at the northern end of The Catlins, New Zealand, while en route from Dunedin to Port Molyneux, and became a total wreck. The crew abandoned ship in the longboat and made landfall near the mouth of the Catlins River.[28]

29 December

List of shipwrecks: 29 December 1875

Ship	Country	Description
Urania	United States	The 80-ton schooner departed Kodiak, Territory of Alaska, bound for San Francisco, California, with 13 people and a cargo of furs aboard and disappeared without trace.[34]

Unknown date

List of shipwrecks: Unknown date 1875

Ship	Country	Description
A. C. Bird	United States	The steamboat sank in the Missouri River at Liberty Landing, below the mouth of the Kansas River, apparently in 1875.[35]
Blonde	New Zealand	The 14-ton cutter left Tauranga with a cargo of coal for Auckland with two crew in mid-September. Her hulk was discovered floating close to Kennedy Bay on 16 October.[28]
Comet	United States	The 350-ton barque left Port Chalmers, New Zealand, on 27 February bound for Hobart, Tasmania with a 13-man crew, and was not seen again.[10]
Cora	Unknown	The schooner was lost in the vicinity of "Squan Beach," a term used at the time for the coast of New Jersey near Manasquan and sometimes for the 7-mile (11 km) stretch of coast between Manasquan Inlet and Cranberry Inlet or for the entire coast of New Jersey between Sea Girt and Barnegat Inlet.[36]
Dunbrody	United Kingdom	The barque foundered off Labrador, Canada.
Eleanor	New Zealand	The cutter struck rocks while trying to enter the Pleasant River near Palmerston, New Zealand, sometime in the middle of 1875, and was wrecked. All hands survived.[16]
M. J. Forsha	Unknown	The sloop was lost in the vicinity of "Squan Beach," a term used at the time for the coast of New Jersey near Manasquan and sometimes for the 7-mile (11 km) stretch of coast between Manasquan Inlet and Cranberry Inlet or for the entire coast of New Jersey between Sea Girt and Barnegat Inlet.[36]
The Queen	Unknown	The steamer was lost in the vicinity of "Squan Beach," a term used at the time for the coast of New Jersey near Manasquan and sometimes for the 7-mile (11 km) stretch of coast between Manasquan Inlet and Cranberry Inlet or for the entire coast of New Jersey between Sea Girt and Barnegat Inlet.[36]
Thomas Fletcher	Unknown	The barque was lost in the vicinity of "Squan Beach," a term used at the time for the coast of New Jersey near Manasquan and sometimes for the 7-mile (11 km) stretch of coast between Manasquan Inlet and Cranberry Inlet or for the entire coast of New Jersey between Sea Girt and Barnegat Inlet.[36]

References

Notes

1. Tovey, Ron. "A Chronology of Bristol Channel Shipwrecks" (PDF). Swansea Docks. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 December 2014. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
2. njscuba.net Mediator
3. Barnegat Inlet to Little Egg Inlet, June 1999, p. A-2.
4. "Historical List of Shipwrecks at Chesil Beach & from Bridport to Lyme Regis". Burton Bradstock Online. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
5. Larn, Richard (1992). The Shipwrecks of the Isles of Scilly. Nairn: Thomas & Lochar. ISBN 0-946537-84-4.
6. Ingram & Wheatley, p. 196.
7. "1875".
8. YvesDufiel (2008). Dictionnaire des naufrages dans la Manche.
9. "Wrecks of the _Havre_, off Guernsey". The Times. 17 February 1875. p. 5d.
10. Ingram & Wheatley, p. 197.
11. "Joseph Straker". Shipping & Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
12. "Museum News". Scilly Up To Date. April 1999. Archived from the original on 8 October 2011. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
13. Ingram & Wheatley, p. 198.
14. Ingram & Wheatley, p. 199.
15. Inquiry into the shipwreck of Geffrard . Busselton, Western Australia: Court of Inquiry. 1875 – via Wikisource.
16. Ingram & Wheatley, p. 200.
17. dawlishchronicles.blogspot.com The ramming of the Forfait by the Jeanne d’Arc, 1875
18. Ingram & Wheatley, pp. 199–200.
19. Poole Museum Society Blog: The Fate of the Mistletoe
20. "Cargo ship Edith 1870". tynebuiltships.co.uk. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
21. "Annual report of the United States Life Saving Service, Year ending June 30, 1877". University of Michigan. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
22. Ingram & Wheatley, pp. 200–201.
23. alaskashipwreck.com Alaska Shipwrecks (S)
24. "Annual report of the United States Life Saving Service, Year ending June 30, 1876". University of Michigan. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
25. Ingram & Wheatley, p. 201.
26. Ingram & Wheatley, pp. 201–202.
27. "Belgian Merchant H-O" (PDF). Belgische Koopvaardij. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
28. Ingram & Wheatley, p. 202.
29. Gardiner, Robert, ed., Conway′s All the World′s Fighting Ships 1860-1905, New York: Mayflower Books, 1979, ISBN 0-8317-0302-4, p. 287.
30. "Cardigan & District Shipwrecks and Lifeboat Service". Glen Johnson. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
31. "Gitana". Tynebuilt. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
32. Martin, George W., ed., Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society 1905–1906, Volume 9, Topeka, Kansas: State Printing Office, 1906, p. 297.
33. The Times (London), Thursday, 23 December 1875, p.5
34. alaskashipwreck.com Alaska Shipwrecks (U)
35. Martin, George W., ed., Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society 1905–1906, Volume 9, Topeka, Kansas: State Printing Office, 1906, p. 297.
36. njscuba.net "Lavallette Wreck"

Bibliography

• Ingram, C. W. N., and Wheatley, P. O., (1936) Shipwrecks: New Zealand disasters 1795–1936. Dunedin, NZ: Dunedin Book Publishing Association.

Ship events in 1875
Ship launches:	1870	1871	1872	1873	1874	1875	1876	1877	1878	1879	1880
Ship commissionings:	1870	1871	1872	1873	1874	1875	1876	1877	1878	1879	1880
Ship decommissionings:	1870	1871	1872	1873	1874	1875	1876	1877	1878	1879	1880
Shipwrecks:	1870	1871	1872	1873	1874	1875	1876	1877	1878	1879	1880