List of shipwrecks in 1885

The list of shipwrecks in 1885 includes ships sunk, foundered, grounded, or otherwise lost during 1885.

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

1885
Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr
May	Jun	Jul	Aug
Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Unknown date
References

January

3 January

List of shipwrecks: 3 January 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Mary Celeste	United States	The brigantine was deliberately wrecked on the Rochelois Bank, off Gonâve Island, Haiti.

8 January

List of shipwrecks: 8 January 1885

Ship	Country	Description
René	France	The barque struck the Helwick Bank, in the Bristol Channel and subsequently drove ashore at Overton, Glamorgan, United Kingdom with the loss of four of her nine crew. She was on a voyage from Cardiff, Glamorgan to Arcachon, Gironde.[1]

15 January

List of shipwrecks: 15 January 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Admiral Moorsom	United Kingdom	The passenger paddle steamer collided with Santa Clara (flag unknown) and sank in the Irish Sea off Arklow, Ireland.

25 January

List of shipwrecks: 25 January 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Elise	Belgium	The steamer ran aground at Killard Point, Ballyhornan, Ireland, and was wrecked.[2]

February

1 February

List of shipwrecks: 1 February 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Petrellen	Norway	After the new Penzance lifeboat Dora ( Royal National Lifeboat Institution) on the lifeboat′s first "shout" (rescue) took her crew off on 31 January and left her riding at anchor in ballast at Long Rock, the Porsgrunn barquentine beached near Chyandour, Mount's Bay, Cornwall, England.[3][4][5]

15 February

List of shipwrecks: 15 February 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Teng Ch'ing	Imperial Chinese Navy	Sino-French War, Battle of Shipu: The sloop-of-war was sunk in Shipu Bay near Ningbo, China, by spar torpedoes employed by two torpedo boats from the ironclad Bayard ( French Navy).[6]
Yuyuen	Imperial Chinese Navy	French Navy torpedo boat attacking Yuyuen. Sino-French War, Battle of Shipu: The frigate was sunk in Shipu Bay near Ningbo, China, by spar torpedoes employed by two torpedo boats from the ironclad Bayard ( French Navy).[7]

16 February

List of shipwrecks: 16 February 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Holmhurst	United Kingdom	The cargo ship collided with Westerland ( Belgium) and foundered 7 nautical miles (13 km) south of the Eddystone Lighthouse with the loss of four of her crew.[8]

March

4 March

List of shipwrecks: 4 March 1885

Ship	Country	Description
River Lagan	United Kingdom	The barque was wrecked on Islas Año Nuevo, Argentina. Her eighteen crew survived.[9]

5 March

List of shipwrecks: 5 March 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Tonquin	France	The ocean liner, chartered to the French Government as a troop transport, sank off Málaga, Spain, after colliding with another French steamer. The master and 23 of the crew drowned.[10][11]

13 March

List of shipwrecks: 13 March 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Kate	Isle of Man	The fishing lugger – registered in Peel, Isle of Man, owned by John Tear and others, and crewed by Scotsmen, the majority of them from Skye and unable to speak English – left Peel on the evening of 12 March heading to Kinsale, Ireland, to fish there, but sometime during the night collided with the steamer Caledonian ( United Kingdom – apparently bound for Silloth in Cumbria, England – some miles west of the Calf of Man. The force of the collision was so great that Kate sank in a few minutes, carrying down with her four of her crew. The remainder were picked up by Caledonian and landed at Silloth.[12]

28 March

List of shipwrecks: 28 March 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Nan B	United States	The 25.30-ton schooner sank sprang a leak while taking on ballast during a gale on the southeast point of Chernaburna Island (renamed Cherni Island in 1936) in the Gulf of Alaska off the Alaska Peninsula and sank. Her crew of three survived.[13]

Unknown date

List of shipwrecks: Unknown date 1885

Ship	Country	Description
No. 45	French Navy	The torpedo boat sank in a storm.[14]

April

14 April

List of shipwrecks: 14 April 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Rainbow	United States	The whaling bark was crushed by ice off the Bering Sea coast of the Russian Empire near Cape Navarin (62.2778°N 179.0961°E / 62.2778; 179.0961 (Cape Chiniak)) and sank in 20 minutes.[15]

15 April

List of shipwrecks: 15 April 1885

Ship	Country	Description
J. R. Jolley	United States	The steamer sank while tied up to the bank in Big Bayou Jessie. Two crew killed.[16]

17 April

List of shipwrecks: 17 April 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Ransome	United Kingdom	The 85-ton steamer hit the Low Lee rocks off Mousehole, Cornwall, England. With pumps working on full, she sank just a few metres short of Penzance harbour, her captain′s home town. Within six days bad weather had destroyed the wreck.[4]

23 April

List of shipwrecks: 23 April 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Charles George	United Kingdom	The 193-ton brigantine – owned by Charles Odell – collided with the 2,983-ton P&O liner Cathay ( United Kingdom) at 2:50 a.m. in the English Channel off Beachy Head, Sussex, England. She sank within four minutes with the loss of her captain William Thomas Odell (Charles Odell's brother), William Penn Odell (son of William Thomas Odell), crew members Henry Woodford and Ernest Adams, and a passenger, John Kearley; all the dead were from Newport, Isle of Wight. Three men were rescued; Fred Churchill of Sandown swam to Cathay and was picked up, James Wallace of Cowes and Henry Jennings of Landport were rescued by boats from Cathay.[17]

Unknown date

List of shipwrecks: Unknown date 1885

Ship	Country	Description
No. 46	French Navy	The torpedo boat foundered while under tow.[14]

May

8 May

List of shipwrecks: 8 May 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Helvetia	Belgium	The steamer sank in the Atlantic Ocean near Scatarie Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.[2]

June

8 June

List of shipwrecks: 8 June 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Earl of Lonsdale	United Kingdom	The Newcastle ship was carrying cotton seed from Alexandria, Egypt, to Portishead, Somerset, England, and was wrecked in Smith Sound, off the Troy Town maze, St Agnes, Isles of Scilly, in thick fog.[18][19] The master had thought his ship was to the west of, and ten miles south of, the Bishop Rock in the Isles of Scilly.[20]

11 June

List of shipwrecks: 11 June 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Montana	United States	Carrying 73 passengers, a cargo of 500 tons of general merchandise, and a crew of 23, the 628-gross register ton bark was wrecked without loss of life on the Nushagak River in the Territory of Alaska due to an error by her pilot.[21]

25 June

List of shipwrecks: 25 June 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Conqueror	United Kingdom	The barquentine collided with Alert ( United Kingdom) and sank in the Firth of Clyde 8 nautical miles (15 km) north north west of Sanda Island. She was on a voyage from Ardrossan, Ayrshire to Dublin.[22]

Unknown date

List of shipwrecks: Unknown date in June 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Renard	French Navy	The sloop-of-war was wrecked off Aden.[23]
Slieve More	United Kingdom	The full-rigged ship was destroyed by fire in the Indian Ocean.[24]

July

20 July

List of shipwrecks: 22 July 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Cheerful		The steamer sank 19 miles (31 km) north northwest of St Ives, Cornwall, UK. A mineral, abhurite, formed from the reaction between seawater and the cargo of tin ingot, has been found on the wreck.[25][26]

22 July

List of shipwrecks: 22 July 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Unidentified schooner		The yawl Zephyr launched to the aid of a stranded schooner on the Lower Barber Sand by the crew of the Caister Lifeboat resulting in the loss of eight out of the fifteen crew.

23 July

List of shipwrecks: 23 July 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Corisco	United Kingdom	The Elder Dempster 1,856-grt passenger-cargo ship was wrecked at the mouth of the River Cess in Liberia.[27]

August

10 August

List of shipwrecks: 10 August 1885

Ship	Country	Description
George and Susan	United States	During a gale, the 343-ton whaling bark dragged her anchor, collided with the whaling bark Mabel ( United States), and was driven ashore and wrecked at Wainwright Inlet on the Chukchi Sea coast of the Territory of Alaska. The revenue cutter USRC Thomas Corwin ( United States Revenue-Marine) rescued all but three members of the crews of George and Susan and Mabel.[28]
Mabel	United States	After the whaling bark George and Susan ( United States) dragged her anchor during a gale and collided with Mabel – a 188-ton whaling bark with 35 crewmen aboard – Mabel also dragged her anchor and was driven ashore and wrecked at Wainwright Inlet on the Chukchi Sea coast of the Territory of Alaska. The revenue cutter USRC Thomas Corwin ( United States Revenue-Marine) rescued all but three members of the crews of George and Susan and Mabel.[21]

15 August

List of shipwrecks: 15 August 1885

Ship	Country	Description
City of Manatee	United States	The vessel sank off Pickens Point, Pensacola, Florida.[29]

September

16 September

List of shipwrecks: 16 September 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Unknown	United States	The wrecking schooner was sunk in a collision with Tug Fanny P. Sheer ( United States) in the Harbor of New York City. two crewmen reported missing.[30]

17 September

List of shipwrecks: 17 September 1885

Ship	Country	Description
"Orient"	United States	The Barge, under tow of Ranger ( United States), lost her towline off the Bar at Galveston, Texas, went ashore and was wrecked. Five crew died.[31]

29 September

List of shipwrecks: 29 September 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Elizabeth Graham	United Kingdom	The London barque grounded on the Seven Stones Reef between Cornwall, England, and the Isles of Scilly. She later was refloated.[20]

Unknown date

List of shipwrecks: Unknown date 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Sweepstakes	Canada	The wreck of Sweepstakes on 30 May 2009 The schooner sank at Big Tub Harbour, Tobermory, Ontario following damage sustained at Cove Island in August 1885.

October

6 October

List of shipwrecks: 6 October 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Amethyst	United States	The 356.2-ton, 102-foot (31.1 m) whaling bark was last sighted in the Bering Sea north of Saint Lawrence Island bound for San Francisco, California. She was never heard from again. Her wreck was discovered on Castle Rock in the Territory of Alaska′s Shumagin Islands in September 1887, but the bodies of the 43 men who had been aboard – her crew of 38 and five survivors of the whaling bark Rainbow ( United States), which had been crushed by ice in the Arctic Ocean off Russia on 14 April 1885 – were never found.[32][15]

November

1 November

List of shipwrecks: 1 November 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Frank Moffatt	United States	The Tow steamer's boiler exploded at Sombra, Ontario and she was wrecked, sinking in the Saint Clair River. Her engine salvaged 1 December and the wreck was blown up with Dynamite. Wreckage removed by Canadian Government in 1888. Five crewmen died.[33][34]
Unknown	United States	The steam Dredge, under tow of C. C. Wait ( United States), sank, possibly from a boiler explosion, between New York City and Providence, Rhode Island. Lost with all 5 or 6 hands.[35]

6 November

List of shipwrecks: 6 November 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Mountain Girl	United States	The steamer sank in a collision with James W. Gaff ( United States) in the Ohio River 2 1/2 miles above Rising Sun, Indiana. Two passengers died.[36]

7 November

List of shipwrecks: 7 November 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Algoma	Canada	The wreck of Algoma The steamer was wrecked in Lake Superior off Isle Royale, Michigan, United States, with the loss of 46 lives.[37]

8 November

List of shipwrecks: 8 November 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Brooklyn	United Kingdom	The steamer was wrecked on Anticosti Island, Quebec, Canada, with no loss of life.[38]

18 November

List of shipwrecks: 18 November 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Malta	United Kingdom	The ship was wrecked near Sandy Hook, New Jersey, United States.[39]

21 November

List of shipwrecks: 21 November 1885

Ship	Country	Description
"Atlantic"	United States	The steamer burned and sank in the Ohio River near Neville, Ohio. Her Fireman died.[40]
Iberian	United Kingdom	The cargo ship ran aground and was wrecked on the south coast of Ireland.[41]

22 November

List of shipwrecks: 22 November 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Mary	United States	The 18.26-ton, 48.4-foot (14.8 m) sloop dragged her anchors during a gale and was wrecked at Point Retreat (58°24′45″N 134°57′15″W), the northernmost point on Admiralty Island in the Alexander Archipelago in Southeast Alaska. Her entire crew of three survived.[21]

23 November

List of shipwrecks: 23 November 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Cornelius Grinnell	United States	The barge, under tow by the tug America ( United States), was cut loose in a storm 5 nautical miles (9.3 km; 5.8 mi) below Highland Light off Cape Cod, Massachusetts. She and her entire crew of three were assumed to be lost.[42]

24 November

List of shipwrecks: 24 November 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Malta	United States	The 1,600-ton iron-hulled sailing ship — a former steamer — was wrecked 100 yards (91 m) off Belmar, New Jersey, during a storm with the loss of one life. There were 23 survivors. Her wreck sank in 20 feet (6.1 m) of water.[43]

26 November

List of shipwrecks: 26 November 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Emma Graham	United States	The steamer sank at Ripley Landing on the Ohio River below Parkersburg, West Virginia. Her fireman died.[44]

December

4 December

List of shipwrecks: 4 December 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Wakefield	United Kingdom	The passenger-cargo ship collided with the passenger-cargo ship Chester ( United Kingdom) and sank. Her stewardess drowned.[20]

5 December

List of shipwrecks: 5 December 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Dorie Emory	United States	The Tug's boiler exploded off fifty-Seventh Street in the North River. All 4 crew killed.[45]

14 December

List of shipwrecks: 14 December 1885

Ship	Country	Description
"George Franklin"	United States	The Lighter, under tow of Star ( United States), sank 3/4 mile east south east of Robbin's Reef. Her Captain drowned.[46]

17 December

List of shipwrecks: 17 December 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Sussex	United Kingdom	The cargo ship was stranded on Seal Rock in the Isles of Scilly near the Maiden Bower while travelling at normal cruising speed in heavy fog. Her crew abandoned ship safely, and she broke up in heavy seas during the night of 4–5 January 1886.[20]

23 December

List of shipwrecks: 23 December 1885

Ship	Country	Description
West Jersey	United States	The Ferry Boat, under tow of F. W. Vosburg ( United States), sank 15-18 miles north of Barnegat, New Jersey. Her Captain died.[47]

30 December

List of shipwrecks: 30 December 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Unidentified cutter	United Kingdom	A local cutter capsized off Yellow Ledges in the Isles of Scilly with the loss of one life while on her way to the assist the stranded steamer Sussex ( United Kingdom) at Seal Rock.

Unknown date

List of shipwrecks: Unknown date 1885

Ship	Country	Description
Aggie	United States	The steamboat sank in the Missouri River at Kansas City, Kansas.[48]
Alaska	United States	The 138-ton two-masted schooner was lost in the Bering Sea.[32]
Gale	United States	The 273-ton whaling bark was lost at Saint Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea.[28]
J.W.J.	United Kingdom	The pilot vessel collided with Sea Fisher ( United Kingdom) in the Bristol Channel and sank. Sea Fisher rescued her four crew members.[1]
Napoleon	United States	The 306-ton bark was lost in the Bering Sea.[13]
Peacedale	Unknown	The schooner was lost at Ocean Grove, New Jersey.[49]
Rainier	United States	The 51.55-ton bark was lost in the Arctic.[15]
Red Jacket	Portugal	The clipper ship was driven ashore at the Madeira Islands in the Atlantic Ocean in a gale.[50]

References

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. "Belgian Merchant A-G" (PDF). Belgische Koopvaardij. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
3. Leonard, Alan (2008). "Profiting from Shipwrecks". Picture Postcard Annual: 14–16.
4. Larn, R. and Larn, B. (1991) Shipwrecks around Mounts Bay. Penryn: Tor Mark Press.
5. Corin, J and Farr, G (1983) Penlee Lifeboat. Penzance: The Penlee and Penzance Branch of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
6. Chesneau, Roger, and Eugene M. Kolesnik, Conway′s All the World′s Fighting Ships, 1860-1905, New York: Mayflower Books, 1979, ISBN 0-8317-0302-4, p. 399.
7. Chesneau, Roger, and Eugene M. Kolesnik, Conway′s All the World′s Fighting Ships, 1860-1905, New York: Mayflower Books, 1979, ISBN 0-8317-0302-4, p. 395.
8. "Holmhurst". The Yard. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
9. "River Lagan". The Yard. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
10. Gibbs, C. R. Vernon (1957). Passenger Liners of the Western Ocean: A Record of Atlantic Steam and Motor Passenger Vessels from 1838 to the Present Day. John De Graff.
11. "Fatal Collision at Sea". Manchester Times (1443). Manchester. 7 March 1885. p. 5.
12. Isle of Man Examiner, Saturday March 21, 1885, page 5
13. alaskashipwreck.com Alaska Shipwrecks (N)
14. Chesneau, Roger, and Eugene M. Kolesnik, Conway′s All the World′s Fighting Ships, 1860-1905, New York: Mayflower Books, 1979, ISBN 0-8317-0302-4, p. 331.
15. alaskashipwreck.com Alaska Shipwrecks (R)
16. "Annual report of the Supervising Inspector-general Steamboat-inspection Service, Year ending June 30, 1885". Columbia University. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
17. "Charles George". Clyde Built Ships database. Archived from the original on 2006-05-16.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
18. Noall, Cyril (1968). Cornish Lights and Ship-Wrecks. Truro: D Bradford Barton.
19. Ratcliffe, J (1989). The Archaeology of Scilly. Truro: Cornwall Archaeological Unit.
20. Larn, Richard (1992). The Shipwrecks of the Isles of Scilly. Nairn: Thomas & Lochar. ISBN 0-946537-84-4.
21. alaskashipwreck.com Alaska Shipwrecks (M)
22. "Conqueror". Caledonian Maritime Heritage Trust. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
23. Chesneau, Roger, and Eugene M. Kolesnik, Conway′s All the World′s Fighting Ships, 1860-1905, New York: Mayflower Books, 1979, ISBN 0-8317-0302-4, p. 321.].
24. "Slieve More". The Yard. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
25. Davis, Nicola (1 March 2017). "Minerals found in shipwreck and museum drawer 'show we are living in new epoch'". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
26. "SS Cheerful wreck site, St Ives District, Cornwall, England, UK". Mindat.org. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
27. "Loss of SS Corisco". Retrieved 4 September 2013.
28. alaskashipwreck.com Alaska Shipwrecks (G)
29. Singer, Stephen D. (1998) [1992]. Shipwrecks of Florida: A Comprehensive Listing (Second ed.). Sarasota, Florida: Pineapple Press. p. 30. ISBN 1-56164-163-4.
30. "Annual report of the Supervising Inspector-general Steamboat-inspection Service, Year ending June 30, 1886". Columbia University. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
31. "Annual report of the Supervising Inspector-general Steamboat-inspection Service, Year ending June 30, 1886". Columbia University. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
32. alaskashipwreck.com Alaska Shipwrecks (A)
33. "Annual report of the Supervising Inspector-general Steamboat-inspection Service, Year ending June 30, 1886". Columbia University. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
34. "Moffatt, Frank (1869) Tug (Towboat))". nemoha.org. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
35. "Annual report of the Supervising Inspector-general Steamboat-inspection Service, Year ending June 30, 1886". Columbia University. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
36. "Annual report of the Supervising Inspector-general Steamboat-inspection Service, Year ending June 30, 1886". Columbia University. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
37. "Algoma Shipwreck". Superior Shipwrecks. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
38. "Screw Steamer City of Brooklyn". clydeships.co.uk. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
39. "European & American Steam Shipping Company, 1857-1859". The Ships List. Retrieved 11 September 2019.
40. "Annual report of the Supervising Inspector-general Steamboat-inspection Service, Year ending June 30, 1886". Columbia University. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
41. "Iberian". The Yard. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
42. "Annual report of the Supervising Inspector-general Steamboat-inspection Service, Year ending June 30, 1886". Columbia University. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
43. njscuba.net Malta
44. "Annual report of the Supervising Inspector-general Steamboat-inspection Service, Year ending June 30, 1886". Columbia University. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
45. "Annual report of the Supervising Inspector-general Steamboat-inspection Service, Year ending June 30, 1886". Columbia University. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
46. "Annual report of the Supervising Inspector-general Steamboat-inspection Service, Year ending June 30, 1886". Columbia University. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
47. "Annual report of the Supervising Inspector-general Steamboat-inspection Service, Year ending June 30, 1886". Columbia University. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
48. Martin, George W., ed., Transactions of the Kansas State Historical Society 1905–1906, Volume 9, Topeka, Kansas: State Printing Office, 1906, p. 297.
49. njscuba.net "Lavallette Wreck"
50. Bruzelius, Lars (2001-02-23). "Sailing Ships: Red Jacket (1853)". Red Jacket. The Maritime History Virtual Archives. Retrieved April 19, 2010.

Ship events in 1885
Ship launches:	1880	1881	1882	1883	1884	1885	1886	1887	1888	1889	1890
Ship commissionings:	1880	1881	1882	1883	1884	1885	1886	1887	1888	1889	1890
Ship decommissionings:	1880	1881	1882	1883	1884	1885	1886	1887	1888	1889	1890
Shipwrecks:	1880	1881	1882	1883	1884	1885	1886	1887	1888	1889	1890