According to the American newspapers of 1894, the winter and spring storms of December 1893 to April 1894 proved to be one of the most disastrous for the United States, particularly the Cape Cod area, since 1860.[1] The eastern seaboard of the continent had already faced a fierce hurricane season in 1893 when over 2,000 people died.
The schooner was dismasted on 13 January in the gale of 12/13 January. On 18 January a can of kerosene caught fire and the vessel was burning rapidly, but it caught the attention of LeBretagne (France) who rescued them just in time, as all of her boats had washed overboard in the gale.[13]
The four-masted barque was last seen off Lundy, UK on 5 January while on voyage from Swansea to San Francisco. From 20 January to 5 February, wreckage from the ship washed up on the Cornish and Sussex coasts.[19][20]
The schooner was heavily damaged by huge waves in a severe gale while at anchor on the Quero Banks on 12 February. She drifted off in the storm. On 13 February the tanker Amsterdam (Netherlands) attempted to rescue her crew but lost a lifeboat and six crew and gave up the attempt. On 14 February Maggie E. Wells' crew was taken off by the schooner Magnolia (United States) and she was scuttled by burning about 40 miles (64 km) south east of Sable Island, Nova Scotia.[29][30]
The tug got hung up under her dock at South Street on the Delaware side opposite Philadelphia on a rising tide, filled and sank. Raised the next day.[16]
The schooner was carried ashore by an ice flow at Port au Bras, Newfoundland, the ice took her back off the beach and then put her back on it. Wreck later sold.[36]
Divers were working to salvage cargo from the wreck of the ship, which had exploded and sunk in the harbour of Santander, Spain in November 1893. 11 tonnes of dynamite in the flooded after hold of the wreck exploded, killing 18 people and injuring seven.[42]
Three-masted schooner loaded with ice blocks bound for Ocean City, Maryland from Boothbay, Maine. Captained by John P Burns of Camden, New Jersey. The ship was caught in a sudden gale on the night of 12 April and foundered on the shoals of Cape Cod. The fractured hull of the ship washed up north of Nauset Beach.[54] All six crew members perished including Captain Burns and his brothers on board the vessel.
The three-masted schooner carrying paving stones bound for New York Bay. The ship was first damaged on 10 April 1894, ship owner and captain Wesley T Ober decided that he could pilot the crippled ship and dock safely, denying aid. However, they were overtaken by the storm of 12 April. The survivors attempted to abandon the schooner in a lifeboat but did not reach land. The ship, meanwhile, had been driven by the storm onto Salisbury Beach, Massachusetts.[55] By 15 April, the crew was declared deceased after thorough searching. It is thought that the crew may have survived had they kept to the interior of the ship with the cargo. Three bodies and an overcoat belonging to the first mate were recovered; the lifeboat was recovered near Plum Island. Folklore dictates that the ship's cat was the only survivor. The story of the shipwrecks from 12 April and the previous weeks sparked national interest and thousands gathered to see the wreck of Jennie M Carter.[56] The paving stones were removed and sold at auction; some were used in Salisbury. The ship remains were considered unsalvageable and left to disintegrate on the beach where it became a well-known site. Some of the wooden frame could still be seen in 2013.
With 70 passengers and crew aboard, the steamer was struck a rock or reef in the Pacific Ocean off Point Sur on the coast of California, she drifted off and sank in 54 feet (16 m) of water. with the loss of about six lives. Some of her survivors reached shore, while others were rescued at sea by the steamer Eureka (flag unknown).[59][60][61][32]
The fishing schooner probably sank in a gale on the Georges Bank after communicating with another vessel earlier in the storm. Lost with all 13 hands.[63][64][65]
The steamer was holed by a raft of timber she was towing alongside wearing a hole through her side. She was beached on Beaver Island and settled in nine feet (2.7 m) of water in the Mississippi River near Clinton, Iowa. Raised and repaired.[10]
The steamer struck an obstruction and sank six miles (9.7 km) above the mouth of the Salt River. She was raised and beached on the Indiana side of the Ohio River opposite the mouth of the Salt River, but was a total loss.[10]
The 330-ton, 116.7-foot (35.6 m) whalingbark was wrecked on a rock in Seguam Pass on the east end of Amlia in the Aleutian Islands. One man stayed aboard James Allen and was lost. The rest of the crew abandoned ship in four lifeboats. One lifeboat carrying 15 crew members disappeared with the loss of all on board. Another, with eight men aboard, reached Atka Island, where the steamerDora (United States) picked up its occupants a week later. The other two lifeboats capsized with the loss of 10 men, but their survivors reached Umnak Island, where six more men died over the next two weeks. James Allen's captain and five crewman then made a one-week voyage to Unalaska on Unalaska Island in a small boat, after which the captain returned to Unmnak Island aboard the revenue cutterUSRC Bear (United States Revenue-Marine) two days later to rescue the nine survivors left behind there.[70]
The barque went aground on the Colorados Reefs, Cuba during a voyage from Pensacola, Florida for Lübeck, Germany with timber, and was abandoned. She was refloated by salvors and taken to Havana where condemned.[71][72] (She was previously wrecked as the steamship Tiber in May 1871, but subsequently rebuilt.)
The tow steamer struck a ledge of rock and sprung a leak just below the Louisville and Portland Canal and sank in 15 feet (4.6 m) of water in the Ohio River. Raised 23 July and taken to Louisville for repair.[10]
First Sino-Japanese War: Battle of the Yalu River: The armored cruiser exploded, capsized, and sank in the Yellow Sea off the mouth of the Yalu River with the loss of 263 lives during combat with Imperial Japanese Navy warships. Seven of her crew survived.
First Sino-Japanese War: Battle of the Yalu River: The dispatch vessel was badly damaged during combat with Imperial Japanese Navy warships in the Yellow Sea off the mouth of the Yalu River and was beached near Port Arthur, becoming a total loss.
First Sino-Japanese War: Battle of the Yalu River: The protected cruiser exploded and sank in the Yellow Sea off the mouth of the Yalu River with the loss of 245 lives during combat with Imperial Japanese Navy warships. Seven of her crew survived.
The steamer stranded on Eagle River Reef, or Sawtooth Reef, in dense smoke and fog off Keweenaw Point in Lake Superior. She broke in two during a storm on 25 September, a total loss.[87][96]
The schooner barge was under towin ballast along with the schooner barge Moonlight(United States), also in ballast, by the steamerCharles J. Kershaw on a voyage from Ashtabula, Ohio, to Marquette, Michigan, when Charles J. Kershaw′s steam engine broke down in Lake Huron off the coast of Michigan a few miles north of New Presque Isle Light. With a strong south wind pushing the two schooner barges toward Charles J. Kershaw, Moonlight′s crew cut Ironton′s tow line to free the two schooner barges from the steamer and prevent a collision. Ironton drifted into the path of the steamer Ohio, which collided with Ironton head-on and sank quickly. Ironton then drifted out of sight of ships rescuing Ohio′s crew and sank an hour after the collision. Her crew of seven tried to abandon ship in her yawl, but the yawl remained tied to Ironton, which pulled the yawl to the bottom when she sank. Ironton′s captain and four other crewmen drowned, leaving two survivors clinging to wreckage. The steamer Charles Hebard(United States) rescued the two men a few hours later.[97]
The vessel was cut in two in a collision with a foreign vessel in the Gulf of Mexico, between Cedar Key, Florida and Mobile, Alabama. Four crewmen killed.[41]
The passenger steamer was on a voyage from Auckland, New Zealand, to Australia when she hit a reef at the northern edge of Great Barrier Island, about 100 kilometres (54 nmi) from Auckland, and sank with the loss of about 140 lives. It remains one of the deadliest maritime disasters in New Zealand's history.
The steamer struck a reef off Centerville, Wisconsin in a heavy wind and snow storm. She was scuttled and abandoned, but pulled off a few days later.[87]
The steamer sprung a leak in the St. Johns River. When her helm was put hard over into a turn she careened, filled, and sank. Later raised. Two crewmen killed.[34]
^Jar Torre, Luis (November 2009). "Un Desastre a la Española". Revista General de Marina (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 September 2022 – via páginas personales de Juan Manuel Grijalvo.
^"Local Intelligence". South Wales Times and Star of Gwent. No. 2169, Vol.XXXVIII. Newport. 31 August 1894. p. 5. Retrieved 6 September 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ abChesneau, Roger, and Eugene M. Kolesnik, Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860-1905, New York: Mayflower Books, 1979, ISBN0-8317-0302-4, p. 358.].
^"1894". downtothesea.com. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
^"Brown, Fayette (1887, bulk freighter)". Alpena County George H. Fletcher Public Library northeast Michigan Oral History and Historic photographic archive. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
^"(No. 5012) ("DORUNDA S. S.")"(PDF). Board of Trade / Plimsoll ship data. Archived from the original on July 21, 2011. Retrieved 7 October 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
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