Wreck of the Brig Dispatch Londonderry-Quebec

Strabane Morning Post, Tuesday September 02, 1828

Brig Dispatch Captain William Lancaster, from Londonderry May 29th 1828 to Quebec - the survivors arrived at Halifax (from Port aux Basque, Newfoundland), aboard the HMS Tyne on July 26th 1828.

Acadian Recorder August 2nd 1828:— HMS Tyne - with 152 men, women and children (including 10 of the crew and the mate) saved from the brig Dispatch, bound from Londonderry to Quebec, wrecked off Newfoundland. \"The whole of these unfortunate people, we learn, were in comfortable circumstances, one of whom, a Scotchman, had property to the amount of £500 on board, and he is now left with a family of 13 children, entirely destitute; indeed all that any of them have saved are a few clothes which were washed on shore.\"

The Acadian Recorder and the Strabane Morning Post both record the ship-name as Dispatch, however, the brig Despatch, 187 gross tons, was built at Whitehaven by Thomas Kirk and was launched on the 28th February 1801. She was registered at Workington in 1828, the same year as her loss.

On July 10th 1828, Despatch ran aground on a reef three miles offshore from Isle aux Mort, near Port aux Basques. Attempts to launch a lifeboat ended when the captain and others were swamped by high waves and lost. Subsequent attempts by the crew were only partly successful. A few managed to make to safely on shore, and others on a nearby island while a few remained clinging to the shipwrecked vessel. Several lives were lost during the next two days. A gentleman named George Harvey, became aware of the wreck, and on July 13th, accompanied by his 17 yr-old daughter Ann and 12 yr-old son, rowed for two hours through heavy rain, surf and strong winds until they came upon the shipwrecked Despatch and its survivors. For the next three days, George and his two children risked their own lives to aid the survivors To honour their heroic efforts, the Governor of Newfoundland, Sir Thomas Cochrane, gave George Harvey £100 sterling and a gold medal.

Londonderry Journal Office Londonderry
Wednesday, August 27

Loss of the Brig Dispatch

The Following melancholy letter, detailing the loss of the above vessel, which sailed from this Port, bound for Quebec, with passengers, in May last, has been received by Marcus S. Hill, Esq. our collector:—

H M S Tyne, 26th July, 1828

Sir.— The accompanying list contains the names of 158 men, women, and children, exclusive of the mate and all the crew, 9 in number, who were saved from the wreck of the Dispatch, of Workington, commanded by the late William Lancaster, (drowned) which sailed from Derry, on the 29th May for Quebec—
The brig was wrecked on a rock, about eighteen miles to the eastward of Cape Ray, and distant from the Main three-fourths of a mile, on the evening of the 10th of July, and it was only by watching the occasional fall of the surf for a few hours each day; till the following Tuesday, that the mate and crew with two boats, and the assistance of a fisherman in a small boats 12 feet long, saved those in the accompanying list. The mate informs me that 200 passengers were said to be on board, though he thinks several infants were not reckoned, as their passage was not paid, and the crew, master included, were eleven in number.
Four men and ten children died on the rock from starvation, five children and one woman, died on the beach, four men perished in the woods, and one woman and one boy in the boats of this ship, whilst on their passage from the place of shipwreck. By a comparison of numbers, it appears that thirty-six at least were drowned; of that number two infants were washed from their mother\'s breast, whilst on the rock, and of one family, six were swept off after they obtained a footing.
I have taken the liberty of troubling you with the list, as from your situation at the port whence the vessel sailed, you will most propably have the readiest means of making the same known, and thus quieting the feelings of relatives and friends at once.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
R. Grant

To the Collector of Customs, Londonderry.

A list of Persons saved from the wreck of the Brig Dispatch of Workington, William Lancaster, late Master, and conveyed from Port aux Basque, Newfoundland, to Halifax, in His Majesty\'s Ship Tyne:—H

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