Maritime record MWX2065 - Halsewell

1786 wreck of an English East Indiaman which stranded east of Winspit. A wooden sailing vessel built on the Thames in 1778 which was en route from London and Gravesend for Bengal carrying soldiers and passengers and a cargo of silver coins.

Built: 1778 Builder: Wells Where Built: River Thames Armament: 26 cannon Master: Thomas Pierce Crew: 99 Passengers: 141 Lives Lost: 166; 167 (3); 127 (13) Date of Loss Qualifier: A On New Years day the HALSWELL left Gravesend bound for Bengal. By the 2nd she was becalmed off Dunnose, the south-eastern point of the Isle of Wight. With deteriorating weather conditions she anchored overnight, however by the morning of the 3rd the wind had increased to gale force and she was dragging her anchors which were cut away as she was being driven ashore. By noon the weather had moderated and her pilot was dropped off and she headed down the channel, but by that evening it was blowing a southerly gale. She was taking in water through the gun deck and hawse holes as well as springing a leak, there were now five feet of water in her holds. By morning this had risen to seven and she was in danger of capsizing so the mizzen and main masts were cut away but five men were killed and with worsening weather and sleet and snow she was too inshore and efforts to turn west were in vain. The small anchor was lowered and then the sheet anchor but after a short period the HALSWELL was driven ashore at 2am on the 6th. She was smashed down on the rocks with her hull splitting and forcing her broadside, and eventually broke up. A number of people managed to find sanctuary in a cave and were eventually rescued by quarrymen lowering ropes over 100 feet to the cave. (18) `On the 4th, 5th and 6th of January a remarkable snow storm with wind at south, sometimes a hurricane. At 2 in the morning the HALSEWELL was lost on the rocks between Seacombe and Winspit Quarries in the parish of Worth. Never did happen so a complete wreck. The ship long before daybreak was shattered to pieces, a very small part of her cargo saved. It proved fatal to 166 persons, amongst them the captain, two of his daughters and five other young ladies. Eighty-two men, by the exertion and humanity of the inhabitants, were saved. The East India Co., to reward such merit, sent 100 guineas to be distributed among them. The dead were buried in Seacombe Bottom and their graves marked by guns recovered from the ship, but these had disappeared within 50 years. (2)(3) The HALSEWELL cut away her main and mizzen masts in a storm with drifts of snow between the Lizard and Start Points. They were making for Portsmouth with jury masts when the southerly storm forced them ashore between St. Albans and Riverly [sic] Point. The captain, 6 ladies and some 160 sailors and soldiers were lost, 5 officers, 4 sailors and 25 soldiers were saved. (3) To be sold at auction: copper, lead, anchors, cordage etc from the wreck of the HALSEWELL East Indiaman lately lost near St Albans. (12) `The HALSWELL, Pierce, from London to the East Indies, was lost on Thursday night last off Purbeck near St. Albans Head; the captain and 126 people perished. (13) Vessels name also spelt HALSWELL in the departure list from the Downs in a previous issue of Lloyds List. (14) The actual position of her sinking was not, as popularly thought, at the mouth of a large but shallow cave 50 yards or so west of Salcombe. Her remains lie much nearer Winspit, on a spot 400 yards to the east of there (100 yards east of the last of a series of quarried caves on a terrace half-way up the cliff). The place has an appropriate local name of Halsewell Cliff, and a large rock at the base of the cliff Halsewell Rock. The wreck was first discovered in the 1960s and the results of the investigations can be seen in the County Museum at Dorchester, including copper nails, rudder pintle and musket locks. No thorough search of the seabed was carried out or any maps drawn of the area. However traces of the wreck extend for at least a hundred yards along the base of the cliff and up to 50 yards out to sea. Conditions on the site are good in calm weather with depths ranging from almost zero to 7 metres and almost no current on the flood and a weakish west-flowing current on the ebb. The seabed is very variable, with rocks, gravel patches and bed rock all evident in places along with thick kelp. An iron cannon is wedged beneath a rock and extensive layers of concretion from where the artefacts were taken and lead shot lying around the site. (7)(8) Wrecked upon rocks very close to Seacombe, between Peveril Point and St. Albans Head about three leagues from Portland. Position given is that of Seacombe Cliff, (50 35.40N, 002 01.00 W). (1) The wreck has been extensively salvaged by divers since 1967, and a number of museums in Dorset and elsewhere display artefacts. Wreckage lies in 30 feet depth. (2)(3) The wreck became the pilot for the Adopt a Wreck Scheme initiative in January 2000. It was adopted be two groups of divers, the Halsewell Archaeological Group and Seadart. Following two seasons of work on the site many items have been recovered including coins, jewellery, bottles and furniture. A sample of the finds has been donated to the There is now very little evidence of the wreck, which is covered by shingle over bedrock, the site was extensively dived in the 1960s.(18)(19) This wreck is referred to in an account of the loss of the CATHERINE which was lost in 1795. `As the CATHARINE Transport, on the sixteenth, sailed within sight of the Isle of Purbeck, Lieutenant Jennet, destined so soon afterwards to share the same fate, pointed out to another person the rocks where the HALSEWELL, with her captain, his two daughters, several other young ladies, and all, but about seventy of her crew, perished - and he seemed greatly affected in relating the circumstances of their melancholy destiny. Ah! Wretched mortals, ever blind to fate!. (Taken from Ann. Register, Account of an Eyewitness; Smith (Charlotte), Narrative of the Loss, andamp;c. Lond. 1796.) (Found under the heading of `Details of a few shipwrecks on this website) (21) A cannon ball reported to be from this wreck. (Droit A/012). (15) A wooden Brown Bess musket butt with brass pad and spherical shot along with cutlery and various small brass items reported from this wreck. (Droit A/095). (15) A pistol shot, lead musket shot and a bronze nail recovered from this site. (Droit A/1091). (15) A holder, 2 taps, a handle, 2 ramrod guides, 4 buttons, 1 navigation rule, miscellaneous jewellery and various other items recovered from this wreck. (Droit A/2486). (15) A trigger guard, a ramrod guide, 4 silver coins (Spanish 8 reales), and 23 iron grape shot recovered from this wreck. (Droit A/3214) (15) Knobs/handles, padlocks, shot, 4 silver coins and various bits recovered from this wreck. (Droit A/3278). (15) A portion of rudder, approx. 50lb, recovered from a wreck assumed to be the HALSEWELL, Winspit Quarry, and deposited in Dorchester Museum. (Droit A/3604). (15) 2 pillar dollars, 6 buttons and 3 unidentified items recovered from this wreck. (Droit A/4198). (15) A wooden sheath, 4 coat hooks, 5 trigger guards, 13 drawer handles, 63 nails and 7 pistol ramrod pipes recovered from this wreck, position 50 35.06N 002 01.45W. (Droit A/4245). (15) A length of ships timber and treenails recovered from this wreck off Dorset. (Droit A/4527). (15) A trigger guard along with nails, eight silver Real coins, two cannon balls, a brass plate and furniture fittings were recovered from this site, 3 miles west of Swanage lighthouse.(Droit 112/01) (16) Trigger guards, copper nails, musket shot, a silver fork and furniture fittings were recovered from this site.(Droit 176/01). (16) Sixteen copper nails have been recovered from this site.(Droit 189/01). (16) Some printing type (71 pieces), a keyhole and a small silver buckle recovered from the site off Seacombe.(Droit 071/02). (16) Additi The Mariners Chronicle, 1804-1806, Col Archibald Duncan Universal Register January 1786 Circumstantial Narrative of the loss of the Halsewell., East Indiaman, Capt. Richard Pierce, which was unfortunately cast away at Seacombe, in the Isle of Purbeck, H, Merton 1791 A true and particular account of the Loss of the Halsewell Loss of the Halsewell East-Indiaman, Captain Richard Price, which was unfortunately wrecked at Seacombe, Isle of Purbeck. London 1786 (1-51). Some material from the wreck is on display in the County Museum, Dorchester (52) as is the 'Wreck Archive' (53). Gross tonnage

Record last edited

Mar 31 2024 6:39PM