Maritime record MWX5206 - Systrarne (Istrarne)

A Swedish brig that sank after a collision off Burton Bradstock in 1837.

A brig that sank after a collision off Burton Bradstock, Dorset County Museum has a traverse board from this wreck Cargo Iron, oil, coal tar. (1) `The SYSTAIRE, Halberg, from Stockholm to Batavia, is on shore a little to the eastward of this port [Bridport], having been run foul of last night by an English brig; she is totally de-masted, and will be a complete wreck; the master, first and second mates saved; four of the crew jumped on board the brig. (2) A steward from the wreck, thought to be 20 years of age, named Olaff Bjorkholm, of Stockholm, was buried on 24- NOV-1837 in Burton Bradstock churchyard. `This vessel was run foul of by a brig which left her bulwarks smashed in, masts carried away, waterlogged and drifting. Steward and three others swam for the shore, but the steward drowned. (3) (3) gives the name as ISTRARNE, probably based on a mis reading of the entry in Burton Bradstock Parish register see "Traverse board from the sailing ship Systrarne and the Swedish connection", M S Ross 2004 Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 126 p141-144 Additional sources cited in Shipwreck Index of the British Isles: Burton Bradstock Burial Register 1837; D.CRO., John Thomas Elliot's Diary The building date for this vessel is an estimate based on an average age at wrecking of twenty years. This average is derived from those vessels wrecked on the Dorset coast whose age at wrecking is known.

Record last edited

Feb 22 2024 2:02PM