Jersey Shore Magazine

LEFT SIDE OF CABINET: Piece 9: Maple from the tug Titan, 1855 • Top piece on left side (looks like a railing) • Wrecked on Squan Beach, September 8, 1855 • According to Robert Jahn, the Titan was enroute to assist another stranded vessel along the coast, but the captain and crew imbibed too much rum as a storm formed, which crippled the steam tug. Captain Dorsett waded into the surf and rescued the tug's captain, who was suffering from exhaustion, and saved his life. Piece 10: White Pine from the ship John Minturn, 1846 • The two boards that comprise both the left and right sides of the cabinet • Wrecked on Squan Beach on February 15, 1846 about one mile south of Mantoloking during what is known today as the Minturn Storm, which caused at least sixteen vessels to sink. • The John Minturn, commanded by Captain Stark, was built in Westerly, Rhode Island in 1841 as a wood-hulled, ship-rigged sailing vessel. It was carrying a cargo of cotton, sugar, molasses, and various other items along with fifty-one passengers and crew when it left New Orleans on January 27, 1847 heading for New York. The ship picked up twenty additional seamen from the wreck of the Cherokee near Galveston, Texas. Although estimates vary, the official loss of life was recorded at fifty-one. Piece 14: Mahogany from the ship Powhattan, 1854 • Raised center piece on left side between the rosettes • Wrecked at Long Beach Island on the Absecon Bar, April 15, 1854 • The Powhattan was one of at least fifteen wrecked or hampered vessels during the severe gale of April 15, 1854 and was the worst of the day's casualties. All 311 people aboard were lost. • The Powhattan was built as a three-masted, ship-rigger sailer in Bath, Maine in 1835 and was commanded by Captain John Meyers. There was no knowledge of the loss of the Powhattan until bodies began to wash ashore north of the site where the vessel went down; a subsequent investigation resulted in the discovery of the sunken vessel. LEFT SIDE OF CABINET, TOP ROSETTE: Piece 11: White Pine from the ship Minerva, 1857 • Top piece (12:00 position) • Wrecked at Cranberry Inlet (opposite Toms River today) on April 20, 1857. All onboard, including fifteen crew and four passengers, survived. Piece 13: Walnut from the steamship Creole, 1868 • Right piece (4:00 position) • Wrecked on Squan Beach, March 17, 1868 (The Creole wrecked off Bay Head at the southern most jetty near the former site of The Bluff's Hotel. A wreck known locally by divers as "The Bluff's Wreck" is believed by many to be the Creole.) • The Creole was a brig-rigged, wooden-hulled steamship that was built in Mystic, Connecticut in 1862 and served the Union during the Civil War. It sailed from Havana, Cuba for New York on March 11, 1868 with a cargo of sugar. According to Lieb, at "The Bluff's Wreck" site, remnants of a boiler, engine, cylinders, propeller, and prop shaft, believed to be the Creole's, are still visible on the bottom of the ocean. Piece 8: Oak from the steamship Mediator, 1875 • Bottom piece (6:00 position) • Wrecked at N. Point of Barnegat Shoals, January 22, 1875 • The 207' steamer was stranded at 6:00 AM in heavy seas and fog on the North Point of Barnegat Shoals at Island Beach. It sank at noon in ten feet of water. The twenty-two officers and crew were saved. Piece 12: Walnut from the ship Ayrshire, 1850 (Also referred to in the historical records as Ayreshire or Ayershire.) • Left piece (8:00 position) • Wrecked on Squan Beach on January 12, 1850 opposite the Chadwick Lifesaving Station. • The Ayrshire was built as a wood-hulled, ship- rigged sailing vessel and was commanded by Captain J. P. McGlew. It sailed from Newry, Ireland for New York on December 26, 1849 with 201 onboard, including 166 Irish and English immigrants. • The Ayrshire is historically significant because it marks the first successful use of the Francis Lifecar, which was invented by Joseph Francis and used by the U.S. Life-Saving Service in direct response to the devastating loss of life during the Minturn Storm. The lifecar was a link between ship and shore and a maximum of eight people could lay, stacked like cord wood, inside its very small compartment. • The only loss of life was that of one German man who jumped on top of the lifecar as it departed the boat; he fell off, was swept out to sea, and never seen again. • It is believed that remains of the Ayrshire were unearthed in the fall of 2014 when workers were repairing a sea wall damaged by Superstorm Sandy in Normandy Beach. LEFT SIDE OF CABINET, BOTTOM ROSETTE: Piece 15: Beech from the bark William Enges, 1848 • Left piece (10:00 position) • Wrecked about one mile south of Squan Inlet (today's Manasquan Inlet) in 1848. Jahn dates the wreck to spring of that year, while Lieb's research dates it as July 7, 1848. Piece 16: Beech from the bark Fauvette, 1847 • Right piece (2:00 position) • Wrecked on Squan Beach about 5.5 miles south of Squan Inlet in 1847 Piece 17: Spruce from the bark Arion, 1852 • Bottom piece (6:00 position) • Wrecked at Cranberry Inlet, February 1852 RIGHT SIDE OF CABINET: Piece 19: Maple from the schooner Cora A. Lindsay, 1854 • Top piece on right side (looks like a railing) • Wrecked on Squan Beach, February of 1854 Piece 23: Mahogany from the ship New York, 1856 • Raised center piece on right side between the rosettes • Wrecked on Island Beach three miles north of Barnegat Inlet, December 20, 1856 • The New York, bound from Liverpool, England, was carrying 250 immigrants and 27 crew; some accounts reported 307 in total. Most of the passengers and crew were trapped on the ship all day and through the night in freezing weather and a pounding surf. Before the rescue was over, the captain faced a mutiny on board and was severely beaten; numerous passengers, stranded on the beach without shelter and suffering from exposure and hunger, began to trek north along the beach to distant Point Pleasant; and a drunken mutineer froze to death on the beach and was buried there in the sand. RIGHT SIDE OF CABINET, TOP ROSETTE: Piece 21: Walnut from the schooner Tremlet, 1852 • Right piece (2:00 position) • Wrecked on Squan Beach, April 1852 • Four lives were lost. Piece 20: Mahogany from the ship New Era, 1854 • Left piece (10:00 position) • Wrecked at Deal Beach (today's Asbury Park), November 13, 1854 • The New Era is considered one of the worst maritime disasters along the eastern seaboard. The ship was built in Maine as a three-masted, ship-rigged sailer and was commanded by Captain Henry. The ship's maiden voyage was difficult and included the loss of over forty passengers to a cholera outbreak while at sea. Sailing conditions were deplorable, and fog, wind, and a rogue wave compounded the voyage. When the ship struck a sand bar, its position further complicated rescue because it was too far out at sea for a beaches buoy rescue, but too close for a boat rescue. Out of 450 souls on board, mostly German immigrants, at least 284 lives were lost. The SS Morro Castle most likely drifted over the New Era during its disaster eighty years later. The New Era's massive anchor was discovered in 1999 and now sits at the corner of Elberon and Norwood Avenues in Allenhurst, memorializing the victims. Piece 22: Rosewood from the brig Governor Bull, 1861 • Bottom piece (6:00 position) • Wrecked on Squan Beach, about three miles south of Squan Inlet, May 4, 1861 RIGHT SIDE OF CABINET, BOTTOM ROSETTE: Piece 24: Ash from the schooner Brazil, 1860 • Left piece (10:00 position) • Wrecked on Squan Beach, about 6.5 miles south of Squan Inlet, May 16, 1860 Piece 25: Ash from the brig Fortunato, 1860 • Right piece (2:00 position) • Wrecked at Lavallette City, August 21, 1860 Piece 26: Piece of the mizzenmast of the steamship Black Warrior, 1855 • Bottom piece (6:00 position) • Wrecked off Rockaway, Long Island in 1855 Information courtesy of Dan Lieb, President of the New Jersey Historical Diver's Association and Director of the New Jersey Shipwreck Museum, and from an article appearing in an 1888 edition of The Manasquan Sea Side. (A reprint of this article can be found in the book "Down Barnegat Bay: A Nor'easter Midnight Reader" by Robert Jahn.) John Lott Dorsett´s Shipwreck Cabinet 9 j e r s e y s h o r e • F A L L / H O L I D A Y 2 0 1 8 continued on page 10

• Cover