The following ships were sunk, foundered, grounded, or otherwise lost in the year 1891.
January
2 January
8 January
9 January
List of shipwrecks: 9 January 1891
Ship |
State |
Description
|
James W. Wherren
|
United States
|
The schooner was stranded in a storm at Barrancas Light, Pensacola, Florida.[2]
|
11 January
List of shipwrecks: 11 January 1891
Ship |
State |
Description
|
Charles H. Boynton
|
United States
|
The schooner was wrecked on Libby Island, near Machias, Maine and became a total loss. Crew made it to shore in her dories.[3]
|
Unknown date
February
3 February
List of shipwrecks: 3 February 1891
Ship |
State |
Description
|
Senator Morgan
|
United States
|
The schooner was wrecked at Cow Bay. Crew made it to shore.[5]
|
5 February
6 February
7 February
18 February
19 February
20 February
List of shipwrecks: 20 February 1891
Ship |
State |
Description
|
Teresa Garnham
|
Chile
|
The ship was sailing from Valparaiso to Chiloé when she struck a rock. The crew took to her boats and reached port.[9]
|
March
1 March
9 March
13 March
List of shipwrecks: 13 March 1891
Ship |
State |
Description
|
USS Galena
|
United States Navy
|
While under tow by the tug USS Nina ( United States Navy), the decommissioned armed steamer ran aground in fog on Devil's Bridge — a reef off Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts — without loss of life. She was refloated several days later. Deemed damaged beyond repair, she was sold for salvage on 2 May 1892.[12]
|
USS Nina
|
United States Navy
|
While towing the steamer USS Galena ( United States Navy), the 137-foot (42 m) tug ran aground in fog on Devil's Bridge — a reef off Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts — without loss of life. She was refloated several days later, repaired, and returned to service.[13]
|
Roxburgh Castle
|
United Kingdom
|
The 1,222-ton cargo steamer was on a voyage from Newport, Wales, to Piraeus, Greece, with a cargo of coal when she collided with the sailing ship British Peer ( United Kingdom) 120 nautical miles (220 km; 140 mi) southwest of the Isles of Scilly during the Great Blizzard of 1891. Roxburgh Castle sank, losing 22 of her 24 crew members.[14]
|
15 March
17 March
19 March
20 March
April
2 April
6 April
15 April
19 April
23 April
28 April
List of shipwrecks: 29 May 1891
Ship |
State |
Description
|
SS Lawrence
|
New Zealand
|
The 399grt collier damaged her propeller on the Mōkihinui River bar[19] and broke her back on the beach.[20]
|
May
2 May
List of shipwrecks: 2 May 1891
Ship |
State |
Description
|
Sadie F. Caller
|
United States
|
During a voyage from San Francisco, California, to Chignik Bay, District of Alaska, carrying 158 cannery workers as passengers, a 450-ton salmon-canning outfit as cargo, and a crew of 10, the 413.81-gross register ton, 393.25-foot (119.86 m) schooner was wrecked on a sand bar whose position had shifted without the knowledge of the crew, altering the navigable channel, at the entrance to Chignik Bay Harbor (56°18′N 158°24′W / 56.300°N 158.400°W / 56.300; -158.400 (Chignik Bay Harbor)) on the Gulf of Alaska coast of the Alaska Peninsula near Chignik. The steamer Polar Bear ( United States) towed her to shore two hours later, and she was beached and declared a total loss. By 1913, her wreck reportedly had sunk in 60 feet (18.3 m) of water.[21]
|
3 May
17 May
21 May
June
4 June
List of shipwrecks: 4 June 1891
Ship |
State |
Description
|
Fayette Brown
|
United States
|
The schooner was rammed and sunk by Northern Queen (flag unknown) in Pelee Passage in Lake Erie in 60 feet (18 m) of water. One crewman of Fayette Brown jumped aboard Northern Queen and the rest were rescued from her rigging by Robert Mills (flag unknown). The wreck was removed in 1893.[26][27][28]
|
16 June
July
18 July
Unknown date
August
27 August
Unknown date
List of shipwrecks: Unknown August 1891
Ship |
State |
Description
|
H. A. DeWitt
|
United States
|
The schooner was found aground and abandoned four miles (6.4 km) east of St. Andrews Bay, Florida.[2]
|
September
5 September
List of shipwrecks: 5 September 1891
Ship |
State |
Description
|
USFC Grampus
|
United States Fish Commission
|
The schooner, a fisheries research ship, was on a voyage from Hyannis to Woods Hole, Massachusetts, with U.S. Fish Commissioner Marshall McDonald and his wife and daughter, Assistant U.S. Fish Commissioner J. W. Collins, and two female guests aboard when she ran aground on L'Hommidieu Shoal in Vineyard Sound during a southeasterly storm. McDonald, Collins, McDonald's family members, and the other two women made it safely to Falmouth, Massachusetts, in a dory, and Grampus later was refloated and returned to service.[32]
|
6 September
7 September
13 September
Unknown date
List of shipwrecks: Unknown September 1891
Ship |
State |
Description
|
Ada
|
United States
|
The schooner disappeared on a fishing trip out of Pensacola, Florida. Lost with all five crew.[2]
|
October
1 October
3 October
10 October
13 October
22 October
Unknown date
List of shipwrecks: Unknown date October 1891
Ship |
State |
Description
|
Red Wing
|
|
The schooner was driven ashore and wrecked on the coast of Delaware just south of the Indian River Inlet during a gale, killing her entire crew of six.[44]
|
November
9 November
List of shipwrecks: 9 November 1891
Ship |
State |
Description
|
Maude M. Lane
|
United States
|
The schooner barge sank 95 miles (153 km) south southwest of Pensacola, Florida.[2]
|
11 November
15 November
List of shipwrecks: 15 November 1891
Ship |
State |
Description
|
Minnie Davis
|
United States
|
The schooner was sunk in a collision with the schooner Hunter Savidge ( United States) 1+1⁄2 miles (2.4 km) off Point Morvia Light or Bar Point, in Lake Erie. The wreck was blown up in April 1893 as a hazard to navigation.[48][49]
|
22 November
December
4 December
List of shipwrecks: 4 December 1891
Ship |
State |
Description
|
Ogemaw
|
United States
|
The steam barge sprung a leak and sank between Point Peninsula and Poverty Passage in 65 feet of water. Raised in 1893, rebuilt and returned to service in 1894.[51][52]
|
5 December
8 December
10 December
18 December
23 December
29 December
Unknown date
References
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- ^ a b c d e f Singer, Stephen D. (1998) [1992]. Shipwrecks of Florida: A Comprehensive Listing (Second ed.). Sarasota, Florida: Pineapple Press. p. 32. ISBN 1-56164-163-4.
- ^ "1891". downtothesea.com. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
- ^ "The Veteran". downtothesea.com. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
- ^ "1891". downtothesea.com. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- ^ Liddiard, John. "Seven Stones". Archived from the original on 19 October 2007. Retrieved 19 February 2012.
- ^ a b c Larn, Richard (1992). The Shipwrecks of the Isles of Scilly. Nairn: Thomas & Lochar. ISBN 0-946537-84-4.
- ^ "1891". downtothesea.com. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- ^ Vidal Gormaz, Francisco (1901) Algunos naufrajios ocurridos en las costas chilenas desde su descubrimiento hasta nuestros dias (Imprenta Elzeviriana).
- ^ a b c d Tovey, Ron. "A Chronology of Bristol Channel Shipwrecks" (PDF). Swansea Docks. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 December 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
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- ^ alaskashipwreck.com Alaska Shipwrecks (S)
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- ^ "Martaban". Caledonian Maritime Heritage Trust. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
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- ^ "1891". downtothesea.com. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- ^ "Lost at sea". gloucester-ma.gov. Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
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- ^ "1891". downtothesea.com. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- ^ "1891". downtothesea.com. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- ^ alaskashipwreck.com Alaska Shipwrecks (W)
- ^ "Historical List of Shipwrecks at Chesil Beach & from Bridport to Lyme Regis". Burton Bradstock Online. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
- ^ "The Recent Gales". Glasgow Herald. No. 1373. 23 October 1891. p. 10. Retrieved 4 July 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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- ^ Anonymous, Shipwrecks of the Mid-Atlantic: Maryland, Delaware & Southern New Jersey (poster), Sealake Products USA, undated.
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- ^ "American Marine Engineer October, 1912". National Marine Engineers Beneficial Association of the United States. Retrieved 2 December 2020 – via Haithi Trust.
- ^ "Rappahannock (+1891)". Wrecksite. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
- ^ "Marine news of 1893" (PDF). Marsh Collection Society. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
- ^ "SAVIDGE, HUNTER (1879, Schooner)". Alpina County George N. Fletcher Public Library northeast Michigan Oral history and Historic Photo Archive. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
- ^ "Samuel Mather (+1891)". Wrecksite. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
- ^ "Marine news of 1893" (PDF). Marsh Collection Society. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
- ^ "Ogemaw (+1922)". Wrecksite. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
- ^ Larn, R. and Larn, B. (1991) Shipwrecks around Mounts Bay. Penryn: Tor Mark Press.
- ^ "American Marine Engineer December, 1914". National Marine Engineers Beneficial Association of the United States. Retrieved 14 November 2020 – via Haithi Trust.
- ^ "Abyssinia (+1891)". Wrecksite. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
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- ^
State Street Trust Company (1913). Some ships of the clipper ship era, Their builders, owners, and captains. Boston, MA: Printed for the State Street Trust Company. p. 18.