Herd Sand, Fowlis

HER Number

14257

District

S Tyneside

Site Name

Herd Sand, Fowlis

Place

South Shields

Map Sheet

NZ36NE

Class

Maritime Craft

Site Type: Broad

Sailing Vessel <By Rig>

Site Type: Specific

Schooner

General Period

POST MEDIEVAL

Specific Period

Hanoverian 1714 to 1837

Form of Evidence

Wreckage

Description

A schooner wrecked on the Herd Sand in February 1861. She had been en route from Inverness. A strong gale blew the ship onto the Herd Sand, she then drifted onto the stones by the South Pier. Four lifeboats were unable to get alongside her. Eventually the lifeboat TYNE managed to fire a rocket line to the FOWLIS and the captain and mate were saved. Then the line broke. Four crewmen remained on board. One managed to swim to the lifeboat. The lifeboats battled on for three hours to rescue the remaining three men. Two were swept to their deaths. The third was washed towards the shore and was saved. The SARAH ANN was wrecked on the same day. Around 50 ships were wrecked that day between South Shields and Whitby. Built: 1832
Master: George Frazer
Crew: 6
Crew Lost: 2

Easting

437000

Northing

567000

Grid Reference

NZ437000567000

Sources

Dick Keys and Ken Smith, 1998, Black Diamonds by Sea - North-East Sailing Colliers 1780-1880, p 28; National Monuments Record (996842); United Kingdom shipwreck index [pre publication typescript]; Richard and Bridget Larn 1997 Shipwreck index of the British Isles, volume 3. The east coast of England : Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, County Durham, Northumberland Section 6, County Durham (CF); Boswell Whitaker 1979 Preservation of life from shipwreck, volume 1 : Skuetender lifeboat Page(s)96-7