Maritime record MWX1847 - Venus 1795

1795 an English troop ship one of Admiral Christians's fleet, wrecked off Fleet in a gale. A wooden sailing vessel which was en route from the Isle of Wight for the West Indies carrying soldiers. This vessel is only known from documentary evidence. The location given is only approximate.

Lives Lost: 92 Date of Loss Qualifier: A `The master, Major Kent and his son, Adjutant Crayton, Messrs Sutherland and Sheddick, five women, 81 troops and seamen lost. Mr. Dafly, surgeon, and 16 men only saved. (1)(4) `The VENUS (transport) of London, is wrecked on Portland Beach. Only 11 men saved. (2) A gale appears to have occurred, from the number of vessels lost, and from a mention of other vessels `safe in Weymouth and Portland Roads after the gale. (2) `The worst instance, within historic knowledge, both of wreck and wrecking on the Dorset coast occurred in 1795. Rear-Admiral Christian with a squadron of men-of-war and upwards of 200 transports with 16,000 troops on board left St. Helens for the West Indies on 16 November; on the 17th they were caught west of Portland in a terrible gale, and on the 18th six transports went to pieces on the Chesil beach where 234 dead bodies were immediately thrown up, a number increased to 1,600 by the 26th. The worst part of the story was the behaviour of the people ashore, mostly Portlanders, who are always praying for wrecks on their coast and whose whole attention was devoted to plunder instead of the rescue of the drowning. They were soon reinforced by a considerable mob from different parts solely intent on plunder, until soldiers brought on the scene dispersed them with volleys of musketry... `...nearly opposite to the Village of Fleet and Chickerell, the PIEDMONT, VENUS, and CATHARINE Transports were driven on the Bank; and very soon after the THOMAS, a Merchant Ship bound for Lisbon, shared the same fate... `...On board the VENUS were Major Ker, appointed Military Commander of Hospitals in the Leeward Islands - his son, Lieutenant James Ker, of the 40th regiment Lieutenant James Sutherland, of Colonel Whytes West India regiment - Cornet Benjamin Graydon of the 3rd West India Regiment - Lieutenant B. Chadwick, of Colonel Whytes West India regiment - Mr. Kidd. the Master, his wife, three other women, seventy-four soldiers and twelve seamen. Of all these, (ninety-six persons) only Mr. John Darley, of the Hospital Staff, Sergeant-Major Hearne, twelve soldiers, and four seamen and a boy, were saved. Mr. Darley escaped by throwing himself from the wreck, at a moment when she drifted high on the stones: he reached them without broken limbs, but the furious sea overtook him, and carried him back, not, however, so far but that he regained the ground; and notwithstanding the weight of his clothes, and his he lay in this situation, trying to recover breath and strength a great many people from the neighbouring villages passed him - they had crossed the Fleet water in the hopes of sharing what the lower inhabitants of this coast are too much accustomed to consider as their right, the plunder of the ships wrecked on their shore and, in the gratification of their avarice, they are too apt to forget humanity. Scenes like these call forth the most honourable, and discover the most degrading qualities of the human heart. Mr. Darley seems to have been so far from meeting with immediate assistance among here who were plundering the dead, without thinking of the living, (otherwise than to make some advantage of them also) that though he saw many boats passing and re-passing the Fleet water, he found great difficulty in procuring a passage over for himself and two or three of his fellow sufferers, who had by this time joined him: having, however, at length passed it, he soon met with Mr Bryer, Surgeon of Weymouth, to whose active humanity all the unhappy sufferers were greatly indebted; on his reaching Weymouth, the gentlemen of the South Gloucester sent him every supply of necessaries that his situation required - and all the soldiers and sailors were taken care of by Mr. Warne, Agent to the Commissioners for the Sick and Hurt... (Major John Charles Ker and Lieutenant James Ker) `The fate of both was truly deplorable; and is a melancholy example of the uncertainty of human affairs. `They were embarked in the Venus Transport, and left Portsmouth the 15th of the above-mentioned month, with a fleet full of troops, destined on an expedition to the West-Indies, under the command of General Sir Ralph Abercromby. A storm having arisen on the 17th, which lasted till the next day, many of the ships were lost, and the Venus wrecked on Portland Beach; Major Ker and his Son were both unfortunately drowned, with the greater part of the soldiers and crew... (Taken from Ann. Register, Account of an Eyewitness; Smith (Charlotte), Narrative of the Loss, andamp;c. Lond. 1796.) (Found under the headings of `Details of a

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.

<1> Larn, Richard, 1992, United Kingdom shipwreck index, Extracted 23 November 1992 (Index). SWX5030.

<2> 1745 onwards, Lloyds list, 20-NOV-1795, No.2769 (Serial). SWX8434.

<3> 1975, Dorset magazine : the county magazine vol. 48, p15 (Article in serial). SWX4573.

<4> Larn, R, and Larn, B, 1995, Shipwreck index of the British Isles, volume 1 : Isles of Scilly, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset Section 6, Dorset (AJ) Vol 1 (Monograph). SWX4541.

<5> Sherbourne Mercury, p4, 30-NOV-1795 (Serial). SWX4820.

<6> World Wide Web page andlt;http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/Naval.htmlandgt; [Accessed 24-Mar-2003] (Digital archive). SWX4879.

<7> Le Pard, G, 1995-2003, Dorset Coast Forum Maritime Archaeological Database, Shipwreck 459 (Digital archive). SWX8707.

<8> Smith, 1796, A Narrative of the loss of the Catherine, Venus and Piedmont transports etc. (Article in monograph). SDO1.

<9> Boult, E, 2003, Christian's Fleet, A Dorset Shipping Tragedy. (Monograph). SWX8136.

<10> Cumming, E, 2014, The Portland Shipwreck and Maritime Incident Directory (Monograph). SDO14012.

Record last edited

Jun 19 2015 12:20PM