Maritime record MWX1872 - Mercure (La Mercuria)

`Weymouth, 5th March. We have to announce the total loss of a French ship, during a tremendous gale of wind at SSE last night, on Portland Beach. From the complete destruction of the hull, there is hardly a vestige to be seen, with the exception of a few empty wine casks, that have the names of `Faylett and Co., `Louis Borgasse. She appears to have been built of fir, with a figurehead of a woman; a small part of her stern has been washed on shore, with the word `Havre, and also the stern of the boat with the word `Ninnick; but the names are very much obliterated. From the size of the masts, she must have been a large vessel. (1) `The French ship lost on Portland Beach during the gale on Wednesday night, proves to be the MERCURE of Havre. Her cargo consisted of wine, hides, lemons, almonds and raisins. (2) Additional cargo consisted of soap, lemons, almonds and raisins. 17 dead crew taken up and buried in one mass grave by the main east gate of St. Georges churchyard, Portland. `Gales as have been experience by any local alive have been experienced of late. (4) Source (4) contains two consecutive entries for this vessel, under the names of LA MERCURIA and MERCURE, the former based on source (3) and the latter on (1) and (2). The entry for LA MERCURIA in source (4) gives the departure point as Marcelans.

Crew Lost: 17 (4); all (5)

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> 1745 onwards, Lloyds list, 06-MAR-1818, No.5260 (Serial). SWX8434.

<2> 1745 onwards, Lloyds list, 10-MAR-1818, No.5261 (Serial). SWX8434.

<3> Dorset magazine : the county magazine Page(s) 18, P18 (Article in serial). SWX5923.

<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> Newcastle Courant, 14-MAR-1818, No.7379 p4 (Serial). SDO20502.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 1219866 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

May 3 2024 11:59AM