''Alexander'' was a merchant vessel launched at

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in 1803. She was

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...

ed in 1815 while on passage from

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two miles (3 km) from the

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on the

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coast in the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

. Only five of the ship's 140 (or 150) crew and passengers survived the disaster.

Career notes

''Alexander'' was one of the transport vessels supporting the British

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Loss

The wreck occurred on 27 March 1815, when ''Alexander'' entered the Channel after a lengthy voyage, and was caught by a very strong gale from the South-Southwest that pushed the ship onto the

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

in front of the village of Wyke, Dorset, during the night. None of the ship's officers survived the wreck, and the incident was not observed by any witnesses on the shoreline, so the circumstances of the disaster remain somewhat unclear. Early in the morning of the 27th, the local population discovered a large quantity of wreckage scattered along the shore for several miles in both directions. Amongst this wreckage was found the bodies of 39 lascar seamen and seven of the ship's European officers and passengers, whilst five others were found alive, all lascars, although their nationalities and genders are disputed by sources. Local people clothed and fed the survivors, and collected the bodies on the beach for burial. The lascars were buried in a mass grave in the

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, as their names were lost with the ship's papers, but the Europeans were identified soon afterwards and buried under a memorial erected nearby that stated: ''Alexander''s captain was Lewis Auldjo, who was a son of George Auldjo of Aberdeen, and Susan Beauvais, of Jermyn Street, St James's, London. Lewis Auldjo had married Elizabeth Cooke, the eldest daughter of Captain John Cooke of Calcutta, and it is understood from the Monumental Inscription recorded from the South Park Street Burial Ground Monument in Calcutta, that their child was also aboard on that unhappy day. In his last Will and Testament, Captain Lewis Auldjo appointed Charles Forbes, his friend, as his sole Executor.

Citations and references

Citations References * * {{coord missing, Atlantic Ocean 1803 ships Alexander Maritime incidents in 1815 Age of Sail merchant ships Merchant ships of the United Kingdom

Career notes

Loss

See also

Citations and references