''Despatch'' was a brig noted for having shipwrecked near

Isle aux Morts Isle aux Morts (, ) is a small town on the Southwest Coast of the Island of Newfoundland, with a population of 559 (2021). The town is located approximately east from the Marine Atlantic Ferry Terminal in Port aux Basques along Route 470. ...

, Newfoundland, and for the subsequent heroic rescue of many of her passengers and crew. ''Despatch'' was partly owned by William Lancaster of

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Locat ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. On 29 May 1828 she set sail from Derry,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

''en route'' to

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

with eleven crew and 200 passengers, almost all of whom were

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

emigrants Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

hoping to escape the poverty then prevailing in Ireland. The ship ran aground 10 July 1828 on a small, bare rocky island near Isle aux Morts off the south coast of Newfoundland. A seventeen-year-old girl from the area,

Ann Harvey Ann Harvey (1811–1860) was a fisher and rescuer born near the small fishing community of Isle aux Morts, Newfoundland. Harvey, called the " Grace Darling of Newfoundland", is known for her bravery at the age of seventeen for rescuing, along w ...

, along with her father, her twelve-year-old brother and a dog, rescued 160 people from the wreck between 12 and 15 July. As a result, Ann Harvey became known as the ''

Grace Darling Grace Horsley Darling (24 November 1815 – 20 October 1842) was an English lighthouse keeper's daughter. Her participation in the rescue of survivors from the shipwrecked ''Forfarshire'' in 1838 brought her national fame. The paddlesteamer ...

of Newfoundland''. The English government later awarded them a medal and a sum of money for their heroic feat. Survivors were taken to Halifax aboard HMS ''Tyne''.

References

External links

Merchant Sailing Ships of the NW of England

Northern Maritime Research
Shipwrecks of the Newfoundland and Labrador coast Maritime incidents in July 1828 Brigs Sailing ships of the United Kingdom {{ship-stub

See also

References

External links