In 1775 a vessel variously named ''Rockingham'', ''Castle Rockingham'', or ''Marquis of Rockingham'' wrecked on the Irish coast with loss of life.

Vessel

Some records refer to the vessel as the "''Rockingham'' transport". Regimental histories of the

32nd Regiment of Foot The 32nd Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1702. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 46th (South Devonshire) Regiment of Foot to form the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in 1881. History ...

or its successor regiment refer to the vessel as ''Castle Rockingham''. Yet other records refer to the vessel as ''Marquis of Rockingham''. There were two vessels by that name that served the British

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

, but neither vessel appears to be the one that was wrecked.

Wreck

In late 1775, ''Rockingham'' was hired to transport three companies of the

, along with a number of their families,Shipwrecks of Cork Harbour to Ireland en route to

British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestow ...

as part of a force under

General Cornwallis Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, (31 December 1738 – 5 October 1805), styled Viscount Brome between 1753 and 1762 and known as the Earl Cornwallis between 1762 and 1792, was a British Army general and official. In the United S ...

. On 21 November it was reported that all baggage was loaded, and she was ordered to Gravesend; she sailed in a convoy of six transports on 10 December, but was driven back by heavy wind. On the night of 23 December 1775, making for the

Cove of Cork Cobh ( ,), known from 1849 until 1920 as Queenstown, is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. With a population of around 13,000 inhabitants, Cobh is on the south side of Great Island in Cork Harbour a ...

in a heavy gale, she mistook Robert's Cove for the entrance to the harbour, and was driven onto a lee shore at Reannie's Bay, a few miles distant. The master and crew of the ship were drowned, as were about ninety of the passengers. A number of officers and soldiers managed to escape in a flat-bottomed boat; the numbers are unclear, but were variously reported as five officers and twenty men,''Annual Register'' four officers and thirty men, or three officers, thirty men, and two of the ship's crew.Tucky The regimental pay chest and records were also lost in the wreck.

Citations

References

*Chronicle in the

Annual Register ''The Annual Register'' (originally subtitled "A View of the History, Politicks and Literature of the Year ...") is a long-established reference work, written and published each year, which records and analyses the year's major events, developmen ...

, 1775. p. 187. London: printed for J. Dodsley, 1778. Second edition.
digitised copy of page

Francis G. Tucky. . 1830*Goldsmith, Robert Frederick Kinglake (1970) ''The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry: (The 32nd and 46th Regiments of Foot)''. (Leo Cooper). *''The Expedition to the Southern Colonies, 1775-1776'', by Eric Robson. In ''The English Historical Review'', Vol. 66, No. 261 (Oct., 1951). *Swiney, George Clayton (1893) ''Historical Records of the 32nd (Cornwall) Light Infantry, Now the 1st Battalion Duke of Cornwall's L.I., from the Formation of the Regiment in 1702 Down to 1892''. (Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent).pages {{DEFAULTSORT:Wreck of the Rockingham, 1775 Shipwrecks of Ireland Maritime incidents in 1775