The New York Times on August 25th, 1929, had a chance to go to the stateroom of Captain George Pietsch and see what he had to say about his recent misadventure. It was two in the morning, but faced with reporter questions, the New York Times reported: “Captain Pietsch smiled, shrugged his shoulders and replied: ‘I’m twenty-five years on sea, yes? We sailors are not afraid. Once, twice, three times I went down in the war, but I am not dead, yes? We were castaways, but we were afraid of nothing.’ He insisted that there was no disorder, no scrambling for the boats.”

Ship Name: Quimistan 

Year Built: 1871

Tonnage: 1,661

Ship Type: Iron Hulled Screw Steamship 

Nationality: German 

Year Wrecked: 1929

Location Wrecked: Atlantic Ocean, 800 Miles from Delaware

Reason for Wreck: Old Age, Poor Maintenance

Lives Lost: None 

Sources: 

https://newspaperarchive.com/ogden-standard-examiner-aug-25-1929-p-11/

https://newspaperarchive.com/kingsport-times-aug-22-1929-p-6/

https://www.seamenschurch-archives.org/sci/archive/files/3cb5af43f10b4978c6fd189a50df6e5d.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/08/23/issue.html

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/08/28/94175997.html?pageNumber=52

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/08/25/118348952.html?pageNumber=23

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/55940046?searchTerm=quimistan

https://books.google.com/books?id=1dz6c_UTYekC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=quimistan+ship+1929&source=gbs_navlinks_s

https://books.google.com/books?id=xiHmAAAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=quimistan+ship+1929&source=gbs_navlinks_s

https://books.google.com/books?id=NmBjEAAAQBAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=quimistan+ship+1929&source=gbs_navlinks_s

The Lifeboat. The Journal of the Royal National Life-boat Institution from March 1930 reported all of the heroism of the lifeboat service from the past quarter. In it was included the following report: “On 25th November, at 2.35 in the afternoon, a message was received by the Tenby Coastguard from the Fishguard Radio that the steamer Molesey, of London, of 4,000 tons, was nearly on the rocks at Shokham Island, off the Pembrokeshire coast. A whole gale was blowing from the S.W., with squalls, and very heavy sea. The telephone and telegraph lines were down between Tenby and Pembroke, and the message had to be taken part of the way by car, so that it was nearly two hours after the S.O.S. was sent when the Honorary Secretary of the Angle Lifeboat Station received the message.”

Ship Name: Molesey 

Year Built: 1899

Tonnage: 3788

Ship Type: Steel-Hulled Cargo Screw Steamship

Nationality: United Kingdom 

Year Wrecked: 1929

Location Wrecked: Middle Island, near Milford Haven, United Kingdom 

Reason for Wreck: Blown Ashore in Storm 

Lives Lost: 7

Sources: 

http://teesbuiltships.co.uk/view.php?year_built=&builder=&ref=169814&vessel=ROKEBY

https://newspaperarchive.com/charters-towers-northern-miner-nov-28-1929-p-2/

https://newspaperarchive.com/cairns-post-nov-28-1929-p-5/

https://newspaperarchive.com/adelaide-advertiser-nov-28-1929-p-34/

https://newspaperarchive.com/auckland-star-nov-28-1929-p-7/

https://newspaperarchive.com/washington-c-h-herald-nov-26-1929-p-5/

https://plimsoll.southampton.gov.uk/SOTON_Documents/Plimsoll/14049.pdf

https://rnliarchive.blob.core.windows.net/media/1311/0301.pdf

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/11/29/97783501.html?pageNumber=10

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/11/28/92017449.html?pageNumber=24

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/11/27/94211850.html?pageNumber=1

The World of Adventure, by Cassell and Company, published in 1899, contained the story of the Vicar of Mullyon, a man who had been active in the story of the wreck of the Jonkheer Meester Van de Wall van Puttershoek: “The wind swept right up from the sea, scarcely more than half a mile distant from the vicarage, and its shriek in the trees outside, together with the thundering of the surf upon the shore, were all the sounds his ear could catch. If another sound commingled with the din it was effectually drowned. Nor could anything be seen; no blue light, no rocket, nor any signal of distress--only black darkness. The cry, if cry it had been, was not repeated.”Ship Name: Jonkheer Meester Van de Wall van Puttershoek

Tonnage: 650 tons 

Nationality: Dutch 

Ship Type: East Indiaman 

Year Wrecked: 1867

Location Wrecked: Men-y-grib Point, England 

Reason for Wreck: Blew onto Rocks During Storm

Lives Lost: 24

Sources: 

https://books.google.com/books?id=6BY5AQAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=shipwreck+1867+jonkheer&source=gbs_navlinks_s

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/60842002?searchTerm=french%20shipwreck

https://books.google.com/books?id=Ogj6f-YU74gC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=jonkheer+meester+van+de+wall+van+puttershoek&source=gbs_navlinks_s

https://books.google.com/books?id=ydLjnrqh-q4C&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=shipwreck+1867+jonkheer&source=gbs_navlinks_s

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/33148/pg33148-images.html

https://newspaperarchive.com/london-magnet-apr-08-1867-p-2/

https://books.google.com/books?id=5MwHAAAAQAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=shipwreck+cornwall+1867+jonkheer&source=gbs_navlinks_s

https://www.opc-cornwall.org/deaths/mullion_death_wreck_jonkheer_1867.pdf

Rector Elwell wrote an account of the wreck of the Bohemian for the Portland Transcript, which was published on March 5th, 1864. “On Saturday we visited the scene of the wreck. The distance from the city is about nine miles. As you pass to the left of the two light houses, the wreck lies in full view, a quarter of a mile from the shore, heading off, with anchors down. She is right under the light-house, and off against a little cove, where the waves were gently rippling over the sands as if they never knew storm or wreck. It was high tide, and her hull was hidden by the waves, but we could see the smoke stack, the masts with broken topmasts dangling from them, and the white stanchions, looking like the ribs of some stranded monster.”

Ship Name: Bohemian

Tonnage: 2,200 Tons

Ship Type: Iron Hulled Screw Steamship

Year Built: 1859

Nationality: United Kingdom 

Year Wrecked: 1864

Location Wrecked: Cape Elizabeth, Maine, United States 

Reason for Wreck: Navigational Error in Fog 

Lives Lost: Between 20-50 

Sources: 

https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3055496/3055498/13/bohemian?from=search

https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3400836/3400838/8/bohemian?from=search

https://newspaperarchive.com/portland-daily-press-apr-05-1864-p-2/

https://newspaperarchive.com/philadelphia-age-feb-27-1864-p-2/

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1864/02/24/90528790.html?pageNumber=5

https://books.google.com/books?id=PJE9AAAAYAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=bohemian+montreal+line+1864&source=gbs_navlinks_s

https://books.google.com/books?id=JlmZUYrDH4IC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=bohemian+shipwreck+1864&source=gbs_navlinks_s

https://books.google.com/books?id=wigEAAAAQAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=bohemian+shipwreck+1864&source=gbs_navlinks_s

https://books.google.com/books?id=hVSEdKlElR4C&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=bohemian+shipwreck+1864&source=gbs_navlinks_s

https://books.google.com/books?id=eNkaAAAAYAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=bohemian+shipwreck+1864&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Lloyd’s Steamboat Directory, and Disasters on the Western Waters by James Lloyd, published in 1856, contained an entire section about the Moselle, including the following passage: “The Moselle was regarded as the very paragon of western steamboats; she was perfect in form and construction, elegant and superb in all her equipments, and enjoyed a reputation for speed which admitted no rivalship. Her commander and proprietor, Capt. Perrin, was a young gentleman of great ambition and enterprise, who prided himself, above all things, in that celebrity which his boat had acquired, and who resolved to maintain, at all hazards, the character of the of the Moselle as ‘the swiftest steamboat in America.’”

Ship Name: Moselle 

Year Built: 1838

Nationality: United States of America

Ship Type: Side Wheel Steamship 

Year Wrecked: 1838

Location Wrecked: Cincinnati, Ohio River 

Reason for Wreck: Boiler Explosion 

Lives Lost: At least 136 

Sources: 

https://newspaperarchive.com/the-philanthropist-may-01-1838-p-8/

https://newspaperarchive.com/indianapolis-indiana-journal-may-05-1838-p-2/

https://newspaperarchive.com/pottsville-miners-journal-and-pottsville-general-advertiser-may-12-1838-p-2/

https://newspaperarchive.com/martinsburg-gazette-may-09-1838-p-2/

https://newspaperarchive.com/trumansburg-advertiser-may-16-1838-p-6/

https://newspaperarchive.com/logansport-herald-may-10-1838-p-2/

https://newspaperarchive.com/richmond-indiana-palladium-may-05-1838-p-2/

https://newspaperarchive.com/carlisle-herald-and-expositor-may-08-1838-p-2/

https://newspaperarchive.com/the-madisonian-may-05-1838-p-3/

https://books.google.com/books?id=dSnJMRtk0lMC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=moselle+inquiry+1838&source=gbs_navlinks_s

https://books.google.com/books?id=OZwsAQAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=captain+perin+moselle&source=gbs_navlinks_s

https://books.google.com/books?id=eJxABLtxX60C&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=captain+perin+moselle&source=gbs_navlinks_s

https://books.google.com/books?id=rItfOzjU0g8C&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=captain+perin+moselle&source=gbs_navlinks_s

https://books.google.com/books?id=JlYqAAAAYAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=moselle+ship+explosion+1838&source=gbs_navlinks_s

Mr. Finlayson, a member of the Australian House of Representatives was quoted to have said the following about what had caused the wreck of the St Paul by the Daily Standard on the 31st of March, 1914: “Commander Brewis, who lately inspected the coast of Australia, made a recommendation in regard to improving the lighting of Moreton Bay,” he said, “and it is unfortunate that no effort has yet been made to guarantee the safety of navigation on our coast, which is notoriously ill-lighted and dangerous to navigation.”

Ship Name: Saint Paul 

Year Built: 1912

Tonnage: 1633-tons

Ship Type: Steel Hulled Steamship 

Nationality: France 

Year Wrecked: 1914

Location Wrecked: Smith’s Rock, Moreton Bay, Australia 

Reason for Wreck: Navigational Error 

Lives Lost: 18 

Sources: 

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/239132166?searchTerm=st%20paul%20shipwreck

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/114333566?searchTerm=st%20paul%20shipwreck

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/220574219?searchTerm=st%20paul%20shipwreck

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/217062631?searchTerm=french%20shipwreck

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/124712509?searchTerm=french%20shipwreck

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/58504960?searchTerm=st%20paul%20shipwreck

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/174276035?searchTerm=st%20paul%20shipwreck

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/42882602?searchTerm=st%20paul%20shipwreck

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/180946304?searchTerm=st%20paul%20shipwreck

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/80149841?searchTerm=st%20paul%20shipwreck

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/82172624?searchTerm=st%20paul%20shipwreck

The Monmouthshire Merlin, on the 29th of June, 1850, gave an account by commercial traveler John Cameron: “It was a beautiful day, and we spent it pleasantly on board. The steamer was excessively crowded with passengers, a large number of them being ladies. Every berth was occupied, as well as the seats and sofas. I walked the deck until, I think, about one o’clock in the morning, when I went to my berth on one of the sofas in the saloon. The weather was then fine, and indeed, it could not be said to be dark during the whole night.”

Ship Name: Orion 

Year Built: 1847

Tonnage: 898-tons 

Nationality: British

Ship Type: Iron Hulled Sidewheel Steamship 

Year Wrecked: 1850

Location Wrecked: Rocks Near Portpatrick Scotland 

Reason for Wreck: Navigational Error

Lives Lost: Estimated Between 50-60

Sources: 

https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3394887/3394889/5/

https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3394887/3394890/10/?from=search

https://newspapers.library.wales/view/4347159/4347163/37/

https://newspapers.library.wales/view/4520877/4520885/54/?from=search

https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3598703/3598705/3/

https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3053183/3053186/21/

https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3089825/3089826/4/

https://books.google.com/books?id=pF0vAQAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=orion+shipwreck+1850&source=gbs_navlinks_s

https://books.google.com/books?id=NLkDAAAAQAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=orion+shipwreck+1850&source=gbs_navlinks_s

https://books.google.com/books?id=B4JuHjET2eUC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=orion+a+tribute+of+gratitude+reverend+j+clarke&source=gbs_navlinks_s

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015031404612&seq=240&q1=orion

https://books.google.com/books?id=IhtXAAAAcAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gbs_navlinks_s

The Sydney Morning Herald on the 7th of September, 1857, published what they had learned from Canadian Newspapers that had just arrived about the Montreal: “There were 330 steerage passengers, and 10 cabin passengers, who sailed in the John McKensie from the Clyde at the above date. Two died at sea. Of the steerage passengers who arrived in Canada 78 did not go on by the steamer Montreal, from Quebec, some preferring the railroad, and others remaining in that city. The remaining 256 of the Scottish emigrants, however, started from Quebec at four o’clock on the afternoon of the 26th, by this ill-fated vessel…”

Ship Name: Montreal 

Year Built: Unknown 

Tonnage: Unknown 

Ship Type: Wooden Sidewheel Steamship 

Nationality: Canadian 

Year Wrecked: 1857

Location Wrecked: Cape Rouge, St Lawarance River

Reason for Wreck: Ship Fire 

Lives Lost: Between 200 and 300 

Sources: 

https://www.pressreader.com/canada/montreal-gazette/20080629/281775624919305?srsltid=AfmBOopOQ6ZpbzMuL-o1pgaE2eot11GVFr39cYloBnZT-QODq5DeaVqR

https://www.montrealgazette.com/news/article482820.html

https://www.nyshistoricnewspapers.org/?a=d&d=tdj18570629-01.1.2&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN----------

https://books.google.com/books?id=AZZgcChlY4AC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=montreal+lawrence+river+fire+1857&source=gbs_navlinks_s

https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SDU18570801.2.5&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13000361

https://newspapers.library.wales/view/4464210/4464215/38/montreal

https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3054856/3054860/28/montreal

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1857/07/06/78501624.html?pageNumber=3

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1857/06/30/78501189.html?pageNumber=1

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1857/07/03/issue.html

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1857/07/15/78502123.html?pageNumber=4

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1857/07/18/78502393.html?pageNumber=4

Ralph Tinkham, one of the passengers who had been on the City of Honolulu, wrote a letter to the newspaper of the University of Michigan College of Engineering, from which he had graduated: “Replying to your inquiry relative to my experience at the burning at sea of the SS City of Honolulu, I am free to admit that the episode has considerably more serious and interesting features in retrospect than was the case at the time. The ‘City of Honolulu’ was a splendid ship of 17,000 tons, equipped well above the average of Pacific shipping, for the convenience and comfort of passengers, and providing excellent service. These facts only add to the shock of realization that this fine vessel has been another contribution to Davy Jones’ locker.”

Ship Name: City of Honolulu 

Tonnage: 10,688

Ship Type: Twin Screw Oil Burning Steamship 

Year Built: 1896

Nationality: United States of America 

Year Wrecked: 1922

Location Wrecked: 670 Miles from San Pedro, California 

Reason for Wreck: Electrical Fire 

Lives Lost: None

Sources: 

https://newspaperarchive.com/altoona-mirror-oct-23-1922-p-12/

https://newspaperarchive.com/van-nuys-news-oct-17-1922-p-1/

https://newspaperarchive.com/corona-courier-oct-13-1922-p-3/

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/23876928

https://books.google.com/books?id=z4DNAAAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=city+of+honolulu+ship+fire+1922&source=gbs_navlinks_s

https://books.google.com/books?id=l4GyXktqZ3gC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=city+of+honolulu+ship+fire+1922&source=gbs_navlinks_s

https://books.google.com/books?id=IGpOAQAAIAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=city+of+honolulu+ship+fire+1922&source=gbs_navlinks_s

https://books.google.com/books?id=TeM1AQAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=city+of+honolulu+ship+fire+1922&source=gbs_navlinks_s

https://books.google.com/books?id=zd4jAAAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=city+of+honolulu+ship+fire+1922&source=gbs_navlinks_s

https://books.google.com/books?id=Ao2Y6Z3drUMC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=friedrich+der+grosse+ship+seized&source=gbs_navlinks_s

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1922/10/13/107073361.html?pageNumber=2

Mr. Falk, who had been an Ablebodied Seaman on the Gothenburg, remembered his experience to the Adelaide Express and Telegraph on the 4th of April, 1911: “I don’t think,” he said, “I should have been saved had it not been for one of the others. He came to me as I stood aft, and said I had better leave as the engine-room was full of water, and there was no hope of saving the vessel. As we pulled over the reef to shore we could see sharks and turtles beneath us. The boat was smashed up eventually.”

Ship Name: Gothenburg 

Ship Tonnage: 459

Ship Type: Iron Hulled Screw Steamship 

Year Built 1855

Nationality: Australian 

Year Wrecked: 1875

Location Wrecked: Great Barrier Reef, Near Holbourne Island 

Reason for Wreck: Navigational Error in Storm 

Lives Lost: 100

Sources:

https://books.google.com/books?id=jDUZAAAAIAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=ss+celt+1855+gothenburg&source=gbs_navlinks_s

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/209927669

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/197679252/22387500

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/169481418?searchTerm=gothenburg

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/202135279?searchTerm=gothenburg

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/200631741?searchTerm=gothenburg

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18335564?searchTerm=gothenburg

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/224358488?searchTerm=gothenburg

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/8935760

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/40089615

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1875/05/09/79085610.html?pageNumber=2

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1875/04/27/88160790.html?pageNumber=6