Grosvenor (Wreck of the)

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Anatol
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Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2009 2:13 pm

Grosvenor (Wreck of the)

Post by Anatol » Sat Mar 05, 2011 2:17 pm

The Wreck of the Grosvenor, an East Indiaman, occurred on Sunday 4 August 1782 on the Pondoland coast of South Africa, north of the Umzimvubu River mouth. The shipwreck was close to the place where the Portuguese ship, São João, had gone down more than two centuries earlier on 8 June 1552. The Grosvenor was a three-masted ship of 729 tons.
The Grosvenor had left Madras in March 1782 under the command of Captain Coxon, falling in with Admiral Hughes' fleet. On 13 June 1782 she set sail for England from Trincomalee in Ceylon. Sailing west near the Cape coast at 1 a.m. and while adjusting the sails to ride out a gale, the crew noticed lights to the west, but dismissed them as something akin to the Northern Lights. When the lights presently disappeared, they were given no further thought. As it turned out, the lights were grassfires burning on a headland directly on their course, and their disappearance was due to their being hidden by the brow of the hill. At four a.m. Thomas Lewis reported that he thought he could see land, but the idea was rejected by the commanding officer of the watch, a Mr. Beale, as everyone on board was certain that they were at least 200 miles (320 km) out to sea. The quartermaster Mixon after some hesitation, alerted the captain, who instantly came on deck and tried to bring the ship about. During this change of tack, the ship ran aground on the rocks. In the darkness the crew firmly believed that as they were a long way from land, they had struck an uncharted island or reef. With a change in the wind direction, the captain felt that they could refloat the Grosvenor and run her aground in some more convenient place. However, as soon as the ship twisted around, its freed bows started taking on water and it became clear to all that she would have been better off left on the rocks.
When she was wrecked, carrying a crew of 132 and 18 passengers (12 adults and 6 children), and a cargo valued at £75 000.
Legend has it that gold ducats from Venice, gold and silver coins from India, Mexico and Spain and much more besides but there is still no sign of the priceless golden, gem-studded Peacock Throne of Shah Jehan, founder of the Taj Mahal, plunged to a watery grave when the merchant ship Grosvenor crashed into the rocks off the Transkei Wild Coast on August 3 1782.
Of the 123 survivors only 18 reached Cape Town and were repatriated, the remainder dying of their privations and being killed by, or forced to live with Bantu tribes. Four survivors eventually got back to England - Robert Price, Thomas Lewis, John Warmington, and Barney Larey.
The first attempt at salvage was reported on 20 May 1880 by the paper Natal Mercury in an article stating that Captain Sidney Turner and a friend, Lieut Beddoes, of the Durban Volunteer Artillery, had set off for Port St Johns in the vessel Adonis, had proceeded to the wreck and commenced blasting the rocks with dynamite, retrieving Indian coins and Venetian ducats as well as several ship's cannon, two of which were later displayed at the Local History Museum in Durban.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Transkei 16,0c 1988 SG221
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aukepalmhof
Posts: 7771
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 am

Re: Grosvenor (Wreck of the)

Post by aukepalmhof » Sun Jun 02, 2013 8:44 pm

Grosvenor wreck.jpeg
Grosvenor wreck.jpeg (286.87 KiB) Viewed 941 times
Built as a East Indiaman by Wells at Deptford for David Mitchell.
19 October 1770 launched as the GROSVENOR.
Tonnage 741 ton (bm) dim. 111.11 x 35.4 x 14.3ft.

The following voyages was she chartered by the British East India Company:
06 February 1771 till 30 August 1772 to the Coromandel coast and China, back to the UK.
18 January 1775 till 18 August 1776 a voyage from the UK to Coromandel Coast and Bengal, back to the UK.
09 February 1778 till 16 November 1779 a voyage under command of Captain John Coxon to the Coromandel coast and Bengal, and back to the U.K..
Her last charter voyage was still under command of Captain John Coxon, was chartered on 03 June 1780 for a voyage from the U.K. to Coromandel coast and Bengal, on her return voyage she was wrecked on the Pondoland coast of South Africa.

Source: ships of the East India Company by Rowan Hackman

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