Rhode Island’s Perilous Coast Southeast Light, Block Island (Continued)

Reprinted from “The Lighthouse Log” Spring 2018.

This article was contributed by Jim Jenney, BLMA Maritime Historian

Although fog is the most common culprit for totally wrecked vessels that have ended their days off Block Island’s Southeast Light, the ESSEX is an exception to this. Measuring 259 feet in length and displacing just over 3,000 tons, the iron hulled freighter ESSEX, bound from Lisbon, Portugal to New York with a general cargo which included 600 tons of cork and 300 tons of sand ballast to counterbalance the empty cargo space, simply foundered off Block Island with no other reason given.