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.

Rhode Island’s Perilous Coast Southeast Light, Block Island (Part 1)

Reprinted from “The Lighthouse Log” Fall 2017.

This article was contributed by Jim Jenney, BLMA Maritime Historian

One of the most dangerous points on the Rhode Island coast is the southeastern corner of Block Island. Although inhabitants lobbied for years to have a lighthouse built at that location, it was not constructed until 1874 and did not go into service until February 1, 1875. Over the years at least a dozen vessels have been lost at or very close to this point including four sailing vessels before the lighthouse was built and eight powered vessels afterwards. This is the first part of a three-part article about those wrecks.

Rhode Island’s Perilous Coast – Whale Rock (Part 1)

Reprinted from “The Lighthouse Log” Summer 2016.

This article was contributed by Jim Jenney, BLMA Maritime Historian

Just a little more than a mile west by south from Beavertail Light is one of the most interesting maritime dangers in the state. Whale Rock is sometimes noted as the smallest island in Narragansett Bay but is really little more than an exposed rocky ledge whose name is derived from its appearance. It sits rather as a guardian to ships choosing to enter Narragansett Bay via the West Passage and has claimed almost a dozen vessels which have been lost in the surrounding waters in the past century and a half. The following briefly describes those lost vessels.

RHODE ISLAND’S PERILOUS COAST—BONNET POINT (PART 2)

Rhode Island’s Perilous Coast – Bonnet Point (Part 2)

Reprinted from “The Lighthouse Log” Spring 2015.

This article was contributed by Jim Jenney, BLMA Maritime Historian

This is a continuation of a discussion of ships wrecked on Narragansett’s Bonnet Point, situated just a few miles from Beavertail Lighthouse. Previously detailed were four of the sev- en known total losses. We will look at the other three including what could arguably be called one of the top ten shipwrecks in the state’s maritime history.
Without question, the most memorable and costly maritime disaster to take place at “The Bonnet” occurred on a cold November day in 1880. The side wheel steamer RHODE ISLAND left New York bound for Providence on her final trip of the season with Captain Jesse Mott in command. Due to the vagaries of tide and current, and in a dense fog, the steamer “missed her marks” and ran ashore about 300 feet from a bluff called “Jacob’s Ladder”, some 300 feet north of the southern extremity of Bonnet Point.

Rhode Islands Perilous Coast Bonnet Point – (Part 1)

Reprinted from “The Lighthouse Log” Winter 2014.

This article was contributed by Jim Jenney, BLMA Maritime Historian

Rhode Island’s Perilous Coast – Bonnet Point (Part 1)

On the west side of the western passage into Narragansett Bay about two miles from Beavertail Light there is a crescent shaped sandy beach at a point known simply as “The Bonnet”, Over the years the rocky shores along the eastern side of the point have been the scene of a number of maritime disasters which have resulted in the loss of more than a half dozen vessels including one of the earliest shipwrecks in the state and one of the most Slot Gacor Gampang Menang prominent of the “night boats” that routinely traveled a course between Providence and New York City. The following is a brief description of these ill-fated vessels whose final voyage left them there.