Prior's Haven, Hope

1803 wreck of British craft which was wrecked at Prior's Haven during a storm, having arrived 10 days previously; a wooden sailing vessel. `The HOPE, Liddell, is lost at Prior's Haven, on the Yorkshire coast.' (1)

`NB: The only Priors Haven we have been able to locate is that at the mouth of the River Tyne, and have therefore assumed that this is a County Durham wreck.' (2)

NB: Source (2) expresses the date of loss as a reporting date of 21-JAN-1803, based on the issue date of source (1).

`In early January the following year [1803] another great storm hit the waters of the East Coast, which lasted for nearly two days. Beginning in the middle of the night, the winds rose until they were said to be "a perfect hurricane", blowing from the east-south-east. This tempest was accompanied by rain and sleet. With the coming of dawn, observers on the coasts of Northumberland and County Durham noted that the sea was a mass of white and broken water.

`...Meanwhile, the casualties of the storm were still mounting. A vessel named the HOPE, which had sought the relative safety of Priors Haven, Tynemouth, was dashed to pieces.' (3)

`Newcastle, January 15...DREADFUL STORM. About midnight on Saturday last, a perfect hurricane arose, and blew from the ESE, with rain and sleet, during the whole of Sunday, and nearly all Monday. The sea upon the coast in this neighbourhood was almost all white or broken water as far as the eye could reach, and ran mountains high...The following are the particulars we have been able to collect...

`The HOPE, Liddell, which got into Prior's Haven about 10 days since, was dashed to pieces on Sunday night.' (4) Verbatim, apart from "Sunday se'nnight", in (6).

There appears to be some confusion between the HOPE and the ISABELLA (q.v.) since a virtually identical text concerning the ISABELLA appears in a different newspaper [in another source the master of the ISABELLA is named as Phillips]:

`Newcastle, Saturday, January 15, 1803...On Saturday night a most tremendous gale of wind came on from the ESE. The sea, at Tynemouth Bar, rose an almost unexampled height; the oldest person living does not remember the sea breaking so far out at the mouth of this harbour, except in the year 1763, and in the memorable gale...of December 1784. The gale lasted Sunday, Monday and Tuesday last...'

`The ISABELLA, Liddle, which got into Prior's Haven about 10 days since, was dashed to pieces on Sunday night.' (5)

Master: Liddell (1)(4); Liddle (5)

Date of Loss Qualifier: A