Sunday, 8th January 1854. Eleven ships were wrecked on the Herd Sand between 9pm and 2am Monday morning...BON VIRGINE [sic] of France...The full complement of those eleven ships were safely landed without loss or injury, 87 seamen all told.

Wrecked on the Herd in wind conditions NE force 6, `caused by not carrying enough sail and not keeping enough to the northward.` Her crew were saved by the lifeboat.

Built: 1841
Where built: Plymouth
Master: G Carlile
Crew: 6
Owner: G Carlile
Construction: Yellow Metal over part Iron Bolts

1811 wreck of English craft which grounded on the Herd Sand during a storm, but which was later recovered; a wooden sailing vessel. Master: Luna

1849 brig drifted to Herd Sand in gales. The Shields lifeboat went out to the rescue, but capsized, drowning twenty men.
Extract from North and South Shields Gazette 7th December 1849:

It is our painful duty this week to record one of the most melancholy and deplorable of accidents which has befallen our port for a long period of years. Twenty of the bravest of our pilots have fallen victim to their daring intrepidity in the cause of humanity and have been engulfed beneath the waves...

`Since last Sunday our coast has experienced a continuous succession of violent gales...On Tuesday forenoon it blew a heavy fresh of wind from the east with snow and sleet, producing a very sharp and dangerous sea on the bar. Between 9 and 10 o'clock a light brig, the BETSEY of Littlehampton, was seen making for the harbour, and shortly after was drifted by the force of the sea on a very dangerous point of the Herd Sand. No sooner was she seen to strike than the PROVIDENCE lifeboat was launched from South Shields...In a few minutes she was alongside of the brig. A rope was thrown to her and made fast. A part of her crew were preparing to mount the vessel's side to rescue the endangered mariners, when in a moment she ws seen to heel suddenly round, mount upon the crest of an enormous wave, tilt over, and bury her crew in the turbid waters. Three by almost a miracle gained her upturned bottom...A fourth snatched a rope which had been thrown from the brig and was hauled to safety on her deck. The remaining twenty...sank exhausted...

[The other boat put off with a different crew, and joined by the NORTHUMBERLAND, searched for the PROVIDENCE, and towed her to shore. The NORTHUMBERLAND took off the brig's crew.]

Master: J Tucker

1779 wreck of Scottish cargo vessel which stranded on the Herd Sand en route from Gothenburg to Leith with iron and deals; a wooden sailing vessel.

October 20th 1881, the Norwegian galliot BERTHA was wrecked on the Herd Sand. The lifeboats TOM PERRY and TYNE were launched; the TOM PERRY being the first alongside the casualty, picked up Captain Olsen, and the rest of the crew. The coxswain of the TOM PERRY was Andrew Harrison, second coxswain John Landers Burn.

1813 ran aground on Herd Sand, taken off with considerable damage.

Master: Chapman

1797 wreck of English collier which stranded on the Herd Sand on entering Shields from London; a wooden sailing vessel.

1815 wreck of Scottish craft which stranded on the Herd Sand on her departure from Newcastle-upon-Tyne for Dundee; a wooden sailing vessel. Master: Mawes or Mews; Crew Lost: 1

Sunday, 8th January 1854. Eleven ships were wrecked on the Herd Sand between 9pm and 2am Monday morning. First was the AURORA of Sunderland...The full complement of those eleven ships were safely landed without loss or injury, 87 seamen all told