This record comprises a documentary reference to a shipping casualty which has been assigned to the maritime named location FRESHWATER WEST pending more information which may allow a more precise location for the loss to be assigned.

Event and Historical Information:
The THOMAS M REED was a 1516nt, full-rigged ship belonging to E & A Sewell, of Bath, Maine, and under the command of a Captain Samll. The Pembrokeshire Herald reported that ' This was the first voyage of this fine vessel that has ended her career so disastrously, and she was bound from San Francisco to Liverpool, with a general cargo of great value, principally composed of preserved fruit, preserved meats, tinned salmon, etc. Of the latter, there were 15,000 boxes on board, each box containing two dozen tins. It seems that the crew mistook St. Ann's light for some other light and so ran ashore, the night being extremely dark, with a heavy sea running. The crew, comprising 21 men, all told, were saved with much difficulty by the rocket apparatus, excepting the second mate and two seamen, who were drowned. The bay is strewn with the debris of the wreck and thousands of boxes of meat, etc. It is said that, the vessel is uninsured.' Wheat was the other cargo on board when, on 12 January 1879, the vessel was caught in southerly force 9 gale, and ran ashore at Frais Mill, Freswater West Bay. The Deputy Reciver of Wrecks, George Young, organsied 20 neighbouring farmers? carts and horses and, with 100 local people, saved over the next four days £10,000 worth of property which had been scattered around the bay. The property was put in a place of safety in charge of two officers of customs, five coastguardsmen, six men of the volunteer brigade, and the police.

Sources include:
Board of Trade Wreck Return 1879 Appendix Parts I-IV pg104 (169)
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Pembrokeshire Herald and General Advertiser, 17 January 1879, http://welshnewspapers.llgc.org.uk/en/page/view/3059352/ART14
Pembrokeshire Herald and General Advertiser, 23 May 1879, http://welshnewspapers.llgc.org.uk/en/page/view/3059447/ART11

Maritime Officer, RCAHMW, October 2009.