Site Record

This record consists of a documentary reference to a shipping casualty which has been assigned to the maritime named location NASH SANDS pending more information which may allow a more precise location for the loss to be assigned.

Event and Historical Information:
The NEW DOMINION was a full rigged ship built by James Colledge Pope at Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia in 1867. Technical and configuration specifications are given as 755gt, 660nt; 173ft length x 32ft 2in breadth x 19ft 7in depth; single deck, 3 masts; sheathed in felt and yellow metal, party fastened with iron bolts. At time of loss, the vessel was still owned by Pope who was, at one time, Prince Edwards Island's third largest shipowner (some 130 vessels were registered in his name from 1850s onward). Born on 11 May 1826 at Bedeque, Pope entered Prince Edward Island politics in 1857 when the island was still a British colony. He served as premier of the colony from 1865 to 1867, 1870 to 1872, and was premier in 1873 when the island joined the Canadian confederation. He also served as the Canadian Minister of Marine and Fisheries from 1878. He died on 8 May 1885. This particular ship had been transferred from Canadian to Liverpool registry in 1868. The NEW DOMINION had sailed from Prince Edward Island under the command of master Laurence Kirkham on 18 December 1871. The ship had sighted the Lundy Island light by 2 January. The following day the weather became very thick. Morte Head was sighted dead ahead at noon, one mile off. The ship was then tacked to the northeast, the wind at the time being east-southeast. At 2.30 pm land was again seen dead ahead one mile distant and the ship was tacked to the southward. The lead line indicating the vessel had 10.5 fathoms of water beneath the keel. Two further casts of the lead gave 13 fathoms when suddenly the ship struck and bumped heavily. The sea commenced to make a clean breach over the vessel. So great was the force of the waves the ship quickly broke in two amidships and the crew were compelled to take to the boats. At the Court of Inquiry held at Liverpool, it was considered that the Master had failed to use the lead sufficiently when standing towards the dangerous sands on the Welsh coast. He also neglected to make any due allowance for the set and strength of the tide, whereby he became confined inside the Nash Sand. The Court found the Master in default, and ordered his certificate suspended for three months.

Sources include:
Board of Trade Inquiry 1871 Part VI Table 42 page 105(703)
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1998, Ships and Seafarers of Atlantic Canada, CD ROM

WWW resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Colledge_Pope

Maritime Officer, RCAHMW, May 2009.