1800-1899

TIME-LINE
Merchant and Navy Ship events
1800 - 1899

*1800*
1/7 1800	First convoy duty; USS Essex escorts convoy of merchant ships from East Indies to US
7/7 1800	Attack by British fire-ships in Dunkirk roads.
1/10 1800	US Schooner Experiment captures French Schooner Diana.
4/11 1800	HMS MALBOROUGH (74 guns) wrecked off Belleisle.

*1801*
2/4 1801	The Battle of Copenhagen - The Royal Danish Naval Defence Squadron, commanded by Captain J. Olfert Fischer, fights for more than 4 hours against a superior British naval force, commanded by Vice Admiral Lord Nelson. Lord Nelson ignores the signals from his superior officer, Admiral Parker, to cease fighting, in stead he forced a ceasefire with the Danes, thus making an end to this battle.
1/7 1801	US squadron under Commodore Dale enters Mediterranean to strike Barbary Pirates.
12/7 1801	Victory of Admiral Saumarez off Gibraltar.
21/8 1801	Several small enemy ships destroyed in a British attack on Etaples.

*1802*

*1803*
30/4 1803	Napoleon Bonaparte sells Louisiana to the US for $27 million; territories between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains first claimed by explorers from New France.
3/7 1803	HMS MINERVA (38 guns) went ashore and was captured near Cherbourg.
9/6 1803	Investigator. British vessel, sloop, 334 ton. Formerly HMS Xenophon. Commandeered by Matthew Flinders. Saw Cape Leeuwin on 13 December 1801.Arrived Sydney 9 May 1802; sailed north on 22 July 1802 with Lady Nelson as tender. During charting of the Gulf of Carpentaria, the Investigator leaked so badly that she was barely navigable and in November 1802, the ships carpenters gave her six months, if sailing conditions were favourable. The ship survived the long trip around Australia, and came down the west coast, then across the Great Australia Bight, finally reaching Sydney on 9 June 1803. He and many of his men were sick with scurvy and dysentery. The Investigator was condemned as unfit for any further journeys.

*1804*
3/10 1804	Four Spanish treasure ships taken by HMS INDEFATIGABLE.
19/11 1804	HMS ROMNEY (50 guns) wrecked off Dutch coast.
24/11 1804	HMS VENERABLE (74 guns) wrecked off Paignton.

*1805*
7/1 1805	British Forty-four-gun ship SHEERNEES wrecked at Trincomale, Ceylon.
21/1 1805	Loss of HMS DORIS (36 guns) in Quiberon Bay.
5/3 1805	Cutting out of French privateer by boat from HMS ÉCLAIR at Guadeloupe.
27/4 1805	Naval forces capture Derne, Tripoli; raise first US flag over foreign soil.
22/7 1805	Spanish fleet defeated by British Admiral Calder off Ferrol.
10/8 1805	British HMS PHOENIX captured French LA DIDON after tremendous duel.
21/10 1805	Vice Admiral of the White Viscount Nelson won his great victory over the Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar, flying his flag in HMS Victory. Nelson commanded 27 ships of the line against Vice-Admiral Villeneuve's 33. The British ships ran a gauntlet of fire to break through the Franco-Spanish line, and fight a devastating close-range gunnery action. 16 French and Spanish ships were destroyed, and four captured. Lord Nelson was fatally wounded by a marksman aboard the Redoutable, but survived long enough to know that his fleet was winning.
3/11 1805	Four French First-rates captured by Admiral Strachan off Ferrol.

1806
6/2 1806	Admiral Duckworth’s victory over French fleet at San Domingo.
13/3 1806	Two French warships captured in Atlantic by squadron of Admiral Warren.
27/6 1806	Buenos Aires captured by Admiral Popham.
15/7 1806	Boats of Sir Samuel Hood’s squadron cut out French ship CAESAR (18 guns) in the Garonne.
18/10 1806	HMS Caroline conducted a highly successful operation against Dutch coastal traffic, capturing two ships, and driving ashore four warships and eight merchant vessels.
12/11 1806	Reunion taken by boats from HMS GALATEA.

*1807*
20/2 1807	A squadron of ships under Vice-Admiral Sir John Duckworth forced a passage of the Dardanelles, and completely destroyed a Turkish fleet of 13 ships.
21/3 1807	Surrender of Alexandria and Turkish squadron to Sir Benjamin Hallowell.
22/6 1807	HMS Leopard attacks USS Chesapeake.
4/10 1807	HMS WINDSOR CASTLE defeats French privateer off Barbados.
25/12 1807	Admiral Cochrane captured St. Croix.

*1808*
2/3 1808	Capture of Danish Admiral and his ship by HMS SAPPHO (18 guns) off Flamborough Head.
14/3 1808	The brig Lougen II, commanded by Lieutenant Peter F. Wulff, drives the British brig Childers away after several hours of battle, off Hitterø in Norway.
4/4 1808	Destruction of French convoy by British ships.
27/10 1808	Boats from HMS PHAETON cut out small Spanish ship.
10/11 1808	THETIS captured by HMS AMETHYST.

1809
14/1 1809	Capture of Cayenne by HMS CONFIANCE.
18/4 1809	Destruction of French squadron in Aix Roads by Lord Cochrane.
10/6 1809	First US steamboat to a make an ocean voyage leaves New York for Philadelphia
7/7 1809	Six Russian gunboats and twelve ships from a convoy taken by boats from HMS BELLEROPHON and HMS IMPREGNABLE off Finland.
31/10 1809	John Molson 1764-1836 sends steamboat Accommodation on maiden voyage; first steamboat in Canada makes seven day round trip from Montreal to Quebec and back

*1810*
27/1 1810	City of Edinburgh. Ship, 526 tons. Captain Pattison. Left New Zealand on 7 January 1810 for England via the Cape Horn to deliver timber, calling at Valparaiso for repairs following damage near the Straits of Magellan, then on to Callao. After rounding Cape Horn she foundered ‘somewhere in the Atlantic’. The crew escaped in two boats but only one reached safety. Some confusion exists concerning her port of destination. She had brought no less than 100,000 litres of spirits to Port Jackson, from Cape Town, in 1808.
24/8 1810	HM Frigate NEREIDE (36 guns) captured by French Squadron.
28/8 1810	HM Frigate IPHIGENIA (38 guns) captured by the French off Mauritius.
29/10 1810	Capture of Spanish ROSARIO by HMS PASLEY. Under 200 seamen capture 1.500 Dutch troops and island of Banda.
3/12 1810	Capture of Mauritius by British squadron.
22/12 1810	HMS MINOTAUR (74 guns) wrecked off Dutch coast.

1811
16/2 1811	HMS AMETHYST (36 guns) wrecked in Plymouth Sound.
12/3 1811	Battle of Lissa (Adriatic), one of the best frigate actions of the Napoleonic Wars. A squadron of four British frigates led by Captain William Hoste defeated a French/Venetian squadron of six frigates and four smaller ships.
25/3 1811	HMS BERWICK destroyed French ship AMAZONE off Barfleur.
27/3 1811	Gunboat Flotilla of 12 gunboats, 12 transport vessels etc., commanded by Lieutenant Jørgen C. de Falsen and a detachment of soldiers attacks the British garrison on the Danish island of Anholt. The frigate TARTAR and the brig SHELDRAKE support the British garrison. The attack is beaten off, and the Danish flotilla looses 2 gunboats and 2 other ships.
20/5 1811	Two French ship captured by HMS PHOEBE and RACEHORSE off Madagascar.
1/8 1811	Three Danish gunboats captured off Nyborg by British boat-attack.
18/8 1811	HMS TARTAR (32 guns) wrecked in the Baltic.
20/9 1811	Boats of HMS VICTORY captured two Danish gunboats.
11/10 1811	The first steam-powered ferryboat, the Juliana, was put into operation between New York City and Hoboken NJ.
18/10 1811	US sloop of war Wasp captures HM brig Frolic.
2/11 1811	HMS IMPERIEUSE and THAMES captured and destroyed 10 Neapolitan gunboats off Cape Pallinure.
24/12 1811	The British ships-of-the-line St George & Defence of the British fleet in Danish waters commanded by Vice Admiral Sir James Saumarez, ran aground off Torsminde at the west coast of Jutland and where lost. Around 1,400 men are lost.

1812
22/2 1812	Capture of RIVOLI (74 guns) by HMS VICTORIOUS and WEAZEL.
22/5 1812	Destruction of 3 French ships by HMS NORTHUMBERLAND.
4/6 1812	Boats from HMS MEDUSA cut out DORADO.
22/6 1812	British schooner Duke of Gloucester and another brig battle the US schooner Julia in War of 1812 naval engagement; Julia limps back to Ogdensburg; British ships to Kingston.
27/6 1812	British fleet captured a convoy off Alassio.
16/7 1812	USS NAUTILUS (14 guns) captured off the Chesapeake of the Bristish fleet.
16/8 1812	USS Constitution recaptures American merchant brig Adeline.
17/8 1812	US Frigate President captures British schooner L'Adeline in North Atlantic.
19/8 1812	The USS Constitution - also known as Old Ironsides - attacks the British frigate Guerriere east of Nova Scotia during the War of 1812.
31/8 1812	Attack by boats of HMS BACCHANTE and capture of three small ships at Casale di Leme.
17/9 1812	Capture of 17 gunboats by the boats of HMS EAGLE.
25/10 1812	USS United States (CAPT Stephen Decatur) captures HMS Macedonian.
27/11 1812	HMS SOUTHAMPTON (32 guns) wrecked in the Bahamas.
29/12 1812	USS Constitution (Captain William Bainbridge) captures HMS Java off Brazil after a three-hour battle.

1813
12/1 1813	US Frigate Chesapeake captures British Volunteer
14/1 1813	US Frigate Chesapeake captures British brig Hero.
17/1 1813	U.S. VIPER (12 guns) captured by HMS NARCISSUS (32 guns).
8/2 1813	Isabella. Vessel of 193 tons. Left Sydney for London on 4 December 1812; wrecked on the Falkland Islands, 8 February 1813. After all had landed safely on Eagle Island a small boat was constructed from one of her damaged boats, and in it several crew members reached the River Plate (Riva de la Plata, east coast, Argentina). The brig Nancy left immediately to rescue those still on the Falklands and on her passage captured an American sealing schooner loaded with about 8,000 skins. (England and America were at war over the action of England towards neutral vessels in the Napoleonic War of 1812-1815).
27/4 1813	US Navy and Army forces capture York (now Toronto), Canada.
1/6 1813	HMS Shannon captures USS Chesapeake, Capt. James Lawrence. As the mortally wounded Captain Lawrence was carried below, he ordered "Tell the men to fire faster! Don't give up the ship!" These words would live on in naval history. Oliver Hazard Perry honoured his dead friend Lawrence when he had the motto sewn onto the private battle flag flown during the Battle of Lake Erie, 10 September 1813.
13/6 1813	Philip Vere Broke, commanding HMS Shannon, with 38 guns, defeats US warship Chesapeake, commanded by James Lawrence, off Boston; tows her to Halifax as a prize.
27/6 1813	USS President anchors in Bergen, Norway.
14/8 1813	HMS Pelican captures USS Argus.
8/11 1813	Boats from HMS REVENGE cut out French privateer from Palamos.

*1814*
14/1 1814	Peace are made in Kiel between Denmark and England/Sweden. Norway are forced into a union with Sweden, ending 400 years of a joined Danish-Norwegian Navy.
19/2 1814	USS Constitution captures British brig Catherine.
15/4 1814	Kingston Navy Dockyard launches two warships, the Prince Regent and the Princess Charlotte; under Commodore Sir James Yeo, they will blockade the American fleet in Sackett's Harbour and capture Oswego, restoring Canadian control of Lake Ontario in the War of 1812 and ending the threat of US invasion.
29/4 1814	USS Peacock captures HMS Epervier.
28/6 1814	USS Wasp captures HMS Reindeer.
14/8 1814	Lt. Miller Worsley scuttles and burns schooner Nancy to prevent capture by US ships Niagara, Tigress and Scorpion on Georgian Bay; will later capture Tigress off Manitoulin Island.
28/10 1814	Launching of Fulton I, first American steam powered warship, at New York City. Robert Fulton designed the ship. (See also 20/6 1815)

1815
15/1 1815	British HMS ENDYMION (40 guns) captured U.S. PRESIDENT near Sandy Hooks.
16/2 1815	USS Constitution captures British Susannah.
20/2 1815	USS Constitution, under Captain Charles Stewart, captures HMS Cyane and sloop-of-war Levant.
22/3 1815	USS Hornet captures HMS Penguin in battle lasting 22 minutes.
20/6 1815	Trials of Fulton I, built by Robert Fulton, are completed in New York. This ship would become the Navy's first steam-driven warship.
7/8 1815	Frances and Eliza. Convict ship. From Cork, Ireland, arrived Sydney 7 August 1815 with 54 male and 70 female passengers on board. Intercepted by the American privateer Warrior in the Atlantic, where items in the captains possession were stolen.

1816
25/3 1816	Emu. Royal Navy, 10 gun brig. Captain Foster. Left Sydney for England via the Cape of Good Hope on 25 March 1816 but ran into a hurricane approaching the South African coast, lost a topmast and ran on to a rock in Simon’s Bay. Refloated but apparently condemned and used as a wood vessel until ashore in a gale and broken up.
21/5 1816	Steamboat General Smythe begins operating on the Saint John River.
3/7 1816	French frigate Medusa runs aground off Cap Blanc. Gross incompetence kills 150 in calm seas.
27/8 1816	Algiers bombarded by Lord Exmouth.

1817
21/1 1817	Loss of HMS JASPER (10 guns) and HMS TELEGRAPH (12 guns) in Plymout Sound.
8/4 1817	Norwegian ship BEATHA, stranded and wrecked at Vaderoarna, Sweden. Norwegian brig VENUS, stranded at Vaderoarna, Sweden. She was on a voyage from Bergen to Riga with a cargo of herring. Later refloated.
5/6 1817	Launching of steamship Frontenac at Kingston; first steamer on the Great Lakes makes its inaugural trip west to the town of York.

1818
31/5 1818	Lady Castereagh. Convict transport, wooden, copper sheathed ship, 848 tons Captain Welton After unloading convicts at Hobart the transport called at Sydney and loaded troops for India intending to then return to England. She left on 31 May 1818 only to be lost sometime later on the coast of Madras, India.

*1819*
20/6 1819	Savannah becomes 1st steamship to cross any ocean (Atlantic).

1820
21/4 1820	Echo. Whaler, 112 tons was lost on Wreck Reef in Torres Strait on 21 April 1820, while sailing out from England to New Zealand. The crew worked for a month strengthening two boats before setting out for the Australian mainland which they reached safely.
20/11 1820	Essex. Nantucket whaler, 238 tons. Captain Pollard. Sweet revenge!!! Wrecked by a huge whale in Pacific Ocean, 20 November 1820. Most of the men were in three vessels chasing whales. After three months the few survivors were rescued. The convict ship Surry searched and found more survivors on remote Henderson Island.

*1821*

*1822*
30/3 1822	Florida became a U.S. territory.
7/4 1822	Madeline. Barque, 256 tons. From England to Australia, lost near the Cape Verde Islands.
1/6 1822	Grace. Ship, 245 tons. Built Ipswich, Suffolk, UK. Armed with four guns and carried a crew of seventeen. Owned by Buckles and Co. Of London; reg. London. Master Robert Lethbridge. With a cargo of wool and oil, destroyed by fire in Struys Bay near the Cape of Good Hope while bound from Sydney to London, 1 June 1822. No loss of life. Part of the oil had been stored in the hold above the wool, and was ignited by spontaneous combustion when off Cape Agulhas.
21/7 1822	Royal George. Ship, 486. From Sydney to England with a cargo of wool, was destroyed by a gale at Table Bay, South Africa
24/8 1822	Victorine. Schooner, 70 tons. Built at Mauritius; reg. Hobart. Master William Risk. Left Sydney for Mauritius on 24 August 1822, but never arrived, presumed foundered with seven or eight people.
30/9 1822	HMS Eliza on anti-slavery patrol, captured the slave ship Firme Union off Cuba.

*1823*
10/10 1823	Ketch S:T JOHANNI, stranded and wrecked at Vaderöarna, Sweden, when on a voyage Liverpool to Barth with salt and rum.
18/12 1823	HMS ARAB (18 guns) wrecked off Irish coast.

*1824*
20/10 1824	US Schooner Porpoise captures four pirate ships off Cuba.

*1825*
19/2 1825	Lady Nelson. Disappeared after leaving Fort Dundas for Coepang in Timor, 19 February 1825. In July 1825 the Dutch Navy reported that a vessel answering her description had been destroyed. Rumours that she had been destroyed by natives were later confirmed.It appears she had been seized and burnt by Malay pirates at Aluta Island late in February. Another version claimed she called at the island of Baba where the crew made fun of one of the native girls, and were subsequently murdered by the natives, then the brig was run ashore and burned. A gun, still in possession of the islanders was supposed to have come from her.
30/8 1825	Nassau. (Brig, wood, 208 tons. Built Gosport, UK, 1819). Left Sydney for London in June 1825; wrecked on Tristan da Cunha after developing a severe leak and being run ashore to save life, 30 August 1825. The crew eventually reached the small settlement on the north western side of the island on the 3 December . All but two who elected to remain were taken on to Hobart by the barque Fairlie.
26/10 1825	The Erie Canal opened in upstate New York, connecting Lake Erie and the Hudson River.

1826

*1827*
23/4 1827	Digging starts on the Shubenacadie Canal, to connect Halifax with the Bay of Fundy
20/10 1827	British victory at Navarino.

*1828*
13/1 1828	Jessie Lawson. Ship, 320 tons. Built at Quebec, 1824, and owned by John Marshall & Co., a London company specialising in emigrants to the colonies. Captain J. Church. She was to have embarked fifty-two emigrants from Plymouth, England for Hobart on 14 January 1828, but was wrecked the day before in a gale when her cables parted. She was driven on to the Indian Trader, and then went on to the rocks in Mount Batten Bay. The John and Robert was also wrecked nearby. Sixteen other vessels were either wrecked or badly damaged in the storm.
19/8 1828	Letitia. Ship, about 700 tons. Captain Clements. Reported lost on rocks off St. Jago in the Cape Verde Islands on 19 August 1828 while bound from Dublin to Hobart Town. No loss of life. The passengers eventually arrived in Australia on other vessels. According to a passenger, hte ship was lost due to the ‘misconduct of her captain and crew’.

*1829*
1/2	HMS Black Joke captured a Spanish slave-ship off West Africa.
31/3 1829	Columbine. Brig, 280 tons. From London to Sydney with supplies of religious books and pamphlets belonging to the London Wesleyan Missionary Society, for the use of missionaries in the Australian Colonies, New Zealand and Tonga, was lost on the west coast of South Africa between St. Helena and Saldara Bay (fifty miles north of Cape Town)
4/9 1829	Marquis of Anglesea. Ship, 352 tons. Arrived at Swan River, Western Australia, carrying 104 passengers and a general cargo, on 23 August 1829. On 4 September during a gale she dragged her anchors, went ashore. Sold as a wreck she was let out as a store, office, and prison ship until broken up about three years later.

1830
13/10 1830	Volusia. Brig, 145 tons. From Sydney to Scotland, was lost on the South American coast, 13 October 1830.

*1831*
16/3 1831	Betsy & Sophia. This whaler left England on a sealing voyage under the command of Captain Fotheringham on 3 June 1830. Her master died, then she was almost lost while anchored off Prince Edward Island. She was wrecked while leaving Desolation Island in the Kerguelen Group, southern Indian Ocean, 16 March 1831. In six months the survivors, under first mate Peter Paterson, had built a sloop of about 20 tons, named Liberty, from the wreckage. Fourteen put to sea on 6 December 1831 and made Macquarie Harbour, Tasmania on 3 February 1832, then Hobart on 14 December. Five men remained on Desolation Island as they feared the seaworthiness of the Liberty, and were picked up by the vessel Ocean on 5 March 1832.
27/4 1831	Steamship Royal William launched at Quebec City; first Canadian vessel to cross the Atlantic entirely under steam power.
18/5 1831	Celia. Brig, 211 tons. From Sydney to London, was lost off Ushant, France.
20/6 1831	America. Convict transport, 391 tons . Wrecked near Timor when bound from Sydney to England, via Batavia. Survivors from her were landed at Sydney by the Government brig Governor Phillips on 15 October. Another version says she struck a reef near Bunker Island off the Queensland coast and the crew all reached Moreton Bay on 27 July 1831.
19/8 1831	Sailing ship Lady Sherbrooke wrecked off Cape Bay; 273 persons drown.

*1832*
30/5 1832	Rideau Canal officially opened to traffic, with 47 locks linking the Ottawa River at Ottawa with Lake Ontario at Kingston; first proposed as a military route between the two cities; 50 dams built to control water levels along the route.
21/6 1832	Science. Ship, 235 ton. After sailing from Hobart for London on 9 May 1832, was almost overwhelmed by a huge sea on 21 June when about 650 kilometres west of Cape Horn. Four men, boats and other gear were swept away, while the main and mizzen masts were brought down. Five days later the whaler Warrens took off the fifteen survivors and she was abandoned.
13/7 1832	Meredith. Barque, 228 tons. Captain Fullerton. From Liverpool to New Zealand via the Sandwich Islands was lost in the Hokianga River on 13 July, 1832. She had attempted to cross the bar at the Hokianga Harbour entrance (North Island, New Zealand). The boatswain was drowned, then Maoris robbed the survivors of most of their possessions.

*1833*
3/1 1833	Britain seized control of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.
5/2 1833	Hibernia. Wooden ship, 456 tons. Captain W Brend. Bound from Liverpool toHobart with 232 passengers and crew, on fire on 5 February 1833 soon after crossing the equator. Only seventy- nine could be accommodated in the three boats, leaving the remainder to be burnt to death or drowned. One hundred and fifty-three perished in the ship and eighteen on the boats. The survivors, picked up by the ship Lotus were taken on to Rio de Janeiro and eventually reached Hobart in the brig Adelaide.
25/4 1833	Anne. Type unknown. Captain Cadegan. From Sydney to Ireland, was lost in the Severn (east England, an ‘extension’ of the Bristol Channel). No loss of life.
11/5 1833	Passenger ship Lady of the Lake sinks after striking an iceberg between Quebec and England; 215 people drown.
24/6 1833	USS Constitution enters drydock at Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston, MA, for overhaul. The ship was saved from scrapping after public support rallied to save the ship following publication of Oliver Wendell Holmes' poem, "Old Ironsides"
25/8 1833	Amphrite. Convict transport, 208 tons. Captain John Hunter. Left London for Sydney on 25 August 1833 with one hundred and six convict women, ten of their children, the wife of the ship’s surgeon, and a crew of nineteen. Soon after sailing a storm forced her off course, and then in a calm she drifted ashore in Boulogne Harbour on the French coast. It was low tide and a pilot boat offered to take off the entire ship's complement but her master refused, believing the women would be difficult to control once ashore, and in any case the ship was expected to float free on the high tide. A French sailor who knew the treachery of the tides along the coast and realised the ship was in grave danger swam out to her and offered to take a line ashore. His offer was also declined by both master and surgeon; then as the tide flooded in the Amphrite pounded heavily and within a few hours broke in two, going to pieces in a few minutes. Only three seamen who floated ashore on a piece of wreckage were saved.
26/8 1833	Captain James Ross and his shipwrecked crew of 19 are rescued off Baffin Island by his flagship, the whaler Isabella; Ross and crew survived four winters with the help of the Inuit before abandoning Victory to the ice, and setting off, in shipwrecked boats they had found and repaired, through a lane of water that opened up leading northward
11/9 1833	Quebec-built steamship Royal William reaches England safely; the wooden paddle wheeler is the first ship to cross Atlantic entirely under steam power; engineers had to stop every few days to clean salt from the boilers.
12/10 1833	Lady Munro. Wooden ship of 254 tons, wrecked when bound from Calcutta, Madras, and Mauritius to Van Diemen's Land, on Amsterdam Island, 12 October 1833. Only 22 survived from her complement of ninety-seven.
23/11 1833	Finnish schooner SOPHIA wrecked north of Vaderoarna, Sweden, when on a voyage from Nya Carleby to Lissabon with a cargo of timber.
?/11 1833	British brig OCEAN from Clay, capsized off Vaderoarna, Sweden She was salvaged and taken in to Florö.

*1834*
4/7 1834	Mars. Brig, 269 tons. Built at Bristol, 1819. From Hobart to London via Batavia and Antarctic sealing grounds, was wrecked in the Falkland Islands, 4 July 1834. After forty-five days in the boats the crew were rescued and taken on to England.
10/12 1834	Sir Thomas Munro. Vessel of 331 tons. Bound from London to Sydney via Hobart, wrecked on Boa Vista Island in the Cape of Verde Islands on 10 December 1834. Some references date this wreck 1831. Her complement totalling fifty-six landed safely by boat.
17/12 1834	HMS Buzzard, on anti-slavery patrol, captured the slave-ship Formidable off the West African coast.

*1835*
2/5 1835	Hudson's Bay Company launches The Beaver, the first steamship on the British Columbia coast

*1836*
?/3 1836	Edinburgh. Wooden barque, 310 tons. Built Durham, UK; reg. London on 2 August 1833, # 234. Master Alexander Lyall. Left Sydney for Liverpool in March 1836 with a cargo of wool, oil and cedar, but was destroyed by fire when south east of New Zealand. Her crew and passengers landed safely at Wollongong, south of Sydney, after fifteen days in the boats.
5/8 1836	Clyde. Wooden ship, 431 tons. Owned by W.Smith & Sons. Reg. Either London or Liverpool, 31/1826. Master Nataniel Ireland. While on a voyage from Sydney to Liverpool via Batavia, with passengers and cargo, foundered when about five hundred kilometres from Mauritius, 5 August 1836. There was no loss of life.
24/11 1836	Fanny. Schooner. From Leith to Sydney, was lost off the English coast

*1837*
25/9 1837	Medora. Wooden ship , 382 tons. Master James Tweedie. Left Sydney to London on 21 June 1837 with thirteen passengers and a cargo of timber; lost on the Brazilian coast thirty miles north of Bahia, 25 September 1837. No loss of life. A small schooner rescued all passengers and crew.
3/11 1837	Dutch ship ANNA, stranded and wrecked at Vaderoarna, Sweden when on a voyage from Amsterdam to Königsberg with vine and general cargo. The crew was saved. Danish schooner HAABET from Svendborg, stranded and wrecked at Mittskar, Vaderoarna, Sweden when on a voyage from Bristol to Svendborg with a cargo of salt. Captain and three men of the crew parish. Three men saved.
29/12 1837	Royal Navy Commander Andrew Drew 1792-1878 and a group of Canadian militiamen cross the Niagara River to Fort Schlosser, and capture the American supply steamer Caroline used by William Lyon Mackenzie and his rebels on Navy Island. They set the ship ablaze, cut her adrift and send her toward Niagara Falls. This incident almost causes war between Britain and US. Legend says she went over the Falls.

1838
8/4 1838	Brunel's 236ft steamship Great Western left Bristol for New York on her maiden voyage
22/4 1838	The British packet steamer Sirius became the first steamship to cross the Atlantic to New York from England. The journey took 18 days and 10 hours.
24/11 1838	Dunlop. Wooden ship, 389 tons. Built Montreal 1806; reg. London. Captain Bance. From Liverpool to Hobart with eighty-one emigrants, was lost in Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, 24 November 1838. No loss of life. (Some references date this wreck 1836). She had arrived in fine weatherm and in entering the bay, headed past all the ships at anchor and went ashore, going to pieces within hours.

*1839*
19/1 1839	Juliana. Wooden barque, 549 tons. Built at Calcutta, 1819. From London to Sydney with 241 emigrants, wrecked at Mouille Point, Table Bay, South Africa, 19 January 1839. All the passengers and crew landed safely and were eventually taken on to Sydney by the Morayshire and Mary Hay. Aden captured with assistance of HMS VOLAGE.
21/2 1839	Trafalgar. Emigrant ship. From Liverpool to Sydney, ashore, wrecked, at Three Anchor Bay, in Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope, 21 February 1839. Her anchors failed to hold in near calm conditions and the crew attempted to wear ship; the masts were cut away but she was soon a total wreck. One lady passenger was killed by a falling spar, but most of the others continued on to Australia as soon as possible, leaving a few waiting for a passage back to England.
24/4 1839	Red Rover. Emigrant ship, 373 tons. Built Yarmouth, 1834. Master J. Smith. From London and Plymouth to Australia, ran agroundd, wrecked, at Port Praya, Island of St. Jago, in the Cape Verde Islands, 24 April 1839. The barque Ferguson, also London to Sydney, was moored close by and assisted in taking off the passengers and crew. The Ferguson could take only nine survivors from St. Jago; most of the survivors reached Sydney on board other ships by the end of August.

*1840*
7/4 1840	Glen Huntly. Barque, convict transport, 430 tons. Captain Buchanan. Sailed from Greenock with 157 emigramts, arriving Hobsons Bay 7 April 1840. Ten deaths from ‘fever’ on passage, with more to die ashore.
10/5 1840	Inca. Barque. From Liverpool to Sydney, went ashore on the Irish coast, 10 May 1840 and abandoned.
1/6 1840	Samuel Cunard 1787-1865 navigates his 700 ton wooden paddlewheel steamer Unicorn to Halifax; after two week trip from Liverpool with 27 passengers.
?/7 1840	Lord William Bentinck. Ship, 544 tons. Built at Bristol, 1828. From Sydney to London via Indian ports, was wrecked at Bombay in July 1840. Heavy loss of life.
4/9 1840	Prince Rupert. Wooden barque, 332 tons. Built 1827. Wrecked at Green Point, at the western entrance to Table Bay, Cape Town, South Africa, 4 September 1840.
9/9 1840	Beyrout bombarded by the Bristish fleet.
19/9 1840	Catherine Jamieson. Wooden three masted barque, 307 tons. From Fremantle to England via Batavia, lost at Cape Town. She was entering Table Bay when she struck Mouille Point. James Patterson. (James Pattison). Ship, 513 tons. Built at London, 1828. Captain Cromarty. Bound from Sydney to London via Bombay, destroyed by fire in latitude 4O3'N, longitude 26OW, 19 September 1840. All were saved by the Norval.
27/9 1840	Burning of Plymouth Dockyard.
24/11 1840	Norwegian ship TRENNE BRØDER stranded and sank off Vaderoarna, Sweden. Crew saved.
27/12 1840	Australia. Brig, 250 tons. Built at Dundee, 1839. Captain Yule. From Leith to South Australia on her maiden voyage, caught fire when about 800 km west of the Cape of Good Hope. The fifteen passengers and thirteen crew took to the boats only a short time before she was totally engulfed by the flames. A boy died while the boats were at sea and a man died after they landed at Olifants River following nine days at sea. Local farmers helped the survivors to reach Cape Town and some eventually arrived in Melbourne in the ship Byhar.

*1841*
1/3 1841	Dryade. Wooden ship, 266 tons. Built Bristol, UK, 1825; reg. London 386/1828. Master Robert Heard. From Sydney to London, foundered 200 miles from Madagascar in 1841, probably 1 or 2 March 1841. She had made many trips between England and Australia in the twelve years of her life. On her last voyage she sprang a leak which the crew were unable to contain. The passengers and crew took to the boats in heavy seas but managed to reach Fort Dauphin, on the south-east coast of Madagascar.
18/4 1841	Charlotte. Barque, 434/373 tons. Built Alloa, Scotland, 1839. Captain Forrester. Bound from London for Sydney with passengers, general cargo and thirty bulls, was lost on Madeline Rees, off Boa Vista Island in the Cape Verde Group, Atlantic. The passengers and crew took to the boats, and appear to have been saved.
20/7 1841	India. Barque, 493 tons. Left Greenock for Melbourne on 4 June 1841 with two hundred and sixteen emigrants and crew. On 20 July 1841 when in latitude 16OS, longitude 33OW the third mate and a boy were drawing spirits from a cask when some was spilt on a naked light. Within a short time the vessel was ablaze from stem to stern. The French whaler Roland saw her plight and rushed to the rescue but in the panic a boat from the India was overturned and several passengers drowned. Eventually all survivors were transferred to the whaler but nineteen had lost their lives. The Roland put into Rio de Janeiro; all were later sent on to Port Phillip, where many arrived destitute.
24/9 1841	Eleanor. Vessel of 244 tons. Captain Bracegirdle. From Belfast to Sydney, was lost on 24 September 1841.
30/9 1841	Admiral Bremer captures Chusan (China).
9/10 1841	Urania. Wooden ship, 467 tons. Built Chepstow, UK, 1834. From Liverpool to Sydney with two hundred and eight emigrants, was wrecked at the entrance to the River Dee south of Liverpool on 9 October 1841. Lifeboats rescued all passengers and crew before she broke up.

*1842*
27/2 1842	Fifeshire. Barque, 557 tons. Built 1841. After landing emigrants at Nelson, New Zealand, was leaving for Chinese ports on her way back to England on 27 February 1842 when the wind failed and she drifted broadside on to Arrow Reef and broke her back.
18/4 1842	Noormuhul. Barque, 197 tons. Built London, 1823. Captain Stephenson. Sailed from Launceston to London on 18 April 1842, and disappeared. She may well have joined the long list of mysterious disappearances, had it not been for the fact that a coloured man had been recognised at Port Arthur as having been on the lost ship. He admitted that the crew had mutinied and taken her to South America.
18/5 1842	William Nicol. Ship, 409 tons. Built 1834. While returning from Australia to England, was dismasted in the Indian Ocean, 18 May 1842. She struggled in to Port Louis for repairs but went on to a reef and was condemned after survey.
18/10 1842	Burhampooter. Wooden vessel of 550 tons. Built 1841. Captain Crowley. With bounty emigrants for Melbourne was swept ashore by a gale at Margate, England. The crew, seventy adult passengers and twenty children were saved but lost all their belongings. Later a subscription was opened on their behalf to which the Emigration Commissioners contributed eleven guineas. Most of the passengers set out later for Port Phillip on the Royal Consort.
26/10 1842	Norwegian ship DIEDRIC, Skien, grounded NW off Vaderoarna, Sweden and lost her mast's. Captain was Ernst Falkman. She was later refloated.
26/11 1842	Chatham. Vessel of 352 tons. Built 1840. Captain Sergeant. From London to Sydney with emigrants, sunk off Portugal. Five lives lost. After a collision in the English Channel she commenced to leak in the Bay of Biscay and was attempting to reach Lisbon, Portugal when lost.

*1843*
10/1 1843	Elizabeth. Barque. Captain Cope. From Sydney, was lost at Nova Scotia, 10 January 1843.
25/8 1843	Steam frigate Missouri arrives at Gibraltar completing first Trans-Atlantic crossing by US steam powered ship.

*1844*
24/4 1844	Woodall. Vessel type not recorded. From London to Sydney via Calcutta, was being towed down the Thames when she was found to be on fire, so was scuttled off Tilbury without loss of life. It has not been discovered whether she was salvaged.

*1845*
27/3 1845	Thomas Lowry. (Ship, 409 tons. Built Dartmouth, UK, 1835; reg. Liverpool. Captain J. Graham). Sailed from Sydney for England on 13 November 1844, struck sunken rocks off Dartmouth when in charge of the pilot, run ashore in a damaged condition, 27 March 1845. The following day the pilot hang himself. The ship was raised, patched-up and towed to London.
19/5 1845	John Franklin 1786-1847 departs for the Arctic on the Royal Navy ships Erebus and Terror to find the NW Passage; his vessels have steam engines and ice-breaking bows, and carry enough food for three years. The entire expedition will be lost.

*1846*
23/4 1846	Mayda. (Barque, 582 tons. Built at Sunderland, 1845). Left Launceston for London on 23 April 1846 with eight passengers and crew but was never seen again. She was removed from Lloyd’s Regisster in 1847 as ‘missing’.

1847
10/1 1847	American naval forces occupy Los Angeles.
20/2 1847	Brechin Castle. (Barque, 371 tons. Built at Dundee, 1844. Master T.R.Baxter). Left Adelaide for Swansea and London late in October 1846 with passengers and a cargo of copper ore, but was wrecked on the Welsh coast near Mumbles Head. All passengers and crew lost, estimated to number between twenty and twenty-six.

1848
7/1 1848	Cambridge. (Vessel type not recorded). Shortly after leaving Plymouth for Sydney, was destroyed by fire.
12/1 1848	Attack on Sloop Lexington, San Blas, Mexico.
16/2 1848	Waratah. Barque. Captain Volum. Master A.D.Volum. Bound from England for Sydney, lost off Ushant, France, in a gale, 16 February 1848. Thirteen lives lost. The Norwegian barque Preciosa rescued some survivors but after forty-eight hours in the gale, had to leave, having suffered some damage.
26/3 1848	The Danish corvette NAJADEN and paddle steamer GEJSER, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Friderich Dirkinck-Holmfeld occupy Als.
26/4 1848	Motala verkstads varv at Norrkoping, Sweden launch steamer GOTHEBORG.
?/5 1848	Motala verkstads varv at Norrkoping, Sweden deliver steamer GOTHEBORG.
30/12 1848	Hindoo. (Barque, 310 tons. Captain Burgoyne). From Adelaide to London via Fremantle, was destroyed by fire when in the South Atlantic, 30 December 1848. The twenty passengers and crew took to the boats and were picked up by a passing vessel four days later.

*1849*
24/1 1849	The NAPLES, from Boston for Dublin was totally wrecked near Fishguard, crew saved.
27/1 1849	The UNICORN, (Steam ship, (500 tons), running between Hull and Antwerp came into collision off the coast of Holland with the ROB ROY. Steamer. Those on board the UNICORN were saved but she sank within an hour.
29/1 1849	The TRIO of Wexford, from Cronstadt, struck on the rocks when entering the South bay, and went down, crew saved
3/2 1849	The WILLIAM and MARY, from Youghall for Liverpool, which got upon the beach on the 11 January, was refloated and got into port in Liverpool.
12/2 1849	The ATLANTIC (1,000 tons) sailed from Liverpool with immigrants to New Orlea