AH-WR-1096

Davis Palmer

Schooner · United States · Lost 1909 · Boston Harbor & Massachusetts Bay

One of the ill-fated Palmer Fleet's five-masted coal schooners struck Finn's Ledge in a Christmas gale and sank with all 14 hands.

Become Captain of Record See Shipwreck on Map

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Historically Reconstructed. Drawn from partial documentation of this vessel together with her known class and configuration. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

Davis Palmer was a five-masted wooden schooner built in 1905 at the Percy & Small Shipyard in Bath, Maine, for Boston shipowner William F. Palmer's fleet of giant coasting schooners. On December 26, 1909, inbound with a cargo of coal, she struck Finn's Ledge near Graves Light in a fierce gale and drifted into Broad Sound before sinking with the loss of her entire 14-man crew. Much of the wreckage was later removed during harbor channel dredging in 1912.

Vessel

Built: 1905
Builder: Percy & Small Shipyard
Yard: Bath, Maine
Material: Wood
Length: 305 ft
Beam: 48 ft
Tonnage: 2965
Propulsion: Sail
Owners: Palmer Fleet (William F. Palmer)

Loss

Date: December 26, 1909
Cause: Storm
Location: Broad Sound, near Finn's Ledge and Graves Light, outer Boston Harbor, Massachusetts
Water: Massachusetts Bay
Voyage: Boston, Massachusetts
Cargo: West Virginia coal
Aboard: 14
Lives lost: 14
Master: Not established