AH-WR-0618

F.D. Hodgkins

Three-Masted Schooner · United States · Lost 1884 · Delaware Bay & the Approaches

A brand-new Maine lumber schooner capsized on her maiden voyage by a sudden squall off Cape Henlopen only months after her festive launch.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

Interpretive Reconstruction, drawn to convey the vessel's era, type and general form. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

F.D. Hodgkins was a three-masted schooner launched at Ellsworth, Maine, in November 1883, with a U.S. senator's family aboard for the celebratory launch ride. On her maiden voyage carrying lumber from Haiti, she was struck by a sudden hurricane squall off Cape Henlopen, Delaware, on March 9, 1884, and capsized, throwing her six-man crew into the sea. The loss was reported in the New York Times within days of the wreck.

Vessel

Built: 1883
Builder: J.M. Grant
Yard: Ellsworth, Maine
Material: Wood
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Sail
Owners: Not established

Loss

Date: March 9, 1884
Cause: Storm
Location: Off Cape Henlopen, Delaware
Water: Atlantic Ocean
Voyage: Haiti
Cargo: Lumber
Aboard: 6
Lives lost: All six crew were thrown into the water when the schooner capsized; their ultimate fate was not confirmed in the sources reviewed
Master: R.C. Bonsey

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Not established
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Not established

Position

Coordinates: 38.80° N 75.09° W
Accuracy: General area only
Nearest: Cape Henlopen, Delaware
Region: Delaware Bay & the Approaches

General area only: coordinate of Cape Henlopen from the USGS Geographic Names Information System, marking the named place of loss recorded for this vessel, not a surveyed wreck position.