AH-WR-0622

J. & L. Bryan

Coal Schooner · United States · Lost 1889 · Delaware Bay & the Approaches

A coal schooner that sank alongside two others at Fourteen Foot Bank in Delaware Bay during the destructive Great Storm of September 1889.

Become Captain of Record See Shipwreck on Map

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

J. & L. Bryan was a wooden coal-laden schooner that sank at anchor at Fourteen Foot Bank in Delaware Bay during the Great Storm of September 10-12, 1889, alongside the Kate E. Morse and Walter F. Parker. Regional historians compiling contemporary Baltimore Sun dispatches recorded roughly twenty-three people aboard the three vessels combined, without detailing individual outcomes. The storm caused widespread shipping losses along the Delaware coast and bay.

Vessel

Built: Not established
Builder: Not established
Yard: Not established
Material: Wood
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Sail
Owners: Not established

Loss

Date: September 12, 1889
Cause: Storm
Location: Fourteen Foot Bank, Delaware Bay
Water: Delaware Bay
Voyage: Not established
Cargo: Coal
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: Contemporary reports indicate the three schooners together carried roughly twenty-three people; individual outcomes were not confirmed in the sources reviewed
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

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

Position

Coordinates: 39.05° N 75.18° W
Accuracy: General area only
Nearest: Fourteen Foot Bank, Delaware Bay
Region: Delaware Bay & the Approaches

General area only: coordinate of Fourteen Foot Bank Light, Delaware Bay, from the U.S. Coast Guard/NRHP light station record, marking the named place of loss recorded for this vessel, not a surveyed wreck position.

Evidence

Overall confidence: Sparsely documented (45/100)

Vessel dimensions, build history, and the fate of her crew are not established in the sources reviewed; only the sinking event itself is documented.

Ocean City Museum Society, 'The Great Storm of 1889'
Storm narrative and list of vessels lost at Fourteen Foot Bank, compiled from contemporary Baltimore Sun dispatches
Fourteen Foot Bank Light station record
coordinate of the named place of loss