AH-WR-0037

Joffre

Eastern-Rig Dragger · United States · Lost 1947 · Cape Ann & the Gulf of Maine

An Essex-built fishing schooner turned power dragger, lost to an engine-room fire off Gloucester in 1947 and now a protected historic wreck within Stellwagen Bank sanctuary.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

Joffre was built in 1918 at the Story shipyard in Essex, Massachusetts, one of many wooden fishing schooners later converted for dragging with auxiliary power. On the night of August 9, 1947, an engine-room fire broke out as she returned toward Gloucester, and she was lost. The wreck lies within what is now Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary and was formally identified and surveyed in 2009. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of a group of eastern-rig dragger wrecks documenting New England's fishing history.

Vessel

Built: 1918
Registry: NRHP reference no. 08000887
Builder: Arthur D. Story
Yard: Essex, Massachusetts
Material: Wood
Length: 105.5 ft
Beam: 25.2 ft
Tonnage: 140
Propulsion: Sail and auxiliary gas engine
Owners: Arthur D. Story

Loss

Date: August 9, 1947
Cause: Fire
Location: Off Gloucester, Massachusetts, within present-day Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary
Water: Massachusetts Bay
Voyage: Fishing grounds → Gloucester, Massachusetts
Cargo: Not established
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: Not established
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Debris field with bow section upright and scattered wreckage on the seabed, over 300 feet deep.
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: 2009
Protection: Within Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary; listed on the National Register of Historic Places

Position

Coordinates: 42.60° N 70.66° W
Accuracy: General area only
Nearest: Gloucester, Massachusetts
Region: Cape Ann & the Gulf of Maine

General area only: coordinate of Gloucester, Massachusetts from the USGS Geographic Names Information System, marking the named place of loss recorded for this vessel ("off Gloucester, Massachusetts"), not a surveyed wreck position.