AH-WR-0648

John Milton

Ship · United States · Lost 1858 · Long Island & the New York Approaches

A guano-laden cargo ship driven ashore at Ditch Plains near Montauk during a blinding 1858 snowstorm, killing all 32 or 33 aboard.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

John Milton was returning to New York from a long voyage around Cape Horn to the Chincha Islands with a cargo of guano when a severe snowstorm and gale struck the Long Island coast. Captain Ephraim Harding may have mistaken the recently built Shinnecock Lighthouse for the Montauk Light, running the ship aground at what is now called Ditch Plains on February 20, 1858. The ship broke apart in the surf and all 32 or 33 people aboard, including the captain's teenage son, were killed. Frozen bodies of the crew were later buried under a memorial at East Hampton's South End Burying Ground.

Vessel

Built: 1854
Builder: Reuben Fish
Yard: Fairhaven, Massachusetts
Material: Wood
Length: 203 ft
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: 1444
Propulsion: Sail
Owners: Edward Mott Robinson

Loss

Date: February 20, 1858
Cause: Navigational error
Location: About 5 nautical miles west of Montauk Point, near Ditch Plains
Water: Atlantic Ocean
Voyage: Norfolk, Virginia (returning from a voyage to the Chincha Islands, Peru) → New York
Cargo: Guano fertilizer
Aboard: 33
Lives lost: 32
Master: Captain Ephraim Harding

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Split apart and scattered by the surf
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Not established

Position

Coordinates: 41.03° N 71.91° W
Accuracy: Approximate position
Nearest: Ditch Plains, Montauk, New York
Region: Long Island & the New York Approaches

Wikipedia, Dan's Papers, and the Montauk Library describe the John Milton as wrecking at what is known today as Ditch Plains in Montauk, about 5 nautical miles west of Montauk Point Lighthouse; the coordinate approximates the Ditch Plains shoreline location named in these sources, not a surveyed wreck fix.