AH-WR-0621

Kate E. Morse

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

One of three coal-laden schooners that sank together at Fourteen Foot Bank in Delaware Bay during the severe September 1889 storm.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

Kate E. Morse was a wooden coal schooner that, along with two others, the J. & L. Bryan and the Walter F. Parker, sank at anchor at Fourteen Foot Bank in Delaware Bay during the Great Storm of September 10-12, 1889. Contemporary Baltimore Sun dispatches, later compiled by regional historians, reported roughly twenty-three people aboard the three vessels combined but did not detail individual survival. The storm caused widespread destruction to shipping throughout the Delaware Bay and coastal Delaware.

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 from the USCG Light List / NRHP record, marking the named place of loss recorded for this vessel, not a surveyed wreck position.