AH-WR-1034

Lucy Jones

Schooner · United States · Lost 1887 · Cape Cod & Nantucket Shoals

A coal-laden schooner ran hard aground on the bar at Nantucket Harbor's entrance in a December gale, prompting a volunteer rescue effort from the town.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

The schooner Lucy Jones, carrying a badly needed cargo of coal for Nantucket coal merchant C. C. Crosby, took on pilot William Burgess at Vineyard Haven to navigate the Nantucket Shoals. On December 22, 1887, she wrecked hard on the bar near the entrance to Nantucket Harbor during a gale. As Captain Duncan, the pilot, and crew clung to the rigging amid crashing waves, sixteen Nantucket volunteers set out from Straight Wharf in a rescue boat.

Vessel

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

Loss

Date: December 22, 1887
Cause: Storm
Location: Bar near the entrance to Nantucket Harbor, Nantucket Shoals
Water: Nantucket Sound / Nantucket Shoals
Voyage: Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts (via pilot stop) → Nantucket, Massachusetts
Cargo: Coal
Aboard: 5
Lives lost: Sources describe a dramatic rescue effort by Nantucket volunteers; the outcome for all aboard is not fully established in the source reviewed.
Master: Duncan