AH-WR-1141

Priscilla Dailey

Canal Barge · United States · Lost Exact date in 1974 not established in the sources reviewed. · Long Island Sound & the Connecticut Shore

A wooden Erie Canal-style barge sank at a Bridgeport pier in 1974 alongside two sister barges, together forming Connecticut's only shipwrecks on the National Register.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

Priscilla Dailey, originally built in 1929 as the Elizabeth E. Newell, was a wooden canal boat used to carry bulk cargo among New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut harbors for the S. J. Dailey Company. In 1974 she sank at a deteriorating Bridgeport Harbor pier along with two other barges moored alongside her, the Elmer S. Dailey and the Berkshire No. 7. All three remain stacked on the harbor bottom on the west side of the Pequonnock River. The group was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 as rare surviving examples of wooden canal-boat construction.

Vessel

Built: 1929
Registry: US Registry #170368
Builder: William J. Ryan
Yard: Not established
Material: Wood
Length: 111.1 ft
Beam: 24 ft
Tonnage: 311
Propulsion: Unpowered (towed barge)
Owners: S. J. Dailey Company (Stewart J. Dailey)

Loss

Date: Exact date in 1974 not established in the sources reviewed.
Cause: Mechanical failure
Location: Bridgeport Harbor, on the west side of the Pequonnock River, just south of the Stratford Avenue Bridge, Bridgeport, Connecticut
Water: Long Island Sound (Bridgeport Harbor, Pequonnock River)
Voyage: Not established
Cargo: Not established
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: 0
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Deteriorated wooden hull, partly visible at low tide from the Stratford Avenue Bridge; stacked with two other sunken barges at the same site.
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Listed on the National Register of Historic Places (December 21, 1978)