AH-WR-1205

RMS Forth

Paddle Steamer · United Kingdom · Lost 1849 · The Mexican Gulf Coast & Campeche

A Royal Mail steam packet that broke apart on remote Alacranes Reef in 1849, identified by INAH archaeologists 164 years later.

Become Captain of Record

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

RMS Forth was a Royal Mail Steam Packet Company vessel on the Antilles mail line, lost on the evening of 14 January 1849 when she struck Alacranes Reef, a remote atoll in the Gulf of Mexico north of Progreso, Yucatán, while bound for Bermuda. The wreck broke apart on the rocks and was reported at the time by the Illustrated London News. INAH underwater archaeologists, guided by historical records and local informants, identified scattered machinery from the wreck in 2013, alongside the nearby remains of her sister ship RMS Tweed.

Vessel

Built: Not established
Builder: Not established
Yard: Not established
Material: Wood
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: 1900
Propulsion: Steam, side paddle wheels
Owners: Royal Mail Steam Packet Company

Loss

Date: January 14, 1849
Cause: Grounding
Location: Alacranes Reef (Arrecife Alacranes), Gulf of Mexico, north of Progreso, Yucatán
Water: Gulf of Mexico
Voyage: Bermuda
Cargo: Royal mail and passenger effects
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: Casualty details are not established in the sources reviewed, though contemporary press reported the loss.
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: 59 ft
Condition: Scattered machinery remains including boilers, engines, shafts, propellers, anchors and sternposts; the hull itself is largely broken up.
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: 2013
Protection: Within Parque Nacional Arrecife Alacranes

Position

Coordinates: Not established
Accuracy: Approximate position
Nearest: Alacranes Reef, north of Progreso, Yucatán
Region: The Mexican Gulf Coast & Campeche

General location is the northeast windward break of Alacranes Reef at about 18 meters depth; a precise decimal position was not found in the sources reviewed.