AH-WR-1146

Royal Tar

Coastal Steamer · British / New Brunswick · Lost 1836 · Penobscot Bay & Midcoast Maine

A Saint John sidewheel passenger, freight, and mail steamer burned and sank off Vinalhaven in 1836; casualty totals, fire origin, and wreck condition require cautious source review.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

Royal Tar was a wooden sidewheel passenger, freight, and mail steamer built at Saint John, New Brunswick, in 1835 and registered there as Registry No. 23 on May 3, 1836. Her regular route linked Saint John, Eastport, Campobello, and Portland. On October 25, 1836, while carrying passengers, freight, mail, and a traveling zoological exhibition aboard for that voyage, fire broke out off Vinalhaven Island in Penobscot Bay. The vessel burned and sank, but the exact fire origin, casualty totals, and wreck condition require cautious treatment against the primary evidence.

Vessel

Built: 1835
Registry: Saint John Registry No. 23, registered May 3, 1836
Builder: Not established
Yard: Saint John, New Brunswick
Material: Wood
Length: 156 ft on deck; approx. 164 ft overall
Beam: 24 ft
Tonnage: 256 56/94 tons burthen
Propulsion: Steam, sidewheels; funnel abaft the paddle boxes
Owners: John Hammond 40/64, Hugh Mackay 16/64, Daniel McLaughlin 8/64

Loss

Date: October 25, 1836
Cause: Fire
Location: East of Vinalhaven Island, Penobscot Bay, Maine
Water: Penobscot Bay
Voyage: Saint John, New Brunswick (via Eastport and Campobello) → Portland, Maine
Cargo: Passengers, freight, mail, and a traveling zoological exhibition aboard for this voyage
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: Published casualty totals vary, and Dennis Dorsey’s primary-source review argues that the often-repeated figure of 32 deaths should not be treated as established without further source reconciliation.
Master: Thomas Reed

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Exact resting place, depth, condition, orientation, and public discovery status are not established.
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Not established

Position

Coordinates: Not established
Accuracy: Position not established
Nearest: Vinalhaven, Maine
Region: Penobscot Bay & Midcoast Maine

Evidence

Overall confidence: Partially documented (58/100)

The loss date and general circumstances are well attested, but the exact casualty totals, cause and origin of the fire, and the wreck’s present position and condition require primary-source review. The generated images are artistic recreations based on recorded historical documents, not evidence of the wreck’s appearance on the seabed.

Dennis Dorsey, DiveQuest Exploration, SJ23 Totality of the Circumstances: The Burning of the Royal Tar, 1836
Primary-source and technical review cited for Saint John registry details, ownership shares, route including Campobello, disputed casualty totals, fire-origin analysis, and vessel characterization.
Saint John vessel registry, Registry No. 23, May 3, 1836
Build year, registration date, burthen, breadth, depth, keel measurement, and registered ownership shares as cited in the correction received from Dennis Dorsey.
Hunting New England Shipwrecks (wreckhunter.net)
Secondary starting point for the loss narrative; retained as a non-primary reference pending full primary-source review.
Wikipedia, Royal Tar fire
Tertiary starting point for names and general narrative only; underlying period accounts should be cited individually before factual claims are treated as settled.