AH-WR-1115

Trojan

Freighter · United Kingdom · Lost 1906 · Buzzards Bay & Vineyard Sound

A British freighter carrying bronze ingots sank off Cuttyhunk after a liner rammed her in dense fog, though every man aboard was saved.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

The freighter Trojan, formerly the collier Orion, was steaming from Philadelphia to Boston when the liner Nacoochee emerged from thick fog and struck her amidships near the western entrance to Vineyard Sound on January 22, 1906. Nacoochee's captain drove his own bow into the gash to keep Trojan afloat long enough for all 27 of her crew to escape. Trojan sank within three-quarters of an hour southwest of Cuttyhunk. The lighthouse tender Verbena located her wreckage that August, and sport divers recovered bronze and tin ingots from her cargo in 1972.

Vessel

Built: 1897
Registry: Official No. 106888
Builder: Tyne Iron Shipbuilding Co.
Yard: Newcastle, United Kingdom
Material: Iron
Length: 350 ft
Beam: 47 ft
Tonnage: 3668
Propulsion: Steam, single screw, triple expansion engine
Owners: S.S. Trojan Co. Ltd. (E.C. Thin), Liverpool

Loss

Date: January 22, 1906
Cause: Collision
Location: Southwest of Cuttyhunk Island, Massachusetts
Water: Vineyard Sound approaches
Voyage: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania → Boston, Massachusetts
Cargo: General cargo including bronze and tin ingots and 300 crates of bottles
Aboard: 27
Lives lost: 0
Master: Captain Thatcher

The Wreck Today

Depth: 110 ft
Condition: Bow section scattered debris; stern partially intact with some decking remaining, on a muddy bottom.
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: 1906 (located by lighthouse tender Verbena, August 1906)
Protection: Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources exempted shipwreck site