State of Virginia
Steamship · United Kingdom · Lost 1879 · Nova Scotia & Sable Island
The British steamer State of Virginia stranded and became a total loss on Sable Island in 1879 while bound from New York to Glasgow.
Become Captain of Record
The Vessel and Her Loss
State of Virginia was a British-registered steamship owned by the State Steamship Company. In July 1879, while on a voyage from New York to Glasgow with cargo, she stranded on Sable Island, one of hundreds of vessels wrecked on the notorious sandbar known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Salvage costs were found to exceed the value recovered, and the ship and her cargo were declared a total loss, later the subject of U.S. federal cargo-damage litigation.
Vessel
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- Steam
- State Steamship Company
Loss
- July 1, 1879
- Grounding
- Sable Island, Nova Scotia
- Atlantic Ocean, Sable Island
- New York, United States → Glasgow, Scotland
- General cargo, later the subject of cargo-damage litigation
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The Wreck Today
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- Became a total loss; salvage costs exceeded the value recovered
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Position
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- Sable Island, Nova Scotia
Evidence
Overall confidence: Partially documented (55/100)
Build details, dimensions, casualties and precise wreck location are not established in the sources reviewed.
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York (In re State Steamship Company, 1894)
Confirmation of vessel name, owner, voyage, date and outcome of the stranding.
