AH-WR-1326

Superior

Barque · United States · Lost Year only · Bermuda

An 1837 American barque known locally as "the Glass Wreck" for the French glassware cargo scattered across its heavily salvaged Bermuda reef site.

Become Captain of Record See Shipwreck on Map

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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

Superior was a barque lost on a Bermuda reef in 1837, a year before the wreck of L'Herminie nearby. She was heavily salvaged at the time of sinking, leaving no ship's hardware, anchors, or rigging on site, but her general cargo of French glassware, olive oil bottles, and sulphur sticks remained. Rediscovered by Edmund Downing in the early 1960s, the site became known locally as the Glass Wreck and was further salvaged for its glassware by multiple divers through the following decades.

Vessel

Built: Not established
Builder: Not established
Yard: Not established
Material: Wood
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Sail
Owners: Not established

Loss

Date: Year only
Cause: Grounding
Location: Bermuda reef, near 32.4140 N, 64.8517 W
Water: Atlantic Ocean off Bermuda
Voyage: Not established
Cargo: French glassware, olive oil bottles, sulphur sticks for pharmaceutical manufacture
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: Not established
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: 30 ft
Condition: Heavily salvaged at time of loss and again in the 1960s; only degraded floor timbers, a keelson section, and ballast remain.
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: early 1960s
Protection: Not established