ID: 466 Name: Stately
Inserted: 25.09.2011
Country of origin: England
Date: 19th century
Sinking time: 8.10.1870 Propulsion: sailing ship
Address: Territorial sea, Läänemeri, Hiiu madal
Purpose: merchant ship
Vessel type: bark
Cargo: oat
Story of Sinking: The English bark Stately (captain Turnbull Smith) was on her way from Kronstadt to Helsingør (Elsinore). On 19 October (N.S.), while sailing west on the Gulf of Finland, the weather became misty and thick snowfall and sleetfall began. At 10 p.m., the Naissaar light was 7 miles SE 1/2 S. The course was W by S 1/2 S. During the night of 20 October, the weather was the same, but there was also a strong stormy SE wind. At 8 a.m. the course was altered WSW and at 8.30 a.m. the ship ran on a reef and got stuck there. They started to throw all kinds of unfixed property overboard and this activity lasted until noon. The ship began to leak a lot, pieces of the keel were noticed floating on the surface. The wind and waves increased. Due to thick fog, land was not visible and there was no hope of anybody coming to assist the castaways. The ship began to break up. The crew was forced to leave the ship at 3.30 p.m., they thought they were at Hiiu shoal. At 6 p.m. they landed at the western coast of Hiiumaa and on the following nights they sheltered in a hut. On 21 October, the weather was continually bad and did not allow the crew to return to the ship. On 22 October they managed to do so. The ship was lying sideways, full of water and partly broken. By that time the sails, rigging, anchors and chains, also a small amount of the cargo had been taken ashore by the islanders. Nothing more could be salvaged and the crew returned to the island, they reached Tallinn on 27 October.
Description of Location: Hiiu shoal
Archival Reference: TLA.1213.1.22 EAA.30.5.7845 EAA.4924.1.6420
Resource Links & Literature: Estländische Gouvernements-Zeitung, 117.10.1870hdea.nlib.ee/fullview.phpEstländische Gouvernements-Zeitung, 3030.12.1870tdea.nlib.ee/fullview.php