Shipwreck 1820

The Shipwreck (Image from http://www.artinthepicture.com)

NOTE: Parts of this newspaper image were very hard to read,  especially the numbers, which I have marked with a – ?-  question mark.

Loss of the Ship Resource.

Mr. B. Wyman of this town, who arrived in the Jane, from Manilla, has communicated the following particulars respecting the loss of the ship Resource, Sowle. — “On the 20th of Nov. 1818, on the passage from Kamtschatka, being in about lat. 28, N  long. 80, E while under easy sail, at about 6 PM, she struck on an unknown reef of rocks, weather thick and squally — she remained about ten minutes, when she slid off, and on sounding the pumps found she had made considerable water — the pumps were immediately set at work, but the water gained on them fast. The foremast was then cut away, and all hands employed in clearing the wreck, and getting out the boats.

After providing provisions, water, &c. the officers and crew left the ship and she soon after sunk. The long boat, having on board most of the provisions and water saved from the ship, being very leaky soon filled and capsized, and the contents lost; some of the crew in her swam to the other boats, others clung to her till morning, and were then taken off, except one, who was drowned.

There were now the two whale boats left; Capt. Sowle and 12? men in one, and Mr. Joseph Harris, first mate, and 12 men in the other – each boat had about 30 lbs of bread, but no water — the men were on an allowance of half a biscuit per day. The boats kept company all the next day, but soon after dark the captain’s boat suddenly disappeared, and it was thought must have been upset, and all on board perished, as nothing was seen of her afterwards, the sea running very high. On the ?0th Dec., the surviving boat landed on the uninhabited island of Agrigon, the crew not having had any water for 2? days, except what they caught as it fell from the heavens, which gave them from one to three spoonfulls a man per day.

Mr. S. La Roach died Dec. 2?, Mr. Wm. S. Sp??hawk the ??th, Mr. Joseph Adams 15th; and Mr. Harris, the mate, fell from a rock, Jan. 17, 1819, while fishing and was drowned. Mr. Wyman and 7 others remained on the island subsisting on what it afforded, (it having been stocked with goats and hogs) till the 18th of Nov ’19, a period of eleven months, when they were discovered and taken off by a Spanish brig, bound to Manilla, at which place they were landed, Dec. 22. Two of the survivors went thence to Canton*, two remained at Manilla, and ? [3 ?] took passage for the U.S.

The Resource had no cargo but salt on board when lost.

Ohio Repository, The (Canton, Ohio) Jul 6, 1820

* China? Wales? Australia?

The latitude and longitude given in the article puts the ship somewhere in northern India, which doesn’t seem likely.  Kamtschatka, which is one location mentioned, appears to be on the lower part of the Russian peninsula near the Bering Sea. I was not able to locate Agrigon, or anything with a similar name, that would fit the general location, however, there are lots of islands in that area.