Wooden full-rigged ship Tiger built Liverpool 1800
386 tons, 20 9-pounder guns, Captain T Smith
Owned Barton & Co., registered Liverpool.
Voyage Barbados to Liverpool with Cargo of sugar and cotton
30 September 1819, struck Coningbeg Rock and sank attempting to
reach nearby shore
26-29 persons lost, 4 saved in ship's boat.
The ship Tiger of Liverpool had had an exciting series of voyages. Built as a West Indiaman, she made a single trip to West Africa for slaves, then contiued trading between Liverpool and Barbados. She was armed and had helped to capture 3 American ships in 1813. On 18 April 1816, she had gone aground on the North Wirral coast when leaving Liverpool for Barbados - she was refloated.
The location of the wreck was stated as inshore after striking Coningbeg Rock [depth 2.8 m at LW]. Wreckage came ashore on Rostoonstown beach (west of Carnsore Point, near village of Tacumshane). A lightship was established to mark Coningbeg Rock in 1824, after a failed attempt to erect a lighthouse there.
From Liverpool Mercury - Friday 08 October 1819
LOSS OF THE TIGER FROM BARBADOES. It is with deep regret we have to
announce the loss of the Tiger, of this port, from Barbadoes, on
the coast of Wexford, on Thursday last, with nearly the whole of
her crew and passengers, consisting of about thirty persons.
The following letter, containing the particulars of this melancholy
event,
was received here on Sunday last: it is addressed to Jno. Conway,
Esq., Secretary of the Underwriters in Liverpool:-
Wexford 30th September 1819.
SIR, - We regret to inform you, for the information of
the Underwriters, that this morning, the Tiger, of Liverpool,
Smith, from Barbadoes to Liverpool, laden with sugar and cotton,
struck on a shoal or rock off the Saltee Islands, which caused her
to make so much water that she went down immediately; it is
supposed about a mile from the town of Tacumshaw. The crew and
passengers, consisting of about thirty, with the exception of four,
whose
names we subjoin, were all lost. Three bales of cotton, together
with a small part of the wreck, have been driven on shore;
and, as there has not been any person saved from the wreck
authorised to put us in in charge of whatever might be saved,
the collector of this port has given us his sanction:- we shall,
therefore, thank you to request the rooms to do the same,
HUGHES and BARRY Agents.
Names of the persons saved:- John Taylor,
Charles Lucy, Charles Hanning, and John Mather.
From Saunders's News-Letter - Thursday 07 October 1819
Melancholy Shipwreck
During the heavy gale of Thursday last, the ship Tiger, T. Smith,
of
and for Liverpool, from Barbadoes, with sugar and cotton, struck on
the Connybegs [Coningbeg Rock, least depth 2.8m], south-west of the
Saltees. She made water so fast that it was necessary to make for the
Irish coast. She went down about three miles off
Rosserstown [Rostoonstown], a little south of Carnshure Point[Carnsore],
on the Wexford coast, between the Saltees and Wexford. We regret to
say 26, some say 29, persons were lost; at this rate[sic] all on board,
except a negro steward, and three of the hands, who had the good
fortune to escape, perished. Those four formed part of the nine who
took to the boat, which lay off the coast until morning, when she was
swamped in the surf. The Tiger, we understand, had several passengers,
some of great respectability; a Mr. Thornton has been named. The vessel
began shortly to go to pieces, as parts of the wreck and pieces of the
cotton have been washed ashore. A small case has been found labelled
"Despatches"; it has been opened, and the packets, we are told, were
in good order; it contained likewise some guineas and dollars. This
very distressing accident suggests the propriety of a lighthouse at or
near the Saltees - Waterford Mirror.