WAVE lost Frainslake Sands 25-26 October 1859

Description

The schooner WAVE was one of the shipping losses during the Royal Charter Gale, 25-26 October 1859. It was built in 1856 at Pownal Bay, Prince Edward Island, for the merchant James Reddin of Charlottetown. Its port of Aberystwyth Shipping Register entry (shown in the image above) provides us with a technical description:

Official number 39084. 1 deck, 2 masts, schooner rigged, stern round, carvel built, head billet, framework wood. Length from the forepart of the stern under the bowsprit to the aft side of the head of the sternpost 62.5ft; main breadth from outside of plank 19ft; depth in hold from tonnage deck to ceiling at midships 8.85ft. Tonnage under tonnage deck 60.05.

If you move your mouse over this image, you'll find more clues to the schooner's working life and the people who were associated with it. For example, the name of the master and owner - John Hughes of Aberystwyth, master mariner.

The schooner was carrying a cargo of cast iron ingots when it was driven ashore on Frainslake Sands, Freshwater Bay, Pembrokeshire. On 2 November 1859, Potters Electric reported 'A wreck is reported to have come on shore at Linny Head during the gale on Tuesday evening. She is a schooner, laden with iron. She is supposed to be the schooner Wave, of Aberystwyth. The crew are to be all lost. On Wednesday evening the body of man was washed ashore, near the above wreck. Another wreck has been driven ashore at Bullslaughter Bay. The men of the preventive service are in charge, particulars not known'.

Sources include:
Goddard, T, 1983, Pembrokeshire Shipwrecks, pg135
Lloyds Register of British and Foreign Shipping, 1 July 1859 - 30 June 1860, number 97 in W
Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1989, Ships and Seafarers of Atlantic Canada, CD ROM
Port of Aberystwyth Shipping Register 1855-1862, Ceredigion Archive Service AT/SHIP 5, folio 34
Potters Electric, 2 November 1859, pg2
(http://papuraunewyddcymru.llgc.org.uk/en/page/view/3100148)


Where is Pownal Bay, Prince Edward Island (where the WAVE was built)?

Which number do you need to multiply the old imperial feet and inches measurements for the length and breadth to metres? How many people of your height would be able to lie head to toe on the deck?

The technical description includes a tonnage measurement. What does this measurement mean? And what is the origin of the term tonnage?