Loss of the Abigail, December 1801

I can almost see the light at the end of the dissertation research tunnel. A couple of short research trips to go, a couple of dozen hours of internet database searching left and I’ll be done collecting material! After that I’ll only have to finish writing it up and, of course, begin the dreadful task of editing it down into a coherent, persuasive argument. Ah the joys of “dissertating,” as they say.

At least I’ve got to read about more shipwrecks than I thought possible when this project began. Here is one example, pulled at random from a survey of shipwreck reports in American newspapers in 1801 and 1802.  it takes the from of a letter, from the captain of the wrecked brig Abigail to the vessel’s owners, and was published in The Philadlephia Gazette and Daily Advertiser on February 20, 1802. It is representative of contemporary shipwreck narratives that appeared in newspapers all across the fledgling nation.

Loss of the Abigail. Letter from Captain Vrendenburgh, of the brig Abigail, to his owner in this city [Philadelphia].

It is with great regreat that I am obliged to inform you of as melancholy a disaster as ever yet befell any vessel.