Page from the Log of the Packet Ship Boston
Transcript extract: 26th of May, 1830 Commences with fresh breezes and squally weather ... At 11 P.M. very thundering and sharp lightening. The second flash struck the ship, burnt the main hatch and knocked down the steward … we found the ship to be on fire. … the ship’s main hold was on fire fore and aft on both sides burning like tinder … At half past three the passengers and crew were all in the boats. … About three hours time had changed one of the best ships that ever swam the ocean to a complete volcano. On May 19, 1830, the Packet Ship Boston under the command of Captain Harvey Coffin Mackay of Gloucester, MA, left Charleston, SC, en route to Liverpool, UK, with a cargo of cotton and twenty-three passengers and crew. One week later she caught fire during a fierce electric storm and sank. All but one of the people on board survived. A watercolor painting of the burning ship, done by the then unknown marine artist Fitz Henry Lane, is on display at the Cape Ann Museum. Call #: Log Book 05