Hi.
Here's is the first report in The Times of Annie Jane's demise:
The Times
Sat, 08 Oct 1853
DREADFUL SHIPWRECK
We regret to announce one of the most terrible catas-
trophes that has come under our notice for some
time,- the total loss of the ship Annie Jane, Mason
commander, belonging to Liverpool, which was driven
ashore on the iron-bound coast of Barra Island, during the
recent gales, on the night of Wednesday, the 28th ult.,
when no fewer than 348 passengers - men, women, and
children - met with a watery grave. Intelligence of the
disaster was first received at Lloyd's through a communica-
tion from the editor of the Shipping Gazette, who placed it at
the disposal of Captain Halstead, the secretary. The ad-
vices which had been forwarded from their agent at
Tobermory, and, subsequently, the report of the loss, were
confirmed by a telegraphic message from Liverpool. The
accounts, although somewhat brief, place the loss, it is
feared, almost beyond a doubt. The Annie Jane was a
large vessel, and sailed from Liverpool, for Quebec and Mon-
teal, on the 9th of last month, with some 450 emigrants,
most of them Irish families. It is presumed that she had
made some progress across the Atlantic, when she en-
countered the late fearful south-westerly gales, which dis-
abled her and rendered her unmanageable, and in that
hopeless condition she was driven back and dashed on the
terrible coast of Barra, one of the Hebrides. With a
point called Vatersay, where the wreck occurred, the
island is six miles in length and two and a-half broad,
and lies some five miles south-west of the next island,
Uist. The inhabitants are mostly employed in the cod-fish-
ing. There is a lighthouse on the head, which is the
highest in the united kingdom, being 680 feet above the
level of the sea. Such is the terrible character of the coast,
however, that there is little chance of a vessel being rescued
when once it is entangled among the reefs. Several of the
survivors contrived to get a passage from the island over to
Tobermory, a small seaport in the Isle of Mull, and from
them the authorities learned that 348 passengers were
drowned, and 102, with Mr. Bell, the chief officer, and 12 of
the crew, saved. A message states that the master,
Mr. Mason, was also preserved. The names of the passengers
who have arrived at Tobermory are John Kingston, county
of Cork; George, brother to the former; Timothy Dineur,
county of Cork; James Edmiston, county of Antrim;
Alexander M'Cormick, county of Armagh; Martha Tevau-
ning, county of Cork, and some French Canadians. The
crew are James Boyd, James Marshall, Charles Carroll,
of Bay Chaleur, Thomas Gemmel, Joseph Miller, Antonio
Ligett, Charles Burdon, James Wood, and Charles Bur-
nett.
regards,
Martin
