For further reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Despatch_(brig)
Extracted from the STRABANE MORNING POST
http://cotyroneireland.com/estore/index.php?detailrecid=2
STRABANE MORNING POST
No 958: Tuesday, September 2, 1828
LONDONDERRY JOURNAL OFFICE
Wednesday, August 27
LOSS OF THE BRIG DISPATCH
The following melancholy letter, detailing the loss of the above vessel, which sailed from this Port, bound for Quebec, with passengers, in May last, has been received by MARCUS S. HILL, ESQ. our collector :-
H. M. S. Tyne, 26th July, 1828
Sir. The accompanying list contains the names of 158 men, women, and children, exclusive of the mate and all the crew, 9 in number, who were saved from the wreck of the Dispatch, of Workington, commanded by the late WILLIAM LANCASTER, (drowned) which sailed from Derry, on the 29th May for Quebec.
The brig was wrecked on a rock, about eighteen miles to the eastward of Cape Ray, and distant from the Main three-fourths of a mile, on the evening of the 10th of July, and it was only by watching the occasional fall of the surf for a few hours each day; till the following Tuesday, that the mate and crew with two boats, and the assistance of a fisherman in a small boat 12 feet long, saved those in the accompanying list. The mate informs me that 200 passengers were said to be on board, though he thinks several infants were not reckoned, as their passage was not paid, and the crew, master included, were eleven in number.
Four men and ten children died on the rock from starvation, five children and one woman, died on the beach, four men perished in the woods, and one woman and one boy in the boats of this ship, whilst on their passage from the place of shipwreck. By a comparison of numbers, it appears that thirty-six at least were drowned; of that number two infants were washed from their mother’s breast, whilst on the rock, and of one family, six were swept off after they obtained a footing.
I have taken the liberty of troubling you with the list, as from your situation at the port whence the vessel sailed, you will most probably have the readiest means of making the same known, and thus quieting the feelings of relatives and friends at once.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
R. GRANT
To the Collector of Customs, Captain,
Londonderry
A list of Persons saved from the wreck of the Brig Dispatch of Workington, William Lancaster, late Master, and conveyed from Port aux Basque, Newfoundland, to Halifax, in his Majesty’s ship Tyne:
COUNTY OF TYRONE
| Name | Townland |
| John HENDERSON | Skirts [of Urney] |
| John SCOTT | Ardstraw |
| George BOYLE | Kirskiddy |
| James MONAGHAN | Kirskiddy |
| Edward SHEILS | Drumra |
| James ARMSTRONG | Drumra |
| Hugh HARPER | Termanamongan |
| Michael SHEILS | Donagheady |
| James McGONAGLE and Margaret, his sister | Donagheady |
| Edward McGOWAN | Donagheady |
| Joseph SMALEY and his wife and child | Donagheady |
| John SMALEY and his wife and two children | Donagheady |
| Hamilton PARKHILL and his wife, child, and sister (brother lost) | Donagheady |
| John McPARTRIDGE, Mary his wife and James, Archibald, John, Samuel, and Martha, their children | Donagheady |
| Mary McMANUS | Donagheady |
| John WILLIAMSON | Leckpatrick |
| Wm. MOOR | Leckpatrick |
| Wm. McMONAGLE, and C. McMONAGLE, his mother | Leckpatrick |
| Robert GORMAN | Leckpatrick |
| Margaret GORDON (her husband lost) | Leckpatrick |
| Catharine BRYAN | Leckpatrick |
| Charles COCHRAN (died on board the Tyne on the morning of the 26th of July) | Strabane |
| Robert SHAW and his wife and child | Cappagh |
| John NICKSON and Margaret his wife | Cappagh |
| John BAGSTER, Martha his mother and Thomas and James his sons, (two sons and two sisters lost) Thomas and William, brothers of John BAGSTER, George his nephew, Annie and Catharine his sisters | Cappagh |
| Alexander KAIL and Eliza his wife | Termanamongan |
COUNTY OF DONEGAL
| Name | Townland |
| James GALLAGHER | Rathmanno |
| James DOUGHERTY | Turboil |
| Charles PORTER | Langfield |
| James ROULSTON | Langfield |
| Hugh McLAUGHLIN | Dunnamore |
| Mathew FULTON | Tullaghabegley |
| Thomas McCLEAN | Ray |
| Alexander McCAULEY and Mary, his wife (one son lost) | Ray |
| Dennis DOUGAN and Anne and Grace, his two daughters | Ray |
| Jaffles SMYTH | Ostragh |
| Samuel SPENCE | Tullaghaghness |
| John ARMSTRONG | Alphaninshe |
| David O’HARA | Urney |
| John O’HARA and Mary his wife | Urney |
| Joseph HART and Mary his wife, and Thomas, Margaret and Eliza, their children (lost two sons) | Urney |
| Margaret THOMPSON | Urney |
| Noble KILGRACE and his wife Rachael | Urney |
| Alexander ALDJO | Tullybeg |
| David HAMILTON, Martha his sister and Robert his brother (father; mother, and two sisters lost) | Tullybeg |
| William AYERS | Raphoe |
| Mary GRAHAM (her husband lost) | Raphoe |
| Rose GALLAGHER | Raphoe |
| Hugh DOUGHAL | Cloaghaneely |
| James WILLIAMS and Mary his wife | Burt |
| John BROWN and Isabella his wife (one son lost) | Donoughmore |
| Mary McBETH | Donoughmore |
| Charles SMULLEN and his wife and child, and William CASSIDY, his step-son | Tullaghabegly |
| Robert MOORE, his wife Margaret and child Sarah | Ramelton |
| Patrick CALLAGHAN and his wife Lydia | Conwell |
| Eleanor JOHNSTON | Templecarn |
| Anne DUNCAN | Taughboyne |
| Mary MAHAFFY and her two nephews, James and John KING (her father, mother, and sister lost) | Taughboyne |
| Mary McMONAGLE and her son James (one child lost) | Taughboyne |
COUNTY OF LONDONDERRY
| Name | Townland |
| John CRAGHAN | Upper Cumber |
| James McGINNIS | Aughanloo |
| John HULL | Balteagh |
| Robert HULL | Balteagh |
| Patrick McMANUS | Cumber |
| James MARSHAL | Glendermot |
| Thomas McCLELAND | Drumachose |
| William McCLELAND | Drumachose |
| William WHITE | Drumachose |
| John McMASTER, Martha his sister, and William his brother | Glendermot |
| James CERRIGAN | Faughanvale |
| Robert McELHENNY | Faughanvale |
| JOHN McMULLAN and James his brother (father, mother, two sisters, nephew, and female servant lost) | Termanveny |
| GEORGE STEEL (his brother lost) | Drumachose |
| Benjamin McKAY | Macquanane |
| Sarah Anne HYNDMAN | Glendermot |
| James ROBINSON | Glendermot |
| Biddy MULLENS | Bannagher |
| Rose O’NEILL | Cumber |
ELSEWHERE
| Name | Address |
| Neal McTAGGART | Campbeltown, Argyleshire |
| Daniel ARNOTT, his wife, John, Daniel, and David, his sons grown up, Duncan, aged 10, Andrew 1, Elizabeth grown up, Agnes 14, Catharine 12, Jane 8, Mary 5, Martha, 3 | Campbeltown, Argyleshire |
| James McCULLOCH, his wife and child (one son lost) | Kill, County Cavan |
| William FAZILL and Anne his wife (one son lost) | Killaid, County Antrim |
General Abstract
Persons embarked, (crew of 11 included) 211
Accounted for of these in foregoing statement,
including 29 who perished, 181
Master lost 1
Mate and crew saved, 10
192
Unaccounted for 18