HMS Whiting
Marker: recorded wreck position (Date not recorded).
Key facts
| Name | HMS Whiting | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Ship type | schooner | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Nationality / flag | United States | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Operator | Royal Navy | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Nearest coast | Scotland | Natural Earth (public domain) |
| Position | 56.0044, -2.5676 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
HMS Whiting, built in 1811 by Thomas Kemp as a Baltimore pilot schooner, was launched as Arrow. On 8 May 1812 a British navy vessel seized her under Orders in Council, for trading with the French. The Royal Navy re-fitted her and then took her into service under the name HMS Whiting. In 1816, after four years service, Whiting was sent to patrol the Irish Sea for smugglers. She grounded on the Doom Bar. When the tide rose, she became flooded and was deemed impossible to refloat.
Diving & visiting
On 18 August 1816, Whiting, under the command of Lieutenant John Jackson, was ordered to leave Plymouth and sail around Land's End to the Irish Sea to counter smuggling in the area. On 15 September 1816, to escape a gale, Jackson took his vessel into harbour at Padstow on the north coast of Cornwall. The wind dropped as they came around Stepper Point, and the ship ran aground on the Doom Bar as the tide was ebbing, stranding her.
According to the court-martial transcripts, an attempt to move Whiting was made at the next high tide, but she was taking on water and it became impossible to save her. Her abandonment happened over the next few days.
Location
- Recorded position: 56.0044, -2.5676 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Nearest coast: Scotland
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article HMS Whiting (1812) (revision 1369077596), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Wreck on Doom Bar”; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- USS Stockton 14 km
- SMS München 1921 · 18 km
- HMS Pathfinder 1914 · 28 km
- HMS Success 34 km
- HMS K17 36 km
- HMS H11 37 km
Browse more: UK & Ireland wrecks · wrecks off Scotland