Were any of your ancestors shipwrecked at sea? This compilation, authored by Frank A. Biebel, contains the harrowing details of 339 transatlantic shipwrecks between 1817 and 1875. This is the first inventory of its kind ever made, and the only place where the names of many of these immigrants appear in any organized way.
Were any of your ancestors shipwrecked at sea? This compilation, authored by Frank A. Biebel, contains the harrowing details of 339 transatlantic shipwrecks between 1817 and 1875. This is the first inventory of its kind ever made, and the only place where the names of many of these immigrants appear in any organized way.
This collection mainly covers shipwrecks of European ships traveling to the United States, although some ships to Canada and other countries are included. Most of these 339 ships were wrecked and did not make it to port.
All details of each wreck are given, including
Port of embarkation
Destination port
Account of the wreck
Names of known survivors
Disposition of survivors
Passenger lists (if available)
For those who survived, these records serve to document the story of a unique and rare immigration experience; for those who died, the records serve as a particularly tragic death record.
About half of the 339 ships have passenger information available, usually in the form of a manifest produced prior to embarkation. Ships covered do not include ships that sank without a trace, military or fishing vessels, or vessels with crew only.
The main sources used by Biebel were newspaper accounts and, in some cases, passenger lists from the port of departure that were submitted to the immigration authorities of New York.
As there is only a single volume for The Shipwrecked Passenger Book: Sailing Westbound from Europe for the Americas, 1817-1875 there are no fields with which to narrow results by. By hitting the search button, you will get a single result, which is the volume in its entirety. You can then peruse the publication starting with the title page. The page counter at the bottom of the image viewer will allow you to skip to any page within the publication. You can also use the arrows at the right and left of the image viewer to advance through the volume a page at a time.
If you would like to search the volume for a specific name, year, or keyword, you can do so in the search linked to in the Useful links and resources section.