The Exmouth Castle--The Wreck of an Irish Emigrant Ship

The Irish emigrant ship Exmouth Castle foundered off the Isle of Islay on the northwest coast of Scotland Wednesday 28 April 1847 enroute from Londonderry in Northern Ireland to Quebec killing 250 people on board, making it the worst peacetime tragedy of Islay area wrecks. 

She had sailed with a crew of 11, three middle class female cabin passengers, and 240 emigrant farmer and tradesmen families in steerage who were fleeing the Great Irish Potato Famine.  Many were women and children who were headed to Quebec to meet husbands who had already settled there.

The vessel was registered for 165 passengers, but as there were many under age, two children counted as one adult under regulations of the period, and there were only about 60 men aboard.

The ship set sail on Sunday 25 April when a terrible storm blew up on Monday afternoon after losing sight of land damaging the sails.  The damage became worse as the storm continued into Tuesday. 

In an effort to bring the ship into harbor for repairs, the captain mistook a flashing light for a stationary one late Tuesday night, and the ship was dashed upon the jagged rocks along the shores of Islay in the early hours of Wednesday morning, her passengers entombed below deck during the inclement weather.  It is little wonder these early emigrant ships were called “coffin ships.”

Only three members of the crew survived to tell the story.  One of them, William Roach, wrote a song about the tragedy called The Wreck of the Brig Exmouth.  Here also is a recording of Peggy Earl, whose great-grandmother saw some of the bodies washed ashore, including the children.  Only 108 bodies were recovered and buried on the island.

This first-hand account of the wreck, “Shipwreck on the Coast of Islay,” was printed in the Glasgow Herald on 5 May 1847.

A memorial at Sanaigmore Bay now stands on Islay as a remembrance of those who lost their lives in the tragedy.  On a clear day, one can look from the shores of Northern Ireland across the expanse of ocean toward the Isle of Islay where the terrible tragedy occurred.

Memorial on the Isle of Islay remembering those who died in the wreck of the Exmouth Castle