The Wreck of the Sindia My project deals specifically with the shipwreck of a sailing vessel named The Sindia. The Sindia was a four masted cargo carrier registered out of Liverpool, England. Her main job was to carry freight from port to port. The majority of cargo she transported was oil, silk, and novelties and trinkets. ( Lee, 1-2) Her last voyage was to have taken her from New York to Shanghai, China. She was to travel from Shanghai to Kobe, Japan and then back to New York. She had accomplished most of this voyage and was on her way home along the eastern seaboard of the United States when she ran into a severe northeastern storm. This was the storm that was to claim the Sindia forever. (Lee, 1-2) All events took place on December 15, 1901 off the coast of Ocean City, New Jersey. When the Sindia was sailing up the coast she found herself caught at sea in the midst of the storm. She looked to seek refuge in the waters closer to shore. As she moved closer to shore the captain did not realize the dangers of the waters surrounding Ocean City. The boat sailed too close to the shore and became grounded on a sandbar. The weight of the ship held it tight in the sticky ocean sand. The ship struck the sandbar head on and the whipping winds caused the boat to turn broadside and burrow deeper into the sand. Once the ship lay on the beach, the captain ordered distress signals to be sent immediately. At 2:30 in the morning the signals were seen by the Ocean City and Middle life saving stations, who responded immediately to the 16th street beach. These distress signals brought curious onlookers from the town out to the beach to see what the commotion was about. At daybreak, the rescuers using a surf boat, were finally able to make it out to the doomed ship. When the first lifesaving personnel arrived on the ship the captain would not let any of the crew leave the ship. He finally relented and agreed to let 26 men go ashore. (Lamphear, 8-9) After the men were off the ship and safe on shore, there still was the problem of the cargo on the grounded Sindia. How were they going to get the cargo off of the stranded ship? A consensus of those involved, including the captain, crew, rescuers and townspeople seemed to come up with the same idea. A wrecking company would be hired to salvage all it could from the ship. Due to the fear of another storm the company was hired to start the salvage work immediately. Another reason to begin the work was to salvage the items before looters ransacked the ship.As the company continued its efforts the salvaged material was first sold to the New York underwriters and put up for auction. The auction did not work out the way the underwriters had hoped. ( Seibold, 10-15) Later, the ship, including cargo, was sold to the Sindia Company for $ 5,500. The estimated value of the cargo alone was $1,200,000. While most of the items salvaged were sold on the Ocean City Boardwalk, a la...
