Eagle 1766
Wooden sailing vessel; Dublin to Parkgate.
Captain Sugars and 3 crew; many passengers; at least 9 lost.
Left Dublin 30 October 1766; Foundered

Account of survivors: A few hours after they left the Irish shore, a storm arose, and the ship proving leaky, they got some of the sailors to hoist out the boat, and went into it; that they used every argument with General Stanwix and his family to induce them to leave the ship; but without effect; and that after being at sea thirty-six hours, they got into port on the coast of Scotland, near Galloway. The General had his lady, his only daughter, a young lady of fortune, a relation, and four servants with him, who are all, according to these officers' account, certainly lost, the ship could not in their opinion keep above water many hours after they left her.

Lieutenant-General Stanwix was Lieutenant-Governor of the Isle of Wight and Member of Parliament for Appleby in Westmoreland. A complex legal case arose from the timing of the deaths of himself, his wife and his daughter (by his first wife) since the inheritence depended on the order.

Again opinion was expressed that the Eagle was not in good shape - since she developed a leak and then foundered.
  Most reports describe her passage as Dublin-Parkgate and she is listed as sailing from Dublin to Parkgate in earlier years (with Captain Briscoe and then Sugars). However, the Chester Courant (19 May 1767), repeats a report in other papers in an article about General Stanwix, which states her destination as Holyhead, and that all on board must have been lost.
Back to top

Main Index