From The Daily Astorian, May 1, 1881: The Lizzie Iredale is at Fort Stevens anchorage.

Note: Which is a bit ironic, since that’s where the barque Peter Iredale met its fate.

The Peter Iredale’s sister ship, a barque built in 1868, was named after ship builder Peter Iredale’s daughter, Martha Lizzie, according to the Iredale ships’ website. 

The ship was declared missing on Oct. 3, 1887, according to Wrecksite, where a clipping from an unknown newspaper announced the “probable loss of a Liverpool ship and 17 lives.”

“All hope is now given up of the safety of the Liverpool barque Lizzie Iredale,” the clipping says, “which it is feared has foundered at sea with all on board … including the captain’s wife.” 

The ship, under the command of W. H. Iredale, with a cargo of coal, left Newcastle, New South Wales for “San Diego, near San Francisco,” and vanished. A normal voyage of that length usually took 70 to 80 days.

“She left Newcastle on March 5, so that 198 days have elapsed since then. There is just the chance, that after the foundering of the vessel, the crew, or some of them, may have reached some of the islands, near which the vessel would go on her passage. 

“Some of these islands are uninhabited … and consequently shipwrecked people might be there for many months without being heard of.” In this case, never heard of again.

“… All of the seamen, with one exception, joined the ship at Newcastle, as the original seamen who sailed in the Lizzie Iredale from England deserted at Newcastle.” Maybe they had a premonition. (Painting: 19th Century English School)