A morsel from The Daily Morning Astorian, April 3, 1884:

• The Grasmere arrived last Monday. Her bulwarks and boats were gone, and the bark was otherwise badly damaged.

Note: The bark Grasmere, built in 1817, was seemingly ill-fated. According to the Glasgow Herald, in 1864, under the command of Capt. Turner, they left Scotland, heading for New Zealand, with a crew of 20, 125 emigrant passengers, and a cargo that included a game to stock the colony’s forest.

Four days later, the ship ran into a reef off Northern Island and became firmly stuck. Signal guns summoned the coastal guard, and all of the passengers (and most of their luggage) and crew, and the cargo, including the wild game, were saved.

There was no explanation of what happened to the bark in 1884.

In 1896, Capt. Morrison was in charge when the Grasmere met its demise, according to the Sydney Daily Telegraph. The vessel, loaded with coal, left on a voyage from Newcastle, New South Wales, on Dec. 13. Neither the hull nor the cargo was insured.

On Christmas morning, the captain came on deck when they were nearing Wellington, New Zealand, their destination. He adjusted the course and left the mate at the wheel. The wind was blowing very hard, and all of the sails were set.

When the captain returned, it was too late. He immediately summoned all hands to take down the topsail, but before they could, the ship got stuck on a rock ledge. There were no casualties, except the ship, that is. The loss was rightly blamed on the captain. (Painting: James Butterworth)