In New Shoreham, by the entrance to Southeast Lighthouse, is a historical marker that lists some of the ships that have gone down off Mohegan Bluffs.
The marker is on the east side of the road, about 20 ft south of the entrance to the lighthouse. The grounds are publicly available. Beyond the lighthouse is a view from the top of the bluffs out to the wind farm 3 miles away, and beyond.
The sign has the following text concerning the ships:
"[Block Island Historical Society Logo]
Mohegan Bluffs
Elevation 163 Ft
1590 A war party of 40 Mohegan Indians
was driven over these bluffs by
Block Island Indians - the Manisseans
Along this shore many
vessels were wrecked
S Ann Hope - S. S. Leyden
Mars - Spartan
John Davis - Munago
S.S. Meteor - Lightburne
Luckenbach - Sch. Pocahontas
Palmetto - Jacob Winslow
Nero - J.T. Martin
Essex - Barge Texas
Etc."
The following are stories of some of these ships:
S. Ann Hope: According to an article about the history of Providence County, the ship, Ann Hope, was built for merchants Brown & Ives in 1798. The name comes from Ann, the wife of Brown and Hope, the wife of Ives. It was 98 ft long and a beam of 32 ft, and registered at 550 tons. The ship's first voyage was to Canton, China. On the way back on the 6th voyage, the captain made the turn around Block Island too soon and the ship was grounded off Block Island. Almost all was lost, including 3 of the crew. Most of the coffee was lost, as well as the sugar.
S. S. Leydon: If it is the same as the U.S.S. Leydon, it was a steam screw tugboat for the U.S. Navy. It served in the waters off Cuba during the Spanish-American War. On the way home from Puerto Rico on January 21, 1903, the ship foundered in heavy fog off the coast of Block Island.
The Lightburne was a gasoline and kerosene steamship tanker with a capacity of 72,000 gallons. On February 10, 1939, the ship ran aground in fog about a quarter mile from Mohegan Bluffs.
The Schooner Pocahontas was based in Taunton, Massachusetts. It was a four masted schooner rigged ship. On January 11, 1890, the ship was grounded in fog about 2 1/2 miles off the south coast nearest Black Rock, which is southwest of this location.
There are more - perhaps a visitor can do some research and add in a description in the visit.
I saw no evidence of shipwrecks while I was looking from the top of the bluffs.
Source:
Ancestry.com (History of Providence County):
(
visit link)
Rhode Island Shipwrecks Database:
(
visit link)
Wikipedia-
(U.S.S. Leydon):
(
visit link)