Cape Ann maritime remembrance records

Reviewed records of vessels, incidents and people from Cape Ann's maritime history, with each person's documented role, each town's documented connection, the sources behind every fact and the questions still open.

Type: Dataset (downloadable files)
Towns: Gloucester, Rockport, Essex, Manchester-by-the-Sea
Topics: History, Maritime, Remembrance
Geographic coverage: Incidents tied to Gloucester, Rockport, Essex or Manchester-by-the-Sea by documented evidence
Time coverage: 1876 to 1947 in this release (incidents reviewed so far)
Version: Data release 1.0.0
Last released: 2026-10-05
Expected updates: When the editor approves new records; checked monthly
Rights: Mixed: Cape Ann Current's summaries and structure are offered under our Free Access and Attribution Policy. Underlying facts are not owned by anyone. Public domain sources are marked. Facts drawn from sources with reserved rights are cited record by record and their wording is not included.
Policy: Cape Ann Current Free Access and Attribution Policy, version 1.0

Preview of the data

First 4 rows of the incidents table (4 rows in all), first 6 columns.

Sample rows
incident_id	slug	title	vessel_ids	summary	anniversary_date
INC-1892-01-06-GALLATIN	gallatin-1892	Wreck of the revenue cutter Gallatin on Boo Hoo Ledge	VES-GALLATIN-1871	The U.S. revenue cutter Gallatin, bound from Kittery, Maine, for Provincetown, turned for Gloucester Harbor in a snowstorm and struck Boo Hoo Ledge off Eagle Head after the pilot mistook Great Egg Rock for Kettle Island. The ship's carpenter, J. Jacobson, was struck by the falling smokestack and died. Everyone else reached Manchester in the ship's boats.	1892-01-06
INC-1946-04-HAIGHT	charles-s-haight-1946	Grounding of the Liberty ship Charles S. Haight on Flat Ground	VES-CHARLES-S-HAIGHT-1944	Returning in ballast from Newport, England, to New York, the Liberty ship Charles S. Haight went aground on Flat Ground off Rockport overnight between April 1 and 2, 1946. Crew members were taken off by the Coast Guard cutter Ojibwa. No deaths or injuries are reported in the sources reviewed. A local injunction sought by Rockport citizens stopped a plan to sink the oil-laden stern section.	1946-04
INC-1876-10-JOSEPH-F-ALLEN	joseph-f-allen-1876	Loss of the schooner Joseph F. Allen and her crew of 10 on Western Bank	VES-JOSEPH-F-ALLEN-GLOUCESTER	The Gloucester fishing schooner Joseph F. Allen was lost on Western Bank in October 1876 with all 10 men aboard. The city's register records the date as Oct. 16, 1876. The crew's names survive in the city register and in The Fishermen's Own Book (1882).	1876-10
INC-1876-04-18-JOSEPH-F-ALLEN-DORY	joseph-f-allen-dory-1876	Two men lost in a dory from the schooner Joseph F. Allen on Grand Bank	VES-JOSEPH-F-ALLEN-GLOUCESTER	John McMillan and John McAuley were lost in a dory from the Joseph F. Allen on Grand Bank in April 1876, months before the schooner herself was lost.	1876-04-18

Download

Before you download: This resource includes data from external sources. Reusers must comply with all applicable source licenses, terms of use, policies, attribution requirements, and redistribution restrictions. Cape Ann Current's reuse policy does not override those requirements or grant rights held by others. Credit Cape Ann Current as shown below. The README and NOTICE files travel with every format.

JSON (everything)CSV files (ZIP with notes)Excel workbook GeoJSON README (methods and fields)NOTICE (credit and source rules)Schema Changelog

Single CSV tables

incidents.csv (4 rows)
events.csv (11 rows)
vessels.csv (3 rows)
people.csv (18 rows)
roles.csv (18 rows)
town_links.csv (8 rows)
conflicts.csv (8 rows)
anniversaries.csv (4 rows)
sources.csv (12 rows)

Each CSV is plain UTF-8 with one header row. Missing values are empty cells. Read README.txt for the fields and NOTICE.txt for credit and source rules; both are in the ZIP.

Stable addresses

Always the newest release: https://capeanncurrent.com/datasets/maritime-records/latest/maritime-records.json
Fixed version 1.0.0: https://capeanncurrent.com/datasets/maritime-records/1.0.0/maritime-records.json

These are static files. There is no API, key or account. Files are cached for up to an hour; please download once and reuse your copy rather than fetching on every page view.

How to credit

Every public use, including on government websites, must show this credit near the reused material, with a clickable link to this page:

Source: Cape Ann Current. Link: https://capeanncurrent.com/data-tools/maritime-records/

If you change it: Adapted from Cape Ann Current. Changes made by [organization name].

Copy this credit (HTML)

<p>Source: <a href="https://capeanncurrent.com/data-tools/maritime-records/">Cape Ann Current</a>.</p>

A credit only in metadata, code, a tooltip or a site footer does not count. Read the Free Access and Attribution Policy.

Methodology

Records start from a research index of the City of Gloucester Lost at Sea register, Lamson's 1895 Manchester town history, Down to Sea (used only as a lead) and other archives. A record enters this dataset only after the news desk checks each fact against an official or primary source, or two independent sources, writes a summary in our own words and the editor approves it. Same-named vessels and people are never merged without evidence. Victims, survivors, captains, crew, owners and rescuers are separate roles. Residence, birthplace, homeport, building place and incident location are separate town relationships.

Definitions

verification: verified: stated in an official or primary source, or two independent sources agree. single_source: one source only. conflict: sources disagree; see the conflicts table.
date precision: exact, month, year, range or unknown. A month-precision date is never shown as a daily anniversary.
anniversary feed: daily: verified exact date, editor approved. monthly: verified month, or an exact day in conflict.

Limitations

This is not a complete list of Cape Ann people or vessels lost at sea. It holds only the records reviewed so far.
The City of Gloucester's register, a key source, says itself that it is incomplete, and it is dated July 29, 2010.
Crew counts appear only where a source documents them; the number of names indexed is not a crew count.
Coordinates appear only where a source records them; fishing grounds are never shown as wreck points.

Sources and their rules

External sources. This resource includes data from external sources. Reusers must comply with all applicable source licenses, terms of use, policies, attribution requirements, and redistribution restrictions. Cape Ann Current's reuse policy does not override those requirements or grant rights held by others.

Our policy and each source's own conditions both apply. Where they differ, the source's conditions govern the source's material. Underlying facts are not owned by anyone; we never claim them.

Sources, rights and required credits
Source	Rights and terms	Required source credit	Not covered by our policy	Retrieved / rights reviewed
Lost at Sea register (PDF dated July 29, 2010) City of Gloucester, Mass. (compiled by the Gloucester Archives Committee)	public record Site footer: All content (c) 2006-2026 Gloucester, MA. All rights reserved. The PDF carries no separate license. The city says the register is incomplete. Source terms	City of Gloucester, Lost at Sea register	Copies of the city's PDF pages or images.	2026-10-05 2026-10-05
The Fishermen's Own Book Procter Brothers, Gloucester, 1882; digitized by the Internet Archive	public domain Published 1882; public domain in the United States. Archive.org lists NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT.	The Fishermen's Own Book (Procter Brothers, 1882), via the Internet Archive	None stated	2026-10-05 2026-10-05
History of the Town of Manchester, Essex County, Massachusetts, 1645-1895 D. F. Lamson (Manchester: published by the town, 1895); digitized by the Internet Archive	public domain Published 1895; public domain in the United States. Source terms	D. F. Lamson, History of the Town of Manchester (1895), via the Internet Archive	Nothing restricted; we do not claim the Internet Archive scan as ours.	2026-10-04 2026-10-05
Sufferers by Wreck of United States Revenue Cutter Gallatin, House Report No. 1830, 56th Congress (May 29, 1900) U.S. House of Representatives (govinfo.gov Serial Set)	public domain U.S. federal government publication; public domain. Reprints the muster roll and a Treasury letter of Jan. 26, 1892.	Cite the source	None stated	2026-10-05 2026-10-05
1892 newspaper reports on the wreck of the Gallatin (Chronicling America) Library of Congress, Chronicling America	public domain Newspapers published 1930 or earlier are in the public domain in the United States. Source terms	Cite the source	None stated	2026-10-05 2026-10-05
Portland Daily Press, Jan. 19, 1877, p. 2 (Gloucester dispatch on overdue schooners) Library of Congress, Chronicling America	public domain Published 1877; public domain.	Cite the source	None stated	2026-10-05 2026-10-05
Charles S. Haight vessel status cards and ship history U.S. Maritime Administration	public domain U.S. federal government records; public domain (17 U.S.C. 105).	U.S. Maritime Administration, Vessel Status Cards	None stated	2026-10-05 2026-10-05
Coast Guard bi-weekly report excerpt, April 12, 1946 (Charles S. Haight) U.S. Coast Guard, via the U.S. Maritime Administration vessel history archive	public domain U.S. federal government record; public domain.	Cite the source	None stated	2026-10-05 2026-10-05
U.S. Coast Guard Historian's Office cutter histories U.S. Coast Guard	public domain U.S. federal works; check credits on third-party photos.	Cite the source	None stated	2026-10-05 2026-10-05
Albert Gallatin Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources (Mass.gov)	facts only Mass.gov forbids copying or use other than fair use; photo credited courtesy of BUAR. Source terms	Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources	Page text or the photo.	2026-10-05 2026-10-05
Charles S. Haight Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources (Mass.gov)	facts only Mass.gov forbids copying or use other than fair use. Source terms	Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources	Page text or images.	2026-10-05 2026-10-05
Charles S. Haight Town of Rockport, Mass.	facts only Site footer: all rights reserved.	Town of Rockport	Page text or images.	2026-10-05 2026-10-05

Not included: Online Vessel List, Essex Shipbuilding Museum: permission required; Cape Ann Museum Library and Archives digital collections, Cape Ann Museum: permission required; Down to Sea, downtosea.com (copyright R. Sheedy): research lead only, not cited as a source; Sandy Bay Historical Society; Manchester-by-the-Sea Museum, Local historical societies: rights not yet reviewed. These stay out of downloads, widgets, lessons and embeds until permission is documented.

Restricted components

None included. The Essex Shipbuilding Museum vessel list and Cape Ann Museum collections are excluded until permission is granted.

Rights and reuse

Mixed: Cape Ann Current's summaries and structure are offered under our Free Access and Attribution Policy. Underlying facts are not owned by anyone. Public domain sources are marked. Facts drawn from sources with reserved rights are cited record by record and their wording is not included.

Free under our Free Access and Attribution Policy for websites, businesses, news organizations, government agencies, schools, libraries and nonprofits whose website or publication does not run a paywall for news or informational content. School systems that require logins for student privacy qualify.

Report a correction

See an error or have a record that adds to this? Send a correction or email [email protected].