New Jersey Scuba Diving

Type:

shipwreck, sailing ship, USA

Specs:

( 180 x 38 ft ) 1100 tons

Sunk:

Monday, January 13, 1853
grounded in storm - no casualties

The vessel took a tremendous pounding, but a surf car was used to rescue all 234 persons on board. The history of the Cornelius Grinnell is confused since she is listed as sunk again in 1885, 5 miles south of Highlands Light. Was she salvaged in 1853, or is this a different vessel with the same name, or is this another record-keeping error? The truth is lost to time.

The Cornelius Grinnell and the John S Minturn were packet ships of the same line, in fact, they were named after the owners.

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Here is a list of vessels lost in the area of discussion up to 1900. Some of these may be offshore, and many were refloated and/or salvaged, so not all are candidates for the Lavallette Wreck. A few have specific locations given, but most are given simply as "Squan" or "Squan Beach, " which could be anywhere. A list like this could never hope to be complete.

Year	Name	Type	Location
1705	Swan	brigantine	Squan
1809	Benjamin & Elizabeth	ship	Squan Beach
1809	Joseph	ship	Squan Beach
1810	Three Friends		Squan Beach
1812	Mentor	brig	Squan Beach
1813	Thistle		Squan Inlet
1824	Amity	ship	Squan Beach
1826	Hannah Ann	sloop	Squan
1827	Orbit	schooner	Squan Beach
1827	Solon	schooner	Island Beach
1827	Florida	schooner	Island Beach
1827	Lewis	ship	Island Beach
1828	Marvel	brig	Island Beach
1828	Mobile	brig	Squan Beach
1828	Post Boy	schooner	Island Beach
1830	Thankful Winslow	schooner	Squan Beach
1830	Etna	schooner	Squan Beach
1830	Aetna	schooner	Squan Beach
1830	Sovereign	ship	Squan Beach
1831	Cape Henry	schooner	Squan Beach
1832	General Putman	ship	Island Beach
1832	Mary & Eliza		Squan Beach
1832	Hunter	brig	Squan Beach
1832	Christine Louisa	ship	Squan Beach
1833	Mary	brig	Squan
1834	Polmqua	sloop	Squan Beach
1835	Sovereign (salvaged)	ship	Squan Beach
1835	A J Donnelson	barque	Squan Beach
1835	Lydia	schooner	Cranberry Inlet
1835	Lola May	brig	Squan Beach
1835	Jonathan Myer	schooner	Squan Beach
1836	Astros	brig	Squan Beach
1838	Henry Clay	schooner	Mantoloking
1838	Ageneria	schooner	Mantoloking
1839	Gov. Coddington	brig	Island Beach
1840	John C Jackson	schooner	Squan Inlet
1840	Potomac	schooner	Island Beach
1840	Senate	schooner	Manasquan Beach
1846	John S Minturn	ship	Squan Beach
1846	Alabama	schooner	Squan Beach
1849	La Fauvette	bark	Squan Beach
1850	Orion	bark	Squan
1850	Ayrshire	ship	Squan Beach
1852	Argyle	bark	3 miles S of Squan
1853	Grand Turk	schooner	Squan Inlet
1853	Western World	ship	Spring Lake
1853	Cornelius Grinnell	ship	Squan Beach
1855	Argyle	bark	Squam Beach
1857	Minerva	ship	Cranberry Inlet
1857	Samuel Willets	ship	near Squan
1857	Clara Brookman	ship	Squan Beach
1859	John R Stanley	schooner	Squan Beach
1860	DeWitt Clinton	ship	7 miles S of Squan Inlet
1861	Governor Bull	brig	Squan Beach
1862	Hazard	brig	Squan Inlet
1864	Monio	brig	Squan Beach
1864	Elizabeth	ship	Manasquan
1865	Oriona	brig	Squan
1865	C Matthews	schooner	Squan Beach
1865	Flora	bark	Squan Beach
1866	R G Porter	schooner	Point Pleasant
1867	G W Hinson	schooner	Squan Beach
1867	Charles E Pope	schooner	Squan Beach
1867	Carlotta	schooner	Squan
1867	Cordula	schooner	Squan Beach
1867	Creole	steamer	Bay Head
1869	R C Waldron	schooner	Squan Beach
1869	M M Merriman	schooner	Squan Beach
1869	Ann Corbett	schooner	Squan Beach
1870	Scudd	schooner	Squan Beach
1870	B C Schriviner	schooner	Squan Beach
1870	Gilman D King	schooner	Squan Beach
1870	John Collins	schooner	Squan Beach
1871	Oneida	schooner	Squan Beach
1871	Catherine Jackson		off Squan
1871	O H Canady	schooner	Squan Beach
1871	Villotine	bark	Squan Beach
1871	Aries	steamer	Cranberry Inlet
1872	Panther	steamer	Squan Beach
1870	Lizzie Lane	sloop	Squan Beach
1875	Thomas Fletcher	bark	Squan Beach
1875	The Queen	steamer	Squan Beach
1875	M J Forsha	sloop	Squan Beach
1875	Cora	schooner	Squan Beach
1876	Eliza Jane	schooner	Squan Beach
1876	Magdalina	brig	Cranberry Inlet
1876	AMC Smith	schooner	Squan Beach
1876	Lillian Cameron	brigantine	Squam Beach
1877	Margaret & Lucy	schooner	opposite Toms River
1878	New Jersey	bark	Squan
1878	Maggie McDonald	schooner	Wreck Pond Inlet
1878	D C Bradley	schooner	Squan
1881	Arctic	brigantine	Squan
1883	Meta	ship	Mantoloking
1884	C C Dame	schooner	Bay Head
1885	Peacedale	schooner	Ocean Grove
1886	Tsengora	ship	Spring Lake
1886	W C Warner	brig	Matoloking
1888	Civitas Carrera	bark	Manasquan **
1888	Andrew H Edwards	bark	off Island Beach
1890	Lawrence McKenzie	schooner	opposite Forked River
1892	Henry Davey	schooner	off Squan
1894	Albert W Smith	schooner	Squan Beach
1894	Susan H Ritchie	schooner	between Bay Head & Mantoloking
1899	Aji	schooner	Island Beach
1900	Oliver Scolfield	schooner	Chadwick

** This wreck was uncovered by a storm and salvaged in 1937

Likewise, there are many anonymous fishing snags and other unknown wreckage up and down the coast, any of which could prove to be one of these wrecks. Or, more likely, they have either sunk into the sand or been consumed by the surf.