The tugboat was wrecked on Harding Ledge in Massachusetts Bay. One crewman killed.[5]
Unknown barges
United States
Two barges were wrecked when their tug H. F. Morse was wrecked on Harding Ledge in Massachusetts Bay. Five crewmen were killed between the two crews.[6]
24 January[]
List of shipwrecks: 24 January 1889
Ship
Country
Description
United States
The schooner was wrecked on Cape Island, Nova Scotia. The crew were saved.[7]
The schooner ran aground at Cardigan. Her four crew were rescued by Lizzie & Charles Leigh Clare (Royal National Lifeboat Institution). She was on a voyage from Fowey, Cornwall to Runcorn, Cheshire. Harvest Home was refloated on 13 February and taken in to , Cardiganshire.[11]
The Eastern Steamship Company 3,099 GRT sail and steam cargo ship was wrecked following a collision with the 1,478-ton sailing ship Vandalia (United Kingdom) in the English Channel. She was en route from Antwerp to Madras. All forty-seven crew of Duke of Buccleugh were lost.[18]
Wrecked ships in Apia Harbor, Upolu, Samoa soon after the storm. The view looks northwestward, with the shattered bow of the German gunboat Eber on the beach in the foreground. The stern of USS Trenton is at right, with the sunken USS Vandalia alongside. The German gunboat Adler is on her side in the center distance. USS Trenton's starboard quarter gallery has been largely ripped away.
1889 Apia cyclone: The gunboat was forced against the harbor reef at Apia, Samoa, by large waves and sank quickly with the loss of 73 lives.
The wreck of USS Nipsic is at left; the wreck of USS Trenton is at center, with the wreck of USS Vandalia alongside in the center.
1889 Apia cyclone: The gunboat was driven ashore in the harbor at Apia, Samoa, with heavy damage and the loss of eight lives. She was refloated, repaired, and returned to service.
The fishing schooner was sunk in a collision with (United States). All 14 crew were killed.[22][23]
28 March[]
List of shipwrecks: 28 March 1889
Ship
Country
Description
United States
The schooner was run into and sunk by (United States) in dense fog between Absecon, New Jersey and Cape May. Her captain and one crewman were killed.[24]
On her way from Southampton, England, to Guernsey and Jersey in the Channel Islands in thick fog, the steamer ran at full speed onto Les Casquets reef near Alderney in the Channel Islands and sank within minutes with the loss of over 80 lives.[25]
Unknown date[]
List of shipwrecks: unknown March 1889
Ship
Country
Description
United States
The schooner sailed from Gloucester, Massachusetts on 25 March and vanished. The vessel was thought to have been run down by the schooner (United States) on the night of her departure.[26]
April[]
6 April[]
List of shipwrecks: 6 April 1889
Ship
Country
Description
Danmark
Denmark
The passenger steamer foundered in the North Atlantic after her propeller shaft snapped. A total of 721 passengers and crew saved by the cargo steamer Missouri (United States). Abandoned and almost submerged, the wreck of Danmark was found on 8 April by the passenger steamer City of Chester (United Kingdom) at 45°55′N37°16′W / 45.917°N 37.267°W / 45.917; -37.267.
The fishing boat sprung a leak ten miles (16 km) east of Chatham, Massachusetts and sank. Her crew of three was saved after rowing for several hours.[31]
The sidewheel paddle steamer sank in a storm in the Pacific Ocean off Cape Blanco, Oregon, killing at least 21 people. 10 of 11 made it to shore after spending three days in a lifeboat and then swimming to shore, one survivor drowned in the attempt.[32]
16 May[]
List of shipwrecks: 16 May 1889
Ship
Country
Description
United States
The schooner was run down and sunk by the schooner (United States) five miles (8.0 km) off Thacher's Island. Crew saved.[33]
The pilot boat was run down by the French Line steamship La Normandie, in a dense fog eight miles (13 km) east of Sandy Hook, New York. The pilot boat sank in three minutes. Two pilots on Charlotte Webb were lost in the incident.[34]
22 May[]
List of shipwrecks: 22 May 1889
Ship
Country
Description
Ohio
United States
The 363.8-ton 110.9-foot (33.8 m) whalingbark became unmanageable after her hull was stove in by ice and was blown ashore and wrecked on Nunivak Island in the Bering Sea. Her crew survived and was rescued from the island by the bark Ocean (United States).[15]
The full-rigged ship was sighted on this date whilst on a voyage from Liverpool, Lancashire to Callao, Peru. No further trace, presumed foundered with the loss of all hands.[35]
June[]
1 June[]
List of shipwrecks: 1 June 1889
Ship
Country
Description
Australia
The steamer was lost off, or in, the Brisbane River. Scrapped in place.[36]
25 June[]
List of shipwrecks: 25 June 1889
Ship
Country
Description
United States
The schooner was sunk in a collision with (United States) in Chesapeake Bay. Her captain, his wife, and one crewman killed.[37]
The schooner was run down and sunk. crew saved.[46]
4 August[]
List of shipwrecks: 4 August 1889
Ship
Country
Description
United States
The schooner capsized in a squall 55 miles (89 km) east southeast of Pensacola, Florida.[4]
9 August[]
List of shipwrecks: 9 August 1889
Ship
Country
Description
Wildwood
United States
While departing Nushagak on Bristol Bay in the Territory of Alaska carrying the summer's catch from the cannery at Nushagak, the 1,056.09-ton, 198.8-foot (60.6 m) bark was wrecked in the Nushagak River 2 nautical miles (3.7 km; 2.3 mi) south of . Her entire crew of 21 survived.[47]
The torpedo boat capsized in the Øresund and subsequently sank whilst under tow for Copenhagen. She was salvaged, repaired and returned to service.[48]
25 August[]
List of shipwrecks: 25 August 1889
Ship
Country
Description
United States
The steamer was sunk in a collision with Commonwealth (United States) in the Ohio River opposite Cincinnati, Ohio. One crewman and three passengers died.[49]
The 350-ton whalingbark was wrecked on an uncharted reef in the Chukchi Sea off the coast of Siberia 7 nautical miles (13 km; 8.1 mi) west of Herald Island. The steam bark Abram Barker (United States) rescued her crew.[29]
The tramp steamer sank in a hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean northeast of the Greater Antilles with the loss of 17 lives. The seven survivors floated in an open lifeboat for 21 days before the schoonerMosquito (United States) rescued them off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
The cargo steamer struck a reef at the south end of the Sound of Mull between the Isle of Mull and Scotland off and sank four hours later. Her crew of 11 abandoned ship safely.
21 October[]
List of shipwrecks: 21 October 1889
Ship
Country
Description
United States
The schooner sprung a leak and capsized 10 miles (16 km) south southwest of the Cape St. George Lighthouse, Florida.[56]
The tug ran aground on the north spit of the Umpqua River and went to pieces. Lost with everyone on board, one passenger and seven crew.[62]
20 November[]
List of shipwrecks: 20 November 1889
Ship
Country
Description
Manhattan
United States
The cargo liner was sunk in a collision with Schooner (United States) off Fenwick Island, Delaware, eight miles (13 km) off Fenwick Shoal Lightship. Three passengers and eight crew died.[63][64]
The brig ran aground near Blankenberge, Belgium during a violent storm. All five crew were rescued by Belgian lifeguards, but five lifeguards died during the rescue attempts.[65]
29 November[]
List of shipwrecks: 29 November 1889
Ship
Country
Description
United States
The schooner sank off Norman's Woe. Two crewmen died, her captain was saved by the schooner .[66]
The screw steamer was wrecked on Destruction Island off Washington, United States, after losing her propeller and auxiliary sailing rig in high winds and heavy seas. Her crew abandoned ship safely.
The steamer was sunk in a collision in snow with Oregon (United States) in the Columbia River at Coffee Rock 47 miles (76 km) above Astoria, Oregon in 22 feet (6.7 m) of water. Two crew killed, one injured. Survivors made it to shore in her boats.[68][69]
The steamer was damaged in a collision with (United Kingdom) in the Columbia River at Coffee Rock 47 miles (76 km) above Astoria, Oregon in snow, losing her bow, and drifted ashore, later pulled off. One crewman injured.[70]
The hulk of the square-rigged sailing ship, severely damaged by fire in Hobsons Bay, New South Wales, Australia, on 15 November 1859 and never repaired, was scuttled ca. 1889.
The cargo ship caught fire in the Atlantic Ocean whilst on the return leg of her maiden voyage. An attempt was made to beach her in Dunmanus Bay but she struck the Bullig Reef and sank.[71]