The story of the Tay estuary’s worst local shipwrecks begins on the evening of 24th November 1864 when in heavy seas the blue distress lamp of the steamer Dalhousie was spotted off Tentsmuir on the Abertay Sands. Although initially spotted by another ship, the water was too shallow to be able to offer assistance and that duty would have to be passed to a smaller craft.
between 2 and 3am that night the Broughty Ferry Lifeboat was launched with the assistance of the Dundee tug Hercules which towed it down river. But this wasn’t yet to the aid of the Dalhousie, instead it was headed to towards Buddon Ness to aid in the rescue of the schooner David and John, of Montrose which was foundering in heavy seas. Despite high waves the lifeboatmen pulled their boat alongside and managed to rescue the four crew. The schooner was left at anchor but sank a short time later.
The crew rowed their lifeboat back to the safety of Broughty Ferry by 9am and were perhaps initially confused as to the sight of a fresh crew waiting to board. The news of the Dalhousie had reached them and Coxswain John Knight had assembled a crew ready to launch again without delay. Towed out again by a Dundee tug they could see the masts of the Dalhousie being swamped by the storm waves and cast off their tow near the Lady Shoal to take a direct route over the Abertay Sands. This was no easy task- the shallow waters in an easterly gale delivered punishingly high waves which swamped the lifeboat on multiple occasions. As they slowly closed in they were able to make out that the hull was now underwater with only the rigging clear of the heavy seas. Hoping that some of the crew or passengers may have made it up to the rigging they pushed on but were to find no-one.
The exact number on board the Dalhousie is uncertain but is believed to have been fourteen crew and twenty passengers, though one report cites 35 people had been aboard and it was common for very young children not to be registered as a passenger. The youngest known person on board was a four month old baby. A subsequent investigation revealed that the ship’s company had most likely been lost during the night – long before the Lifeboat had even been launched.
image: The Mary Hartley Lifeboat approaching the wreck of the Dalhousie