Halsewell in a violent storm

Survivors sheltering in cave.
Painting by H. E. Beavis

The Captain his daughters and nieces
were gathered in the round house with
the other passengers. The ship disintegrated
around them and they perished
…..[By Robert Smirke ]

Loss of an East Indiaman Halsewell 1786 by Joseph Mallord William Turner
1775 – 1851

Seadart Divers Assoc

Halsewell story and recovered artefacts
"A Short Voyage"

Halsewell was an East Indiaman and was on its way out to India. The site where the Halsewell met her end on January 6th, 1786 at 2am in the morning in a raging storm lies 3 miles west of the Swanage Lighthouse, between St. Albans Head and Anvil Point. Due to having been wrecked against cliffs, the ship was smashed to pieces (in the original storm and in every storm since 1786) the ship and cargo it was carrying were scattered over a large area. It is believed part of the cliff face collapsed onto the site about 6 months after the wrecking.

Charlie Dickens wrote a piece on it. Which highlighted the story.
Loss of the Halsewell "The Long Voyage"

Link. Charlie Dickens write up

Seadart have dived and detected this wreck site for a number of years
and found some remarkable finds/artefacts,
some are listed below in the form of images.
There is no visible wreck, the area is a debris field.
Access to the site can only be reached by boat and a small
one at that, you have to navigate between large boulders
just below the surface.
All Seadart recovered items/artefacts have been declared to the
Marine and Coastguard Agency.
(Receiver of Wreck) We have made donations to museums etc and
Seadart Divers are the
legal owner of the remaining finds.

Images of some of the recovered artefacts