Belfast

Wreck

What is recorded here

Belfast and another vessel, Hope, were reported lost soon after leaving the Mersey on 12 November 1799, probably on West Hoyle Bank. The source gives no rig, cargo, destination, cause or casualty total for Belfast. The marker is a broad documentary location and should not be presented as confirmed wreckage or merged…

Read the whole record

The vessel and voyage

Belfast was a vessel leaving the Mersey on 12 November 1799. The short surviving record does not give her build, rig, home port, cargo, master, destination or number aboard.

How it was lost

Belfast and Hope were lost soon after departure, probably on West Hoyle Bank. Their joint timing suggests the same dangerous conditions or bank, but the account does not state the exact cause for either vessel.

Deaths and survival

No death, rescue or crew total is preserved in the quick source. The fate of the people aboard is therefore unknown, and cannot be supplied from the separate vessel called Belfast lost four years earlier.

What remains

The point is assigned generally to West Hoyle Bank until more precise information emerges. No archaeological remains are confirmed and, because Hope was lost at the same time, unattributed material could belong to either ship.

Why it mattered

The double loss shows the danger immediately outside the Mersey at the end of the eighteenth century. Its value lies in keeping two vessels and one shared event visible without pretending the thin record says more.