Wrecked on a Vast Coast - Rapid

Rapid was an early 19th century American China trader wrecked on the vast north-west coast of Western Australia in 1811. Rapid departed Boston bound for Canton on 28 September 1810. After rounding the Cape of Good Hope, the vessel crossed the southern Indian Ocean, then made north-east towards North-West Cape. Disaster struck on the 98th day out when Rapid hit a reef at Point Cloates and became a total loss. The ship’s master, Henry Dorr, ordered the vessel set alight, so that it would burn to the waterline to prevent the large amount of coin on board being looted by a passing ship.

Abandoning Rapid, Dorr and his crew sailed northwest in the only remaining boat. The men survived 37 days of deprivation in a leaky, 16-foot jolly boat with limited rations. They ate rats and crabs on Christmas Island but had no water other than the rainwater they collected in the sails. The entire crew of Rapid reached Java alive, though a number died afterwards. In the end, only Dorr, his clerk and three sailors were left alive from the original crew. At Batavia Dorr took command of the American schooner General Greene. He navigated the schooner to America, arriving in Philadelphia on 27 July 1811. With Dorr’s report on the location of the wreck, a salvage party was sent to recover the bullion. Most of the coin was salvaged, with US$91,000 finally arriving in Canton in 1813.