Records of the bark Marques (Coll. 244)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Overview of the Records

History of the bark Marques

Scope and Contents

Restrictions

Index Terms

Administrative Information

Detailed Description of the Records

History of the bark Marques

The Brigantine MARQUES was built in 1917 near Valencia, Spain, and was employed in the fruit trade between the Canary Islands and Northern Europe. The vessel was severely damaged during World War II, but was rebuilt in 1947 for use in the Mediterranean trade.

In 1971 MARQUES was purchased by Robin Cecil-Wright, who took her to Southampton, England for extensive restoration and re-rigging. Five years later she sailed into prominence with appearances in numerous television programs and series, including: "The Onedin Line", "Poldark", "The Fight Against Slavery", and "Dracula." In 1977 a 1/2 share in the MARQUES was bought by Mark Litchfield, who then became co-owner and co-skipper along with Cecil-Wright, a partnership which eventually evolved into ownership by the China Clipper Society, a full-fledged corporation. That same year the vessel acquired her unusual rig, basically a brig with a small spankermast stepped far aft, making her a bark. This was done as part of her roll as the BEAGLE in a BBC television series about Charles Darwin.

Since 1983 the American Sail Training Association had been working with the China Clipper Society to place trainees aboard the MARQUES for the 1984 Sail Training Races. In preparation for the summer's program she sailed from Bristol, England to Antigua in mid-winter, and spent the remainder of the cold months doing charter work and making day sails from a base in the Caribbean.

The first leg of the :"Tall Ships" races began in Puerto Rico on Sunday, May 20th, 1984, and finished five days later in Bermuda. MARQUES raced against five other ships and won trophies for first overall and first in her class. The next leg of the race was from Hamilton, Bermuda to Halifax, Nova Scotia, with the start on Saturday, June 2nd, at 1400 hours. However, in the early morning of June 3rd, MARQUES was lost during a squall, along with 19 members of her 28-member sail-training crew. Two of the victims, Susan Peterson Howell, and Andrea Lee, were employees of Mystic Seaport Museum.

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Scope and Contents

This collection contains information on the loss of the sail training Bark MARQUES and the subsequent reaction of the American Sail Training Association, media, next-of-kin, and the sailing community. All papers were collected by Don Treworgy; Mystic Seaport Museum Planetarium Director and ASTA member.

Papers regarding the American Sail Training Association are contained in Box 1. While some materials are generic printed pamphlets and memos produced by ASTA, most relate specifically to the MARQUES accident. These documents include correspondence, an official statement of the "Sail Training Loss," by Henry H. Anderson, and copies of court depositions and decisions in the various resulting lawsuits.

Box 2, "Don Treworgy - General Papers and Correspondence" also contains court depositions; those made by Don Treworgy, and correspondence: between Treworgy and ASTA, Attorneys, Bermuda authorities, survivors and next-of-kin. The last folder in this box holds a crew photo and Memorial Service Programs.

Official published reports of the sinking, and newspaper and magazine articles are contained in Box 3. The newspaper articles report the tragedy as details of the accident unfolded. The "Related Newspaper Articles" folders contain primarily commentary, speculation and recounts of the event by survivors.

The log of the MARQUES ( a recreation) and logs of other vessels; either related sail training vessels or those involved in the search for the MARQUES are contained in Box 4.

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Restrictions

Restrictions on Access

Available for use in the Manuscripts Division.

Restrictions on Use

Various copying restriction apply. Guidelines are available from the Manuscripts Division. See also: Mystic Seaport's copyright notice.

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Index Terms

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the G. W. Blunt White Library. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Persons:

Corporate Bodies (Including Vessels):

Places:

Subjects:

Document Types:

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Coll. 244, Manuscripts Collection, G. W. Blunt White Library, Mystic Seaport Museum, Inc.

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Detailed Description of the Records

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.

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