Forerunner
The British steamer Forerunner, wrecked on the Badajeira shoal off Ponta de São Lourenço on 25 October 1854 with the loss of fourteen lives; a Machico boat helped rescue the survivors.
On the afternoon of 25 October 1854 the British steamer Forerunner left the port of Funchal. Coming from the coast of Africa and bound for England, she was carrying many officers of the British army and the governor of Sierra Leone. Off Ponta de São Lourenço, after nightfall, the steamer struck a shoal there called the Badajeira and sank completely; three passengers and eleven crew members died in the wreck. A boat from Machico that happened to be passing the scene of the disaster gave the most valuable service in rescuing the passengers and crew. Its men were commended by the Portuguese Government in a ministerial order (portaria) and decorated with the medal of the Royal Humane Society (Real Sociedade Humanistica).
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Time
Years mentioned · 01Place
Places mentioned · 06
Abroad
- Badajeira
Machico. Shoal near Ponta de São Lourenço on which the Forerunner struck.
Badajeira is a dangerous shoal near the Ilhéu de Fora, off the Ponta de São Lourenço. The steamers Forerunner (1854) and Newton (1881) were wrecked there in calm seas.
- England
United Kingdom. Destination of the ship.
England appears in the Elucidário as the first main market for Madeira embroidery and the main importer of Madeiran wicker. It was also the source of most butter consumed in Funchal in the early nineteenth century. It was a chief refuge for liberal emigrants fleeing Miguelist persecution, and several Madeirans studied or served as diplomats there.
- Funchal
Port the Forerunner left shortly before the wreck.
The capital of the archipelago and seat of the principal captaincy, where settlement began; it was made a vila c.1451–52. Its bay, the widest in the archipelago, lies between Ponta do Garajau and Ponta da Cruz and offers sheltered anchorage, though its harbour had never been studied oceanographically. The Elucidário discusses it as a health resort with climate data and records the January 1906 disturbances, the Danish prince's visit in May 1846 and recent volcanic cones in the area.
- Machico
Home of the boat whose crew rescued survivors.
The parish of Machico was the landing place of the discoverers Zargo and Tristão Vaz and the seat of the captaincy of Machico; the parish was founded c. 1450. The Elucidário covers its clergy and stipends, chapels, historical events, mineral springs, localities, population and notable natives.
- Ponta de São Lourenço
Machico. Headland off which the ship was wrecked.
The Ponta de São Lourenço is the long, narrow eastern headland of Madeira in the parish of Caniçal, said to be named after the caravel São Lourenço, with a lighthouse on its islet. The Elucidário describes its geology, seasonal vegetation, islets, fossil calcareous bodies at Piedade, land snails and use as pasture. The steamer Forerunner sank there in 1884, and a submarine bank lies between it and the Desertas.