200 years ago today; 5 February 1805. The sinking of the Earl of Abergavenny. This 1200 ton vessel belonged to the East India Company and sailed from Portsmouth on 1 February bound for India carrying a valuable cargo and 402 passengers and crew. Her captain was John Wordsworth, the younger brother of the celebrated poet William Wordsworth. She encountered heavy winds slowing her progress along the English Channel forcing her close inshore and on the afternoon of 5 February she struck some rocks just below the surface off Portland Bill. At first it was thought that she was just wedged onto the rocks and that she would float off at the next high tide, so the alarm was not raised. But in the early evening water began to pour in and some passengers choose to leave in the smaller skiffs whilst others preferred to stay. By nightfall their decision was proven to be the wrong one because the ship suddenly burst her bottom and settled onto the rocks in the relatively shallow but nevertheless deadly waters. Of the 402 on board about 260 died, including John Wordsworth.

The disaster became famous because much of it was played out in full view of hundreds of onlookers on the shore and the identity of her captain. William Wordsworth wrote his Elegiac Stanzas in memory of his brother.