Halsewell mirror, Worth Matravers

A fierce snowstorm blew up the Channel on 6 January 1786. It drove the Halsewell, a ship of the East India Company bound for Calcutta, onto the rocky Purbeck coast between Seacombe and Winspit. The survivors, who numbered 74 out of the 242 on board, scrambled onto what was later called the Halsewell rock and then into the comparative safety of a cave. From there Worth Matravers men hauled them to safety. Among those lost were the captain and his two daughters, his two nieces and three other ladies.

 Some 200 years after the wreck, divers recovered nautical equipment and domestic items, including this mirror. It hangs in the church of St Nicholas, Worth Matravers, a reminder of the tragedy.

Nearest postcode: BH19 3LQ
OS reference: SY973776
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