Warren Curtis Riess

Author Warren C. Reiss provides a history of the Angel Gabriel which sunk off the coast of Pemaquid, Maine while tied up at harbor in the hurricane of 1635. The ship had carried passengers from England to the New World. It was near enough the coast that many of the passengers lived to tell their harrowing tale. While there are a few primary source records that survive to provide support for some of the passengers, the list he provides also includes some whose experience is recounted only through secondary sources. Reiss argues that this ship had been renamed a couple of times before its was named Angel Gabriel and that it was originally part of Sir Walter Raleigh's fleet. The tonage matches that of one of Raleigh's vessels, and he has found no conflicting evidence to suggest otherwise. He gives brief sketches of the passengers. He also details his search for the ship's remains from about 1976 to 1991. He noted that another group was interested in resuming the search as of the date of the book's authorship in 2001. This was an interesting read for me since I'm descended from the Cogswell family, which is one of the three families aboard for which primary sources exist. Now I just need to track down those sources for my own use!… (meer)