The Brigantine MARQUES

Here’s a brief description given in the list of sailing ships in http://www.schoonerman.com/m_sailing_ships.htm

“Three masted brig Marques built in 1917 lost in a freak storm in 1984.”

Here’s her story given in the article entitled “Rogue Waves “in Science Frontiers http://www.science-frontiers.com/sf066/sf066g14.htm:

“Shortly before dawn on Sunday, June 3, 1984, the 117-foot, threemasted Marques sailed into a fierce squall about 75 miles north of Bermuda. Heavy rain began to pelt the ship, and a furious wind sprang up out of nowhere. Squalls were nothing new to the Marques, one of 39 tall ships participating in a transatlantic race. But as a precaution, Stuart Finlay, the seasoned 42-year-old American captain of the ship, shortened the sails. The Marques was carrying a crew of 28 - half of whom were under 25. At the helm, Philip Sefton, 22, fought the angry waves that now confronted them.

"Suddenly a heavy gust of wind pushed the Marques down on its starboard side. At the same instant 'a freakish wave of incredible force and size,' as Sefton later described it, slammed the ship broadside, pushing its masts farther beneath the surging water. A second wave pounded the ship as it went down. The Marques filled with water and sank in less than one minute. Most of the crew were trapped as they slept below deck. Only Sefton and eight shipmates survive.”

And here’s more detailed story given in http://seafarer.netfirms.com/2/marques.htm

“4:30 a.m. Sunday, June 3, 1984
75 miles north of Bermuda.

The storm that has buffeted the sail-training ship Marques for the last 14 hours appears to be subsiding. Most of the crews are below, sleeping peacefully...

Suddenly, a heavy gust of wind pushes Marques down on her starboard side. Then, as helmsman Philip Sefton, 22, recalls ‘a freakish wave of incredible force and size,’ literally slams into the ship, knocking her far over, flat on her side. Water starts roaring through the open hatchway, down into the bowels of the ship. And in less than 45 seconds, the ship is gone - as she literally sails under the ocean, her cabin lights still glowing green through the water as she slides, into the depths. In under a minute, all that remains of Marques, are the few cold, shocked survivors, struggling for the liferafts. And then, the red rockets arcing through the stormy, pre-dawn sky. Of the 28 on board, there are nine survivors...

Said John Ash, 24, of the rogue wind and wave that drove the Marques into the sea: ‘It meant to kill us. There was nothing we could do.’

Marques was originally built in Valencia, Spain for the Canary Island fruit trade in 1917. Originally a polacca-rigged brig, the ship was purchased in 1971 as a rotting hulk by Robin Cecil-Wright and restored over the next five years in Britain. The ship acquired her distinctive barque rig when she was extensively refitted and modified to play the role of Charles Darwin's HMS Beagle in the 1977 BBC television series ‘The Voyage of Charles Darwin’. ”

So I’ll add this following item to the list as:

1984: North Atlantic. On June 3, 1984 the three-masted brig Marques encountered a freaque wave 75 miles north of Bermuda and lost in 45 seconds. Of the 28 onboard, there were only 9 survivors.