Point of Interest
Wreck of HMS Plumper
Latitude: 45.0944496
Longitude: -66.4135905
In 1812, HMS Plumber, a gun brig, under command of Lieutenant Josias Bray had successfully captured three small American privateers in the Bay of Fundy. However, in a raging snowstorm, at 0400 hours on the morning of 5 December 1812, en route to Saint John from Halifax, with about 75 crew and passengers aboard, Plumper hit a ledge of rock off Dipper Harbour, since named Plumper Head, and sank. Although Bray was among the survivors, forty-two others perished.. Of particular note was that Plumper carried at least 36,000 pounds sterling in gold and silver specie to pay the British garrison. Local accounts concerning the recovery of the gold are numerous and varied. Records do show that the British authorities recovered about half the money immediately after the sinking. The wreck is a protected provincial historic site.