Reported as Unmarked Graves:

The Shipwreck Inchulva

In 1903 a powerful storm struck the region on Sept. 11 and 12. At the time, the 386-foot masted Inchulva was steaming off the coast, headed for Norfolk, Va., then on to Hamburg, Germany. Owned by a shipping outfit in the British port of Liverpool, it had sailed from Barry, Wales on July 26. It docked at Galveston for three weeks, loading 7,000 tons of wheat, 150 tons of lumber, 180 bales of cotton, 963 sacks of grain, 1,840 sacks of cottonseed and 150 bales of istle, a plant used to make paper. When the ship left the Texas port city on Sept. 6, it was light 10 crew members who had deserted.

Shortly after rounding the tip of Florida, the ship came abreast of the Delray Beach coastline on the evening of Sept. 11. The storm was on it. Capt. G.W. Davis ordered the crew to set both anchors about 5 p.m. But before the anchors could take hold, the ship struck the ocean bottom and the hull split. The captain and 11 men crouched near the bow as the storm raged on. A large wave collapsed the stern and nine sailors were lost -- including the chief engineer, 47-year-old William Smith. The crew did not know how far offshore they were. The captain presumed the ship had stuck on a shoal 10 to 15 miles from land. By dawn of Sept. 12 they saw they were only 200 yards from shore.

The sailors staggered ashore at Delray Beach, then a settlement of only about 150 people. They were taken to the Chapman House hotel, where they stayed for about a week. One man whose body was carried by current north to Boynton Beach was buried in the local cemetery. Eight others were buried in a mass grave on the ridge near what is now State Road A1A and Casuarina Road. The surviving crew members were paid and sent home.

Marked Graves