SHIPWRECK IN HAMPTON
The Original Shipwreck Report from Hampton History 1657
(Original spelling is maintained)

The: 20th of the 8 mo 1657
The sad Hand of God upon Eight p[er]sons goeing in a small vessell by Sea from Hampton to boston Who wear all swallowed up i the ocian sone after they ware out of the Harbour the p[er]sons wear by name as Followeth

Robert Read
Sargent: Will Swaine
Manewell: Hilyard
John: Philbrick
& Ann: Philbrick His wife
Sarah: Philbrick their daught
Alice the wife of moses Cocks:
and John Cocks their sonn:
who ware all Drowned the: 20th of the 8 mo: 1657"

From Dow's History of Hampton
For more on this history online visit the
Lane Memorial Library in Hampton, NH

Whittier Notes to "Wreck of Rivermouth"

The Goody Cole who figures in this poem and "The Changling" was Eunice Cole, who for a quarter of a century or more was feared, persecuted, and hated as the witch of Hampton. She lived alone in a hovel a little distance from the spot where the Hampton Academy now stands, and there she died, unattended. When her death was discovered, she was hastily covered up in the earth near by, and a stake driven through her body, to exorcise the evil spirit. Rev. Stephen Bachiler or Batchelder was one of the ablest of the early New England preachers. His marriage late in life to a woman regarded by his church as disreputable induced him to return to England, where he enjoyed the esteem and favor of Oliver Cromwell during the Protectorate.

Further "Rivermouth" Notes from the Riverside Edition, 1894

FIE ON THE WITCH!
Goody Cole was brought before the Quarter Sessions in 1680 to answer to the charges of being a witch. The court could not find satisfactory evidence of witchcraft, but so strong was the feeling against her that Major Waldron, the presiding magistrate, ordered her to be imprisoned, with a "lock kept on her leg," at the pleasure of the Court. In such judicial action one can read the fear and vindictive spirit of the community at large.

"AMEN!" SAID FATHER BACHILER
Evidence found in favor of Rev. Stephen Bachiler, an ancestor [JDR Note: not supported by modern research] of the poet, after the poem was first printed, led Whittier to modify these lines which implied the guilt of the clergyman.