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"

John Greenleaf Whittier penned a poem in 1864 entitled The Wreck of Rivermouth, in which he described the river as it entered the sea and the wreck of the vessel which carried William Swain and the other passengers to a watery grave. The following verse is quoted from that poem:

"Solemn it was that old day
In Hampton town and its log-built church,
Where side by side the coffins lay
And the mourners stood in aisle and porch.
In the singing-seats young eyes were dim,
The voices faltered that raised the hymn,
And Father Dalton, grave and stern,
Sobbed through his prayer and wept in turn."