In the night of December 3, 1863, a very heavy storm raged in the North Sea region. Along the Dutch coast totaled 36 ships. Hundreds of people came alive. The biggest shipwreck was that of the German bark Wilhelmsburg on the Bosch plate near Terschelling. At this beach, 258 passengers and 3 crew members died. The passengers were landlifters on their way to America. Because they were locked up in the ship's yard they were unable to put themselves in safety. The drowners were buried in a mass grave at the church in Hoorn. Captain Ernst Christian Kross belonging to the dead got his own grave with stone still in the graveyard. There were further 17 British fishing vessels at Texel, where more than 60 men disappeared, especially from Barking near London.
Many victims also suffered elsewhere. On the British coasts more than 200 ships stranded, with tens of people drowning. Multiple Oostender fishermen ships also lost their lives.
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