Despatch was a brig noted for having shipwrecked near Isle aux Morts, Newfoundland, and for the subsequent heroic rescue of many of her passengers and crew. Despatch was partly owned by William Lancaster of Workington, England. On 29 May 1828 she set sail from Derry, Ireland en route to Quebec with eleven crew and 200 passengers, almost all of whom were Irish emigrants hoping to escape the poverty then prevailing in Ireland. Survivors were taken to Halifax aboard HMS Tyne.