Sailing from Bristol, England, on June 4, 1635, the
Angel Gabriel, in convoy with four other ships, the
James, the
Elizabeth (Bess), the
Mary and the
Diligence, reached Pemaquid Point on August 14, 1635 and made anchor, setting ashore many of the passengers for the night. On the morning of August 15, 1635 the
Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635 struck and the 240-ton galleon Angel Gabriel was torn from her anchors and wrecked against the rocks of Pemaquid Point. All who were left aboard for the night perished. All four of the remaining ships rode out the hurricane and continued on to Massachusetts.
The two plaques were placed by descendants of two of the families who had gone ashore and survived, those of John Cogswell and Ralph Blaisdell.
Ralph Blaisdell and family later settled in York Maine.
John Cogswell and family continued on to Ipswich, Massachusetts. The Cogswell descendants eventually went on to produce a great many notable and well known persons.
Though searches have been conducted for the wreck, no evidence of the the ship has yet been found.