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The three Hugh Williamses
- Type
- Story
- By
- Folk anecdote
- Source
- Traditional anecdote
- Published
- 1820
Three times, in different centuries, a ship is said to have sunk in the same stretch of sea — and each time the sole survivor was named Hugh Williams.
The legend runs like this: three times, in different centuries, a ship sank in the same stretch of sea off Wales, and each time the sole survivor was named Hugh Williams. The story has been told for so long that it has become a proverb of coincidence.
It is also a case study in how such legends work. The dates and details shift with every retelling, and Hugh Williams was one of the most common names in the region — the law of truly large numbers, operating across three centuries of shipping. The story survives because it feels impossible, and it feels impossible because the arithmetic is never done.
The meaning
The repetition of a single name across three disasters feels like more than chance, and the story has survived for centuries on that feeling.
The skeptic
The dates and details vary with every retelling, and Hugh Williams was one of the most common names in Wales — the law of truly large numbers in action.
About the source
A classic coincidence legend: three separate shipwrecks whose sole survivors were each named Hugh Williams.
Key takeaways
- A legendary triple coincidence of sole survivors named Hugh Williams.
- Dates and details differ across retellings.
- A common Welsh name plus selective memory explains the legend.