Wrecks - GOWER SHIPWRECKS
Gower Shipwrecks 1870 - 1889
Last Updated (Wednesday, 01 September 2010 16:08) Sunday, 22 November 2009 14:39
GOWER SHIPWRECKS 1870 - 1889
MARY This Portmadoc schooner was in collision with the steamer Sheldrake on 23 June 1870 in a position about four miles sou'west of Oxwich Point. The schooner, which was bound from Barrow to Cardiff with pig iron, sank rapidly drowning the master's wife, and one of the steamer's men was killed by a falling spar. The steamship, which had been bound for Bordeaux, picked up the survivors and returned to Swansea for repairs.
Westerly storm on 12 October 1870. There were numerous casualties on the Welsh coast during this storm which I will detail in a later article. The schooner JOSEPH et MARIE, from Carloforte, Sardinia, with a cargo of zinc ore foundered in the entrance channel at Swansea. Her crew got ashore with little more than a soaking. The Faversham schooner BRIGAND sank after a collision in the crowded anchorage at Mumbles. The tug Pero Gomez was quickly on the scene to pluck the crew from the water.
DARING This barque left Swansea on 9 March 1871 in tow of the tug Cambria. She was to load cargo at Cardiff and manned by a crew of six being the master, two mates, an apprentice and two riggers. When they were outside of the Scarweather a gale came on and the tug attempted to tow the barque back to Swansea. The tow was slipped and the barque made sail but she drifted towards the coast. The crew abandoned but were all drowned when the boat capsized. The Daring went ashore at Pwll Du and became a total wreck.
CORNISH DIAMOND Bound from Newport to Plymouth this schooner was probably wrecked on the Mixon. There were no survivors.
First news of the wreck of the Cornish Diamond from The Cambrian newspaper.
The stone which once marked the grave of the master of the Cornish Diamond. It now forms part of the paving around All Saints Church and is being steadily worn away by parishoners shoes.
It was the crew of the Neath pilot boat Black Swan who came across the schooner's boat containing the body of Samuel Dunstone. The Black Swan was returning to Mumbles Roads on the morning of 21 April 1871 when she sailed through wreckage and found the boat. Captain Dunstone was buried in the churchyard at Oystermouth. The memorial stone bore the inscription: "He leaves behind him an affectionate wife and two dear children to mourn his loss".
HAZARD This steamship, registered in Leith, was wrecked at Port Eynon on 11 January 1872. Her crew of sixteen got ashore. At the Board of Trade Inquiry held into the loss Capt Campbell had his certificate suspended for three months as an incorrect course was being steered.
CHEBUCTO This brig of 215 tons register left Swansea on 9 November 1872 bound for Bilbao with 320 tons of patent fuel. Running into a gale the crew complained that the forecastle was leaking and Capt John Jeffreys decided to return to Mumbles. The vessel struck the Mixon in the evening and the crew abandoned and were taken into Swansea by a passing schooner. Abraham Ace, keeper of Mumbles lighthouse, sent James Owen, a gunner at the battery, ashore to inform Coxswain Jenkins of the wreck not knowing the crew were safe. As there was no report of a distress signal, Jenkins went to look for himself and saw the brig sailing south. The crew had abandoned in haste and left with some of the sails set. As the tide made the brig refloated and sailed away only to be wrecked on the Scarweather sand. Capt Jeffreys certificate was suspended for six months.
Gale of 23-25 November 1872. A number of vessels were wrecked by this heavy westerly gale: Norwegian barque PERA with timber from New Brunswick went ashore near the wagon works at Port Tennant to the east of Swansea, the master, his wife, and fifteen crew got ashore; brig PALADINO, of Messina, drove ashore near the Infirmary on Swansea foreshore, crew of fourteen saved by Mumbles lifeboat; barque ANTONIO LUCA, of Lussin Piccolo (then in Austrian Italy), was wrecked on Oxwich Point.
HOPE This Maryport collier was driven ashore in Port Eynon bay during a heavy gale on Sunday 8 December 1872 when bound from Cork to Swansea in ballast. The vessel, said to be one hundred years old, quickly broke up after her master and three crew had scrambled ashore.
ODYSSEUS This 320 ton Greek barque went ashore on Pwll Du Head in fog on 3 March 1873 when bound from Dublin to Swansea in ballast. A total loss she was sold where she lay.
Wreck off Mumbles Head a watercolour by Edward Duncan.
ELIZABETH Bound for St Malo with coal this smack sank a few miles off Worms Head on 12 August 1873. The ship's boy was drowned but Capt Racour and three crew were picked up by the Folkestone schooner Pet.
TRITON This barque was bound from Liverpool for Eckernförde, near Kiel, with a cargo of salt. She failed to find shelter from a sou'west gale and ran up channel for Mumbles. She struck the Mixon early on 29 August 1873 and sank. The mate and cook took one of the boats but were drowned when it capsized. The tug Digby Grand, skippered by Daniel Griffiths, saved six men from the rigging and Mumbles lifeboat went in to coax the last man down from the fore-top. The Kaiser awarded an inscribed telescope to Capt Griffiths and binocular to Cox'n Jenkins.
DEXTROUS This Brixham schooner was at anchor in Mumbles roads on 3 December 1874 when she was struck by the brig Alfred. The schooner was holed and sank rapidly. Her crew abandoned and got ashore at Mumbles.
BRITANNIA A Swedish schooner which was on passage from le Havre for Cardiff in ballast. During the early hours of 2 January 1875 she saw the Cardiff pilot cutter Surprize founder off Ilfracombe and hove to in order to pick up the cutter's crew. In so doing she lost her course in poor visibility and ran ashore at Port Eynon where she was wrrecked.
GLEANING A Bideford schooner wrecked on Burry Holms on 24 January 1875. All hands were drowned.
CAROLINE PHILLIPS Padstow schooner wrecked on the Mixon on 24 June 1875. Crew of four drowned.
JENNY This Russian barque was bound from Mexico to Bristol with timber when she went ashore at the foot of Paviland cliffs during a heavy gale on 22 December 1875. It was near high water, so the vessel drove well in allowing the crew to get ashore over the bowsprit. The Jenny broke up and scattered her cargo along the shore from Worms Head to Overton. George Gibbs of Port Eynon, Lloyd's agent, arranged the sale of the cargo with auctioneer and buyers scrambling along the shore where it lay.
Notice advertising the sale of the cargo saved from the Jenny.
( The Cambrian , Swansea Museum)
REVERIE The hull of this Guernsey smack was found capsized on the Lynch sand off Whitford on 28 February 1876. She had been bound from Cardiff to a French port with coal. Capt Renouf and his crew were drowned.
FRANCE This barque was in collision off Oxwich, late on the evening of 13 March 1876, with the brig Eliza B and sank drowning one man.
HASWELL A 79 ton paddle tug owned by Nicholson Bros. of Sunderland. She had left Swansea for home when she ran into a westerly gale and went down off Oxwich Point on 8 November 1877. Her crew of eight were picked up by a pilot boat.
Rhossili L.S.A. formed in 1877. The Board of Trade placed a Life Saving Apparatus at Rhossili and the coastguard officers there recruited a number of local men to assist in its use at a wreck. Also called the Rocket Apparatus it allowed survivors to be brought ashore in the breeches buoy. It was first used two years later when the ship Mary Stenhouse stranded in Rhossili Bay after parting from a tug towing it in ballast from Barrow to Newport. Nine of the crew and the master's wife were going ashore in the boat when it capsized drowning them all. Station Officer Betts then used the Rocket Apparatus to bring the remainder ashore. The tug Hero came out from Pembrey and refloated the undamaged vessel.
Rhossili L.S.A. Company photographed in 1899. The men at the back are sitting on the cart which carried the apparatus.
ALARM This Swansea pilot schooner sank on 10 May 1878 after collision with the S.S. Foyle, of Dublin, to the south of the Helwick.
MERCUR This Norwegian barque was bound from Boston USA with a cargo of maize when she drove ashore at Slade on 21 January 1879. Her crew got ashore but she became a total loss.
Notice advertising the auction of the hull and materials of the barque Mercur.
( The Cambrian , Swansea Museum )
HAPPY RETURN This Bideford sloop was bound from Swansea to Carmarthen with a cargo of superphosphate when she ran onto Port Eynon point in fog on 19 March 1879. She became a total loss.
TIDY A brigantine bound from Portland to Llanelli in ballast. She was coming up channel in a sou'west gale on 7 August 1880 when the wind veered to nor'west and increased to force nine. She was driven onto Broughton beach where she became a wreck after her crew got ashore.
CRESSWELL This barque was owned and registered at Newcastle, New South Wales. Bound from Liverpool for Cardiff she ran ashore near Paviland in very thick weather on 27 January 1881 and was a total wreck in five hours. The master, his wife, and three men landed in the boat but the rest were taken off by a boat from Port Eynon and the Rhossili L.S.A. Both the master and mate had their certificates suspended as the Board of Trade Inquiry found the stranding was due to lack of care in navigation - in particular insufficient use of the lead. In conditions of poor visibility when nearing the coast the use of the lead was paramount but often neglected.
GERALDINE This Weymouth schooner had just arrived on 29 March 1881 with a cargo of fertiliser when she sank at Port Eynon.
LAMMERSHAGEN This Hamburg registered ship was bound to Swansea with a cargo of pitch for the patent fuel works. On the evening of 19 November 1882 she was seen crossing Oxwich Bay close inshore. The coastguard fired warning rockets but the vessel went ashore on Pwll Du Head where she broke up. The hull and materials raised £500 at the sale a week later.
A sketch of the Lammershagen the morning after she went ashore.
The storm of 27 January 1883. The steamship AGNES JACK and barque ADMIRAL PRINZ ADALBERT were wrecked in this storm. See the account of these wrecks in the article A VERY DARK DAY - Select the SEARCH button above left, and key in A VERY DARK DAY.
Port Eynon Lifeboat Station opened May 1884. As a result of the wreck of the Agnes Jack and the loss of all her crew, the people of Port Eynon contacted the RNLI. The Institution immediately agreed to the formation of a station and it was opened fifteen months after the tragedy. The lifeboat, named A Daughter's Offering, the boathouse, and launching carriage were all provided from the bequest of £1,000 from a Miss Maria Jones of Liverpool. The first service of the new station was in saving eleven crew from the steamship Milan, of Hull, stranded at Slade's Foot, Overton, on 13 January 1888. The rest were landed by the Rhossili L.S.A. The Milan was badly holed and 500 tons of her cargo of cotton seed discharged. She was refloated on 30 January and towed to Bristol for repair.
SURPRISE On the morning of 7 February 1883 the people of Overton were surprised to see a bedraggled black labrador wandering through the village. It was the sole survivor of the schooner Surprise, of Paimpol, bound to Swansea with a cargo of pit props. She had been wrecked below the cliffs to the west of the mere. The wreck was found to be trailing its cables and this led folk to think she had struck the Helwick before losing her anchors. The bodies of four of the crew (that of the master was not found) were found on the beach by the Port Eynon shoemaker William Gibbs who would be appointed coxswain of the lifeboat when the new station was opened the following year. The bodies were taken to Swansea for burial at Danygraig.
REINE des FLEURS Registered at Cannes, this brigantine had just left Swansea with coal when she stranded at West Cross during a heavy gale on 12 February 1883. The cargo was salvaged and the hull and materials sold on the spot.
LORD MARMION This Swansea barque was about five miles south of Oxwich when she was struck by the steamship Jane Bacon late on the evening of 29 November 1883. The barque sank in just a few minutes drowning her master, an apprentice and three hands. The nine survivors were picked up by the steamer's boats.
VAUBAN A St Malo schooner, Bordeaux to Cardiff with pitprops, ran ashore at Pennard on 26 December 1883 in very poor visibility. Her crew got ashore but she became a wreck.
SAMUEL At seven o'clock on the evening of Tuesday 12 February 1884 the coastguard at Rhossili saw the lights of a vessel close inshore right in front of their lookout. The L.S.A. crew arrived under the command of officer Darch. The Norwegian barque Samuel, Cardiff for Santos, was hard aground and already badly damaged with some of her yards down. When the gear had been set out Darch fired two rockets but both missed. John Rogers, a young farmer, fired the third and the line fell across the ship. The lines and block for the breeches buoy were hauled out and all eleven crew were soon ashore in a text-book operation. The vessel became a wreck, but her cargo was salvaged and a rough road cut across the cliff allowing the coal to be taken up to the village, from where it was sold to the farms of the area. (Soon after my GOWER COAST SHIPWRECKS was published in 1993 I was asked my opinion of the anchor which lies near and suggested that it could be from this vessel. That however is simply a suggestion. There have been other vessels which have lost their anchors there without being lost or stranded.)
J.W.J. This Swansea pilot boat was in collision with the S.S. Sea Fisher in Swansea Bay on 21 May 1885. Her crew were picked up by the steamer which took the boat in tow but it went down before getting into shallow water.
RENÉ Wrecked near Overton on 8 January 1886. This French barque was bound from Cardiff with coal for Arcachon when she struck the Helwick. She then drifted ashore and quickly broke up drowning the master, two seamen and the fifteen year old boy. The survivors were taken in by farmer John Bevan and, when the bodies of their shipmates were recovered, the inquest was held at his house. The dead were buried at Danygraig, Swansea.
XANTHIPPE Owned at Aberystwyth this brig was bound from Jamaica to Port Talbot with phosphate rock. She ran aground in thick fog on Oxwich Point on the morning of 20 March 1886. The crew got ashore in the boats but the vessel became a total loss.
AGNES This steamship, registered at West Hartlepool, went ashore at Whiteshell Point (between Caswell and Langland) in the early hours of 8 October 1886. The crew were able to get ashore as she was very close in. Efforts were being made to refloat her when she was pounded to pieces by the storm of 15 October. Her hull and machinery was sold to the Bristol shipbreaker John Hurley for £272 and the boat and compasses raised £33.
The AGNES, of West Hartlepool, ashore on Whiteshell Point just to the east of Caswell. She broke up in a severe gale a week after she had gone ashore. (Photographed by James Andrews, from the Gareth Mills collection)
Not much was left of the AGNES after the storm which demolished her a week after she went ashore. (Photograph from the Gareth Mills collection.)
THAMES This London schooner sailed from Port Talbot with a general cargo for Bilbao. She struck the Scarweather in fog. drifted north, and sank off Mumbles Head on the evening of 20 November 1886. Her crew were able to row ashore. As she was a hazard to navigation her position was marked by a lighted buoy. Trinity House had the wreck and her cargo raised and disposed of in a series of auctions at Swansea.
Notice advertising the sale of the THAMES and its cargo.
( The Cambrian, Swansea Museum )
ARGUS Bound from Lannion to Cardiff, with a cargo of potatoes, this sloop was driven ashore at Llangennith by a southerly gale on 18 January 1887. The crew got ashore but the master was badly injured. She became a total loss.
PROPHETE ELIE The first launch (apart from the regular practice launches) of the Port Eynon lifeboat was made on 22 March 1887 when a brig was reported ashore on Oxwich Point. The lifeboat found that the crew had got ashore safely and its services were not required. The vessel became a wreck.
HELVETIA This is the vessel whose remains can be seen on Rhossili beach. They are a favourite with holidaymakers and photographers. I wonder whether she may be the most photographed wreck in Britain. The barque Helvetia, of Horten (Norway), was bound from Campbelton, New Brunswick, to Swansea with a cargo of deals. She arrived off Mumbles on the night of 31 October 1887 and burnt signals for a pilot to take them into port. A fresh breeze sprang up from sou'east and she was obliged to stand down channel. The next morning she was abreast of the Helwick when the wind freshened to a gale and veered to sou'west. She was now labouring heavily and drifting shorewards. She drifted over the bank, losing part of her deck load, and ran around the Worm to anchor in Rhossili Bay. At low water she struck heavily and the coastguard called out the Rocket Crew. One man was brought ashore by the breeches buoy but the rest came ashore in the boats. She seemed to be riding comfortably to her cables but the wind then continued to veer west and she parted at 5.30 p.m. and drove onto the beach where her ribs still lie. About 500 tons of planks were salvaged and the wreck stripped of everything that could be sold.
The HELVETIA stranded inside the Worm. A man going ashore in the breeches buoy.
From the watercolour by James Harris junior.
The ribs of the Helvetia with the Worm in the background. This is the iconic Gower view.
This sketch, by Tottenham Lucas son of the rector of Rhossili, shows the Llanelli steamer Cambria salvaging the cargo and wrecked hull of the Helvetia. Robert Lucas very kindly gave me a copy of the sketch.
HENRY EDMONDS This Padstow brigantine was wrecked at the foot of Overton cliffs on the morning of 8 May 1888 when bound for Swansea in ballast.