Wrecks - GOWER SHIPWRECKS
Gower Shipwrecks 1939 - 1981
Last Updated (Tuesday, 18 January 2011 15:55) Friday, 11 December 2009 14:19
Gower Shipwrecks 1939 - 1981
The approaches to British ports were mined early in the war and the results were soon felt in the Swansea area.
LOCHGOIL and MARWARRI These ships were both badly damaged by mines in the first week of October 1939. After being beached at Mumbles they were taken into port and repaired. Both returned to service.
PROTESILAUS This 9,577 ton steamship, of Holt's Blue Funnel Line, was bound from Liverpool for Barry in ballast when she struck a mine about six miles WSW of Mumbles Head on 21 January 1940. Twenty of her crew of sixty were injured by the explosion of a magazine. The crew were landed by a trawler in naval service and the vessel beached at Mumbles where she broke in two. One section was scrapped at Briton Ferry and the other towed north for use as a blockship at Scapa Flow but developed a serious leak enroute and was sunk by gun fire.
The Protesilaus has broken in two after being mined on 21 January 1940.
ELDON PARK This Glasgow registered ship was bound from Bone, Algeria, for Port Talbot with iron ore when she stranded on the Helwick in thick weather. Badly strained she was beached at Port Eynon in a sinking condition on 7 February 1940. Mumbles lifeboat was launched and arrived to find the vessel submerged except for the wheelhouse where the crew were sheltering. With a heavy sea running Cox'n Davies decided to lie off until the ebb tide brought better conditions. He then took the boat alongside and all 37 were saved. The crew of the lifeboat on this occasion were William E. Davies coxswain who received the Thanks of the RNLI on Vellum, William Gammon 2nd coxswain, Robert Williams mechanic, William J. Davies bowman, William Thomas assistant mechanic, and Albert Gammon, Tom Ace and Tom Davies lifeboatmen. [Some books and websites say, erroneously, that this vessel was mined. Lloyd's Casualty Book, which I have examined at the Guildhall Library, makes it clear that she was damaged by stranding on the Helwick. She was not regarded as a casualty of war.]
The Eldon Park sank off Port Eynon after stranding on the Helwick.
STROMBUS This Norwegian whale-factory ship had just left Swansea on 26 October 1940 for the Antarctic when she struck a mine about two miles east of Mumbles Head. The crew were landed but the vessel broke in two. The after part capsized and sank and is still a popular angling mark. The fore section was beached on the mud flats and eventually towed away for scrapping.
WITTE ZEE A salvage tug owned by the well-known Netherlands company of Smit. She was bound from Falmouth to Lamlash on the Clyde on naval service when forced up channel by a SW force 11 storm. She drove ashore in Overton Mere on 12 November 1940. Police constable Mabbett and a group of coastguards, led by station officer Dodd, were quickly on the scene. Dodd rescued the tug's master from the surf and then persuaded the rest of the crew to remain aboard until low water. For their gallantry each member of the rescue party was decorated by the Netherlands government. The tug was broken up for scrap and her skipper presented the wheel to the landlord of the Ship Inn at Port Eynon who fed and clothed the crew after rescue.
FORT MEDINE This 5,260 ton vessel was bound from Wabana (Newfoundland) to Port Talbot with iron ore when she struck a mine and sank about a mile east of Mumbles Head on 20 February 1941. One member of the crew died but forty six survivors were picked up and landed by the pilot cutter.
LONDON II Bound from Manchester to Cardiff with steel billets and scrap she was bombed by enemy aircraft a few miles sou'west of the Helwick lightship on 21 March 1941. Four of the eighteen crew were killed and the vessel abandoned on fire. She drifted up the coast and sank about six miles sou'west of Mumbles.
MILLISLE This vessel was bound from Cardiff for Cork on 21 March 1941 when she too was bombed and sank near the Helwick drowning nine of the crew and the gunner.
SOLØR An 8,000 ton Norwegian motor tanker bound in convoy from New York for the Clyde with a cargo of fuel oil and deck cargo of crated gliders. The convoy was attacked on 27 January 1945 in St George's Channel and this ship torpedoed in the engine room killing four men. The vessel was towed into the Bristol Channel and beached at Oxwich late on the evening of the 29th. Part of the cargo was discharged before the ship broke in two. The hull was scrapped over many years. The remains may still be seen at low water.
Oxwich Castle from the air with the fore-section of the Solør in the bay.
Photographed by Terence Soames and published in 1949 in Volume 2 of Gower the Journal of the Gower Society.
CLEVELAND Under tow of the tug Brynforth, from Cardiff to Llanelli to be scrapped, this destroyer broke free and stranded on Rhossili beach on 28 June 1957. Tugs failed to refloat her even on the highest tides of the year and she was scrapped where she lay.
The Cleveland on Rhossili beach.
The Cleveland has been ashore for some time as the streaks of rust show.
PRINCE IVANHOE This 986 ton motor vessel was owned by the Firth of Clyde Steam Packet Company and operated by Waverley Excursions Ltd. On Monday 3 August 1981 she called at Penarth, Barry and Minehead before arriving at Mumbles Pier to begin a Gower cruise. Over four hundred passengers crowded the decks, bar and buffet of the well appointed ship as she made her way along the coast. Shortly after 3.30 the rescue services were alerted when the coastguard at Mumbles received a distress call from her. She had struck the submerged reef off Port Eynon Point and was badly holed. The vessel was put about and run ashore at Horton just yards from the beach and the inshore lifeboat station. All passengers and crew were landed by lifeboat, helicopters and numerous pleasure craft. One passenger collapsed and died of a heart attack.
The wreck of the Prince Ivanhoe was abandoned by the underwriters and broke up in the winter gales. The wreckage proved to be a serious hazard to small boats and particularly to the Horton inshore lifeboat. At length a Falmouth salvage company undertook the removal of the wreck on behalf of Trinity House. The salvage vessels Tom Jay and Seawork Samson, which were removing the wreckage, were themselves driven ashore by a sou'west gale on 2 September 1983. Hundreds turned out to see the vessels ashore on a bright but very windy day. They were refloated and carried on with the task of removing Gower's most recent substantial wreck.
Notice in the Herald of Wales advertising the Gower Coast cruise on 3 August 1981.
The Horton inshore lifeboat, Mumbles lifeboat Pentland, a Sea King helicopter, and numerous small boats take part in landing the passengers and crew of the Prince Ivanhoe.
(Photograph South Wales Evening Post)
The Prince Ivanhoe has been run ashore and the passengers landed.
The abandoned Prince Ivanhoe later that summer.
Salvage vessels Tom Jay, on left, and Seawork Samson stranded on the beach by a gale on 2 September 1983.
They were refloated and continued clearing the wreck of the Prince Ivanhoe.