These pages concern the tidal Dee estuary that is located on the border of North Wales and England. There are also rivers called Dee in Scotland (at Kirkcudbright and at Aberdeen).
The natural head of navigation of the Dee is Chester. Here there was a bridge over the river and an important town. Chester was a port from Roman times on. The original port anchorage was where the Rodee (racecourse) is now - close, as you would expect, to Water Gate. Even in Roman times, an "outport" was maintained - at Meols on the north Wirral shore. By 1855, the port of Chester was alongside the river at Crane Wharf with the Dee Branch canal basin acting as a dock for barges and flats: see sketch. As the Dee gradually silted up, ports such as Parkgate became more important. They could be reached, given favourable winds, on one tide from the open sea and provided reasonable shelter.
Exports from Chester included cheese, and linen imports from Ireland were significant. The nearby Fflint area provided lead ore which was carried as ballast in sailing vessels. Coal was available from Ness (colliery from 1759, near Parkgate) and also, later, from mines on the Welsh side of the estuary. There was a significant trade carrying coal to Ireland from Point of Ayr Colliery.
The Dee provided a convenient base for military expeditions to
Ireland.
From 1600, substantial numbers of troops, provisions and
equipment were sent to Ireland.
For example, in the 9 years war, Sir Henry Docwra and 3000 men,
200 horse, 3 canons, were shipped from "near Helbree" on 25 April 1600
and after regrouping at Carrickfergus, they landed on 14th May at Lough
Foyle and set up a garrison at Derry. More detail.
On 16 November 1643, about 2,500 troops (4 regiments of foot
and one of horse) landed at
Mostyn from Ireland to support the Royalist cause in the Civil War; and
another contingent landed at Neston on 6 December..
The Cromwellian invasion of Ireland of 1649-1650 was initially
mounted from Milford Haven, but a huge number of sailing vessels were
needed to transport troops and their equipment. There were complaints
from inhabitants of the Wirral about the rapacious conduct of troops
waiting to be transported from the Parkgate area.
In April 1690 King William III (William of Orange) left Hoylake [then a
deep water anchorage - the Hyle Lake] with a force of 10,000 troops for
Ireland. The King, himself, stayed at Gayton Manor (near Heswall) while
waiting for suitable weather to depart from Hoylake. His departure from
Hoylake is commemorated by the "King's Gap" - now an area of Hoylake.
There were earlier royal connections too: Richard II was trapped in
1399 by Henry Bolingbroke (Later Henry IV) at Fflint Castle (built
1277-84 by Edward I) - as dramatised by Shakespeare.
Much earlier, in 973, 6 regional kings pledged allegiance to King
Edgar at Chester. This story was later embellished as 8 kings rowing
Edgar up the river Dee in the Royal Barge - and Edgar's Field is a park
at the south end of the old Dee bridge commemorating this.
The channel in the Dee Estuary has changed considerably over the centuries. The sand (and mud) banks have shifted and built up too. The deep channel used to run near the Wirral coast with ports at Shotwick, Neston, Parkgate, Heswall and Dawpool. Parkgate was a busy port with regular services to Ireland and a ferry crossing to Bagillt. After the new cut was made in 1737 to straighten and canalise the Dee from just below Chester to near Fflint, the deep channel moved over to the Welsh side with quays and ports at Sandycroft, Queensferry, Connahs Quay, Shotton, Fflint, Bagillt, Greenfield, Mostyn and Talacre.
See here for some historic images of shipping in the Dee Estuary.
See here for some old charts from 1697, 1771, 1800, 1840 and from 1850.
See here for some old sailing directions to the Dee Estuary: from 1840 and 1870.
A snapshot of shipping volumes in the Dee Estuary in the 1880s, and 1891 Census Return of shipping in the Dee.
Early steam vessels in the Dee.
The channel is still changing: so wrecks get covered and old wrecks get exposed. Here I list the best known wrecks.
Wrecks (especially those with known position) are presented starting
from the SE (upriver) working outwards.
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The first "wreck" is actually not a ship at all - rather a railway accident that precipitated coaches and people into the tidal river Dee. The Rail bridge near Chester (just downriver from the Roodee) was opened in 1846. It failed on 24 May 1847 as a passenger train was crossing and some coaches fell (with iron girders from the bridge) into the river Dee. Of the 24 people aboard, there were 5 fatalities.
The bridge had been designed by Robert Stephenson, the son of George Stephenson, for the accommodation of the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway (Shrewsbury to Chester Line). It was built using cast iron girders produced by the Horseley Ironworks, each of which was made of three large castings dovetailed together and bolted to a raised reinforcing piece. Each girder was strengthened by wrought iron bars along the length. It was finished in September 1846, and opened for local traffic after approval by the first Railway Inspector, General Charles Pasley.
On 24 May 1847, the carriages of a local passenger train from Chester to Ruabon, going at about 30 miles per hour, fell through one of the 98 ft cast-iron spans of the bridge into the river. The engine and its tender got across but the coaches fell with the girders into the river Dee. The engine was actually able to proceed (without tender) and so warn other approaching trains. The accident resulted in five deaths (three passengers, the train guard and the locomotive fireman) and nine serious injuries.
Image of the aftermath of the accident (showing derailed tender and
carriages in the river):
Image of Dee railway bridge a few years later(at far upper left).
Fuller Reports into the Accident
Robert Stephenson was accused at a local inquest of negligence. Although strong in compression, cast iron was known to be brittle in tension or bending, yet the bridge deck was covered with track ballast on the day of the accident, to prevent the oak beams supporting the track from catching fire. Stephenson took that precaution because of a recent fire on the Great Western Railway at Hanwell, in which a bridge designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel had caught fire and collapsed. The Dee bridge disaster was a traumatic event which led to the demise of cast iron beam bridges reinforced by wrought iron tie bars.
The bridge was fully rebuilt in 1870-1 using bricks and wrought iron.
Bridge in 2014.
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Before the Queensferry road bridge (Blue, opening, built in 1897 and
rebuilt in 1927) and nearby opening rail bridge (built 1889), the first
bridge over the Dee was at Chester. Ferry services were available at
several locations. After the new cut was made in 1737, a ferry service (free)
was established at Lower Ferry (later called King's Ferry and then
Queen's Ferry) - located exactly where the blue Queensferry Bridge is
now.
Aston Quay (referred to in the report below as Aston Stage)
was located on the Fflint side of the river just up-river of the
location of the A55 road bridge.
Here I first record one of the largest losses of life associated
with these ferry services:
It is with feelings of extreme regret; we [contemporary newspaper North Wales Gazette] have to record a most frightful accident, by which eleven human beings have been deprived of life, and which occurred on Monday night week [29 June 1824], at the Lower Ferry, about 6 miles down the Dee from Chester. On the above day, a great number of people, chiefly from the Flintshire side, had collected together, at the Ferry-house, which is also an ale-house, kept by Arthur Gregory, to witness a sort of rowing matches, and after the close of the day had retired to the house, to enjoy themselves with good cheer and a dance. Soon after ten o'clock, some of the company, who had to cross the river, were on the move and the moment was extremely unpropitious. The first of the flood, or what is commonly called the head of the tide, passed up the river at this place about half-past ten, when the ferry-boat for the first time crossed full of women.
Our informant, who was at the landing-place on the opposite side, saw them make the shore with the greatest difficulty. The boat returned, and brought over another load, who were in the greatest danger, the boat being so full as not to allow the passengers to sit down. The young men who managed the boat then said, they would not bring any more over till high water. However, at about twenty minutes before that, they again attempted - but having advanced nearly to the middle of the river, the obvious danger arising from the impetuosity of the current, determined the young men who had the management of the boat, to return. A contest now commenced which terminated in the fatal catastrophe; several of the head strong young men who composed a portion of the passengers, and who it seems had sacrificed too freely to the Bacchanalian god, insisted upon being put over, and two of them, Robert Bartington and William Davidson, forcibly seized the oars from the boatmen, and heedlessly dashed into the stream. The boat now contained at least fifteen individuals, among whom were three females, we say at least, because some doubt exists whether another female with an infant in her arms, was not also in the boat. With such a load, the boat could not be more than four inches out of the water; the tide, running from seven to eight knots an hour, swept the boat with the greatest rapidity up to Aston stage, where it struck the stern or bows of the sloop Thetis, with a violence which instantly upset the boat, and plunged the passengers into the watery element. The shrieks of the unhappy people were at this moment most appalling but they presently subsided, the poor creatures bring driven under and against four other vessels lying in the river near the spot. The hands on board these vessels lost no time in manning their boats, but comparatively little help could be afforded, the tide passing, to use the sailors' words, like lightning.
Through their indefatigable exertions, however, four individuals were rescued from a watery grave, - viz. Thomas Latham, one of the ferry boys, and Robert Price, of Kelsterton, taken in on board the Thetis: and Frank Toliett, of Shotton, and Benjamin Bethell, the other ferry boy, on board the Speedwell. These were the only persons who escaped the melancholy fate of drowning. As soon us the catastrophe could be known, the boatmen of the sloops were joined by fishermen in the immediate neighbourhood, who continued during the whole of the night searching for the missing bodies, and by seven o'clock in the morning, four had been taken out of the water, dead. Since then, the body only of a female has been discovered, which was found on Tuesday evening on one of the grinds on the Flintshire side, nearly five miles further up the river from the spot were the fatal accident happened, and which was left there on the receding of the tide.
The names of the persons whose dead bodies have been rescued from the river,
are as follows:
William Roberts of Buckley,
Robert Bartington of Saltney,
Ellen Hulse, of Saltney,
Ann Hulse, of ditto,
Sarah Lewis, of ditto.
The two Hulses were sisters, and with Sarah
Lewis, lived under the same roof. Roberts has left a wife and seven children,
and she is also near her confinement of the eighth; and Bartington an
aged father and mother, who were in a great measure dependant
upon him for subsistence. It is impossible to describe the heart-rending
scene which the shores of the Dee presented on the morning of Tuesday. The
news of the accident had brought numbers together, among whom were groups
of the friends and relatives of the unfortunate sufferers, making solicitous
enquiries after their fate. There are known to be six still missing,
independent of the woman and infant, concerning whom as before noticed,
there are some doubts. Their names are,
Abel Ball, of Wepre,
Thomas Read, of Mancott, farmer,
William Davidson, ship-carpenter, Ewloe.
Joseph Jones, of Buckley.
Robert Jones, of Shotton,
Edward Jones, of Shotton.
Thus has perished from intemperate indiscretion eleven individuals,
respectable and useful members of society.
The drags of the humane society, and muscle[sic: mussel] and fluke rakes have been employed from Chester to Connah's Quay, in search of the remaining six missing bodies, but without success, and it is feared the tides may have sanded them. Many of the fishermen and other individuals deserve great praise for their exertions on this occasion; but considering the number of opulent individuals, who reside in the neighbourhood, and the interest which the River Dee Company ought to feel in so melancholy an event, it is to be lamented that more prompt and early efforts were not made to discover the bodies, by offering such premiums as would have induced a more active and efficient search. The condition of the boat, and the mutilated state of the oars, have been represented as highly defective. Of this, however, we know nothing but by vague report, but we have no doubt, if such be the fact, the humane agent of the Dee Company will feel it to be his duty to pay a proper regard to them for the future. We have learnt that a subscription has been set on foot, commenced by the highly respectable Rector of Hawarden, to remunerate the labours of men to be employed to search for the remainder of the dead bodies.
Boating Disaster on the Dee. A Family of 3 Drowned. 1884
Another ferry accident at Queensferry:
A sad boating accident occurred on the Dee, at Queensferry,
late on Saturday night [20 December 1884], which cast a gloom over the
inhabitants of Hawarden, Queensferry, and district, and which resulted
in the loss of three lives. It appears that a Christmas draw was being
held at the Ferry House, a public-house kept by Miss Gregory, on the
Cheshire side of the river. The draw was attended by a number of
persons from the Flintshire side, and at about a quarter past ten, most
of the party started across the river on the return journey. The party
included Robert Jackson, a cooper, together with his wife and his son,
three years of age; Robert Catherall; John Catherall, a porter at
Queensferry Station; Henry Hough, weighing-machine clerk at Ashton Hall
Colliery; Samuel Roberts, a labourer at Sandycroft Foundry; Joseph
Latham, labourer at Connah's Quay Chemical Works; John Massey, labourer
at Turner's Chemical Works; John Davies, labourer at the same works;
Samuel Edwards, coachman and gardener, in the employ of Mr. Rowley, Dee
Bank and John Jones, the boatman.
At the point of crossing, the river is about 100 yards wide,
and when the party had accomplished half the distance, John Catherall
stated to Jones that the boat was filling with water. Almost
immediately after he made the remark, the boat sank, and twelve persons
were struggling in the water. The shouts for assistance proceeding from
the men, and, above all, the piteous cries of the drowning woman are
described as heartrending. Most of the party, several of whom could not
swim, succeeded in gaining the shore by the aid of the two oars. Robert
Catherall's escape was marvellous. The poor fellow has only one arm,
but during his struggle in the water he seized the boatman's coat tail
with his only hand, and was so towed safely ashore. John Catherall,
owing to the darkness, swam a long distance in the direction of the sea,
and it was almost too late when he found out his mistake, for he reached
the shore in a perfectly exhausted state. The Jackson family, however -
father, mother, and only child - were drowned, and though the river was
dragged throughout Sunday, not one body has yet been found. A woman's
bonnet, supposed to be Mrs. Jackson's, was discovered on Sunday
morning. The boat belongs to the River Dee Company, and is described by
the survivors, who were ignorant of its condition before they embarked,
as unfit to carry such a number of passengers.
Here are detailed reports of the inquest into this
accident from contemporary newspapers.
There was, for many years, a ferry service from Parkgate to Fflint (or to Bagillt) on the Welsh shore. Also, at low tide, it was possible to cross on foot. Here I collect contemporary newspaper reports of several fatal accidents.
Another Dee Ferry accident 1799
Wednesday the 18th December 1799: the Friends passage-boat was, in
consequence of carrying too much sail in a gale of wind, overset on her
passage from Flint to Parkgate, by which accident two women (passengers)
were unfortunately drowned: two boatmen, by clinging to the mast, were
fortunately saved, and taken up. There was another passage boat in
company with the Friends, but at too great a distance to save the
unfortunate sufferers, one of which, an industrious widow, has left a
family of six children; the other passenger was a young woman, going
into service. This fatal accident, it is hoped, will in future be a
caution to the carrying of too much sail, as has been the case for some
time past, in consequence of the Flint and Parkgate boats endeavouring
to out-sail each other, to the great danger and terror of the
passengers.
Accident crossing the Dee 1821
Early on Friday morning[10th August], a man and his wife, with a young
child, ventured on an attempt to cross the sands from Parkgate to Flint
with a horse and cart loaded with herrings. This is something done at
low water by persons who are particularly conversant with the track,
though at the best a hazardous undertaking. In this present instance,
it proved fatally disastrous to the whole party who were all drowned.
Inspiration for "Mary called the cattle home"?
Charles Kingsley's 1850 Novel Alton Locke contains words created to
accompany a melancholy air:
Mary, go and call the cattle home, And call the cattle home, And call the
cattle home, Across the sands of Dee; The western wind was wild and dank with
foam, And all alone went she.
The western tide crept up along the sand, And o'er and o'er the sand, And
round and round the sand, As far as eye could see. The rolling mist came down
and hid the land: And never home came she.
Oh! is it weed, or fish, or floating hair? A tress of golden hair, A drowned
maiden's hair, Above the nets at sea? Was never salmon yet that shone so fair,
Among the stakes on Dee.
They rowed her in across the rolling foam, The cruel crawling foam, The cruel
hungry foam, To her grave beside the sea: But still the boatmen hear her call
the cattle home, Across the sands of Dee.
This poem (it has no title) became better known from a silent film of 1912 called "Sands of Dee". In
the book Alton Locke, the inspiration is said to be "a beautiful sketch
by Copley Fielding, if I recollect rightly, which hung on the wall - a
wild waste of tidal sands, with here and there a line of stake-nets
fluttering in the wind" and overhearing others discussing it "One of
them had seen the spot represented, at the mouth of the Dee, and began
telling wild stories of salmon-fishing, and wildfowl shooting - and then
a tale of a girl, who, in bringing her father's cattle home across the
sands, had been caught by a sudden flow of the tide, and found next day
a corpse hanging around the stake-nets far below".
The most likely sketch
is actually of "A View of Snowdon from the Sands of Traeth Mawr, taken
at the Ford Between Pont Aberglaslyn and Tremadoc" by Copley Fielding in
1834. This was transposed by Kingsley to the Dee Estuary. Although
Kingsley was a Canon of Chester Cathedral from 1870, when he wrote the
poem in 1850, he can only have visited the area briefly, staying with
relatives; his aunt Lucretia Ann married James Wills of Plas Bellin
[between Northop and Oakenholt] and the Kingsley family was originally
from Cheshire [the village of Kingsley is a few miles SE of Frodsham].
However, it is plausible that it was based on a real tragedy: Cattle were grazed on the salt marshes near Parkgate and Neston. The fishermen would have retrieved the body. Although, no record of such a loss has been found. In the book, the inspiration is quoted as "that picture of the Cheshire sands, and the story of the drowned girl".
Boat Accident at Parkgate 1864
At twelve o'clock on Friday night last[27 May 1864], a distressing boat
accident occurred at Parkgate, which has cast a complete gloom all over
the district and thrown several highly respectable families into
mourning.
It appears that at ten o'clock on Friday morning a party of
five [plus the boatman] took an excursion into Wales, crossing the river
Dee from Parkgate to Bagillt, in Flintshire. The party consisted of Mr
Thomas Johnson, proprietor of the Pengwern Arms Hotel, or Boathouse, at
Parkgate; his brother Mr Joseph Johnston, a landing-waiter belonging to
her Majesty's customs at Liverpool; Mr J. F. Grossman, secretary to the
Liverpool Licensed Victuallers' Association and Mr J. H. Holland and
Mr Frederick Holland (brothers), of Chester, who had been staying at
Parkgate during the last fortnight making a Survey of the channels of
the Dee.
Their intention was, if possible, to return with the same
tide. The weather was, however, so calm that upwards of an hour and a
half was occupied in crossing; and finding that they could not return by
that tide, the party landed at Bagillt and walked to Holywell, where
they spent the day. At ten o'clock the company left Bagillt in the boat
on their return to Parkgate. It was moonlight, with a steady breeze,
and a pleasant voyage was anticipated. The boat made a rapid passage,
but on arriving within a short distance of the Cheshire side it was
found that the jetty was covered with the tide, which was just beginning
to ebb, and the wind having freshened considerably a heavy swell
rendered it imprudent to attempt to get alongside the river wall. The
boat accordingly lay-to for an hour, awaiting the receding of the tide.
It was then determined to endeavour to effect a landing in a small boat
or punt which lay at anchor a short distance from the shore, and which,
it was thought, would be more manageable. One of the gentlemen, it is
said, called out that the punt would not carry them all with safety; but
this intimation of danger seems to have been disregarded, and five
persons, including Richard Evans, the boatman, got on board. Mr.
Thomas Johnson, who was a stout, heavy man, was the last to leave the
larger vessel, and no sooner had he placed his feet on the side of the
punt than the little craft capsized, and the whole party were
precipitated into the water.
Thomas Johnson, a young man about 20 years of age, eldest son
of Mr Thomas Johnson, was standing on the esplanade waiting the arrival
of his father and his friends, and witnessed the melancholy accident,
but, in consequence of the strong current that was running,
could render little or no assistance to the unfortunate persons who were
struggling for their lives in the water. Mr J. H. Holland, who had
remained in the large boat, being a good swimmer, immediately stripped
and jumped into the water and swam to the assistance of one of his
unfortunate comrades. He was unable to reach him, however, and after
several ineffectual attempts he made for the shore, which he succeeded
in reaching in a very exhausted state. Mr Frederick Holland also
managed with difficulty to reach the shore. Mr Crossman, although not a
swimmer, struck out in the best way he could, and fortunately gained the
land in safety; he afterwards received very kind attention from the
landlady of the Union Hotel, and a gentleman who happened to be staying
at the house. Richard Evans was taken out of the water in an exhausted
state. Mr Thomas Johnson was also taken out of the water alive, and was
removed to the cottage of Evans (that being the nearest house), but he
was so much exhausted that be never rallied, and death ensued before the
arrival of a medical man. Mr Joseph Johnson was carried down with the
current and was drowned. His body was found near Heswall - fully a mile
from where the disaster occurred - at five o'clock in the morning, and
removed to the Pengwern Arms Hotel, where it was placed in the same
apartment with the corpse of his brother. The boatman, Evans, was so
much exhausted by his immersion that he was not considered out of danger
until late on Saturday.
Mr Thomas Johnson was about 50 years of age, and was highly
respected at Parkgate and in the Hundred of Wirral generally. Besides
being the owner and landlord of the Pengwern Arms Hotel, he was
proprietor of the omnibuses plying between Parkgate, Hooton, and
Birkenhead Ferry. He has left a widow and eight children. His brother,
Mr Joseph Johnson, as has been already stated, was a landing-waiter
belonging to the Liverpool customs, and resided in Crown-street. He has
left a widow and four children.
The catastrophe has produced quite a mournful sensation at Parkgate and
Neston, and on Saturday and Sunday the blinds were drawn in a great
number of the houses in the locality.
At the inquest, on Monday, the jury returned a verdict to the
effect that deceased were accidentally drowned, the verdict being
accompanied with a presentment that in the opinion of the jury the
landing stage opposite the Pengwern Arms was too low, too short, and
quite insufficient for the landing of passengers at certain states of
the tide.
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Wreck of wooden vessel alongside staging in canalised portion of River Dee
This view shows the wreck of a 20th-century
timber coastal vessel registered at Peterhead, Scotland. She now lies aground
next to a substantial timber landing stage on north-east bank of the River
Dee, at Hawarden Bridge, above Connahs Quay at 53° 13.179'N, 3° 2.329'W.
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Wreck of 13.5m Fishing Vessel AUDREY PATRICIA alongside the
scrapyard berth at Connahs Quay.
Image of Audrey Patricia afloat.
She was reported to have sunk at her moorings on 2 Dec 2012 in
position 53° 13.332' N, 3° 3.589' W with about 50 litres of
diesel released.
She was registered as LN486 [Kings Lynn] with shellfish
licence, 30 tons register, steel hull, 216 hp, built 2008 at Barton-on-Humber.
The wreck is scheduled to be removed on 1 Oct 2018.
John Lake of Kings Lynn, was fined a total of £15,628
in July 2018 after being prosecuted by the HM Coastguard for operating
an unsafe vessel [called Audrey Patricia but registered as LN89 - so
presumably a different vessel] and failing to comply with the small
fishing vessel code of practice. She had been inspected at Boston and
found to have many serious deficiencies.
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Wreck of steam barge Lord Delamere 131 tons. Wooden hull, length 86 ft, width 20ft, draught 9ft. Owned Salt Union then Joseph Forster of Liverpool. Built Ann Deakin, Winsford. Engines 2cyl, 1 boiler, 24 h.p., screw by G. Deakin. Crew 3.
For more detail of the circumstances of the loss, see report .
From Flintshire Observer 16 Oct 1913
AGROUND IN THE DEE. Mishap to Steam Barge.
The steam barge, "Lord Delamere," hailing from Liverpool, grounded on Tuesday [13 October 1913] opposite the North Wales Paper Mills, Flint [at Oakenholt]. It was heavily laden with grain for the Cobden Flour Mills, Wrexham, and was proceeding to Connah's Quay. During high water only the masts are seen, but at, low water yesterday some of the grain was unloaded by smaller vessels. It is feared that the barge will become a total wreck, having been badly strained.
Her grain cargo swelled which burst her hull and she was a total loss. She is on the SW bank opposite the North training wall. She had been under the charge of a Dee Pilot (William Taylor) and a court case was initiated against the Dee Conservancy, but not followed up.
This wreck was marked by a
buoy in the 1930s which was discontinued. A mast was visible in the 1980s.
Because of changes to the channel which is shifting SW, it was marked again
from 2013 by an
Isolated Danger Buoy (red+black) at 53° 14.31' N, 3°
5.32' W near the wreck position.
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Brigantine Baron Hill 224gt, 198nt, registered Liverpool.
Built William Thomas, Amlwch, 1876 224gt, 198nt;
119ft length x 25ft breadth x 13ft 4in depth; 1 deck, 3 masts
Owned William Postlethwaite of Millom.
The three-masted schooner BARON HILL (named after an estate
near Beaumaris) was built at Amlwch in
April 1876 and was owned by Millom's William Postlethwaite from 1876
until her loss on the 26th March 1898. Travelling from Flint to
Newcastle with a cargo of salt cake, the Baron Hill was towed out and
then stranded and lost in wind conditions ENE Force 6 in the Dee estuary
2 miles from Flint. The master was Capt. L. Hughes and there was a
crew of six. Her crew managed to get safely ashore. Within two days
she was a total wreck and being stripped.
Contemporary newspaper report:
On Thursday a severe gale from a north-easterly direction commenced to blow at this port [Connahs Quay], and continued throughout Friday and Saturday. On the wharves the full violence of the storm was felt, the cold being intense and snow falling at intervals. During high water at the docks on Thursday the river presented a turbulent appearance, and ships that had completed loading were quite unable to move out. The same difficulty was experienced on Friday, but steam tugs were employed, and a few of the ships succeeded in getting into the river after a most exciting time. On Friday's tide a large schooner, named the Baron Hill (350 tons burthen), loaded with a cargo of salt cake from Flint to Newcastle-on-Tyne, left the former place in tow of the steam tug Manxman in the teeth of the gale in the hope of safely reaching deep water in the Wild Roads. She had not proceeded far when she grounded in the river, and all efforts during the following night's tide to get her off proved unavailing. It is said that during Sunday a large amount of water was in the hold, and the crew had to leave the ship. One of the masts has been carried away, and it is feared the ship will break up and become a total wreck.
The wreck was shown on the HO chart (1978) until the 2000s in
position 53° 16.65' N, 3° 8.45'W (OSGB36 datum). This is about 2 miles
North of Fflint. She was marked by a
wreck buoy until 2002. After inspection at LW, the wreck is now classified as
"dead". The wreck buoy was marked "Barron Hill" - a different spelling.
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Pre-war aircraft lost in Heswall tidal gutter:
Airco DH
9a
light bomber, no E8628, from RAF Shotwick [later renamed Sealand]
Mainly built by Westland, with the US Liberty 12 engine of 400 hp,
2-seater.
Flying School No. 5: pilot - trainee Robert Cecil Brooke-Hunt, age
25.
26 March 1923, broke up in the air and fell in 3 parts
Parts landed in Heswall tidal Gutter, approx: 53°19.49N,
3°7.44W.
Pilot died.
Full Details.
Image of a DH 9A:
Records of losses of RAF
aircraft in the Dee Estuary (in date order, during and after World
War II). There were nearby airfields at Sealand
and Hawarden and many training flights [OTU and FTS are training
operations], some of which ended badly. Training extended from initial
flight training up to combat training using targets near Talacre (both fixed targets
in the dunes and aircraft-towed targets; some targets may have been drones - the
DH Queen Bee, a radio-controlled Tiger Moth, being the original "drone").
There was also a radio school (11 RS; radio included
radar) based at Hooton Park airfield nearby - which used twin engined planes for
in-flight training. Metal was in short supply during the war, so crashed
aircraft would have been salvaged whenever possible. Much use was made
of wood and canvas in aircraft construction, so little may remain.
Note that missing air-crew are inscribed on the Memorial at Runnymede.
Anson N5234: 3-1-1940 502 Sq., stalled, spun and crashed onto the foreshore about 4 miles east of Rhyl, soon after take off from RAF Hooton Park, Cheshire, in a snow storm for a night patrol. Possible cause of accident was ice on wings. All 4 crew survived, although Corporal H C Moody was injured. Ambulance took 7 hours to reach the scene. Aircraft destroyed. Image of N5234 in foreground
Hawker Hind K6758: 4-3-1940 5 FTS. Acting Flying Officer Russell BELL (70791) was ferrying a Hind biplane (used as a trainer) when he lost control and it dived into the ground at Hoylake beach. He was aged 26 and is buried at Wavertree (Holy Trinity) Church.
Spitfire L1060: 28-8-1940 7 OTU, stalled and dived out of steep turn, entered at between 2,000 and 3,000 ft. Did not recover, crashed onto beach at Hoylake. Aircraft written off. Pilot P/O(42136) Michael Ernest Brian MACASSEY, from New Zealand, age 23, buried Hawarden (St. Deiniol) Churchyard.
Spitfire K9981: 12-9-1940 7 OTU forced landing on mud flats in River Dee
near Flint, written off.
Lost River Dee mouth, Flintshire on 12th September 1940, Pilot Sgt Alexander Noel
MacGregor (740705) uninjured. Pilot transferred to 266 Squadron later in Sept 1940.
Miles Master N7944: 24-9-1940 5 FTS abandoned in a spin and crashed into Dee estuary. No record of fatalities, so crew may have baled out.
Miles
Master N7965: 20-12-1940 57 OTU, flying accident: Pilot Officer
Harold Edwin Hooker 85920 died (age 27, grave St Deiniol, Hawarden); Leading
Aircraftman D G Northwood injured.
Near Hilbre Island, 20-12-1940, a boat from the yacht club was
manned and put out to an aircraft that had dived into the sea. One
person was rescued, the body of another was recovered later.
Anson R3303:
1-1-1941 48 Sq. With a crew of 4, it was returning from a convoy
patrol to base at RAF Hooton Park, when the wing hit the ground during a
turn in bad visibilty and the aircraft crashed onto the beach at
Hoylake, Cheshire. All on board were killed:
Pilot Officer John Hogg ERSKINE (81034) Pilot; Sergeant John
Llewellyn CURRY (748639) Pilot; Sergeant William Edward FENNELL (966641)
Air Gunner; Sergeant William Charles LANGDON (751603) Wireless Op.
Hurricanes V6872 and W9307: 30-3-1941, mid-air collision between 2
aircraft from 229 Sq. (Ship protection, based RAF Speke) at sea off
Prestatyn. They were flying a standard patrol at 13,000 ft. At 12:20
radio communication ceased and Royal Observer Corp reported a loud bang
at 12:28. Hoylake and New Brighton lifeboats searched but found
nothing. On the 31st March 1941 three pieces of wreckage were found by
the Coast Guard at Hoylake, these pieces were picked up on the beach at
Hilbre Island and were confirmed to belong to Pilot Officer Du Vivier's
Hurricane W9307. This, together with the fact that Hoylake and New
Brighton lifeboats (but not Rhyl) were alerted, suggests the collision
was over the Hoyle Bank off Hoylake rather than off Prestatyn.
Both pilots missing believed dead: Flying
Officer John Michael Firth DEWAR (72462) age 24; Pilot Officer Reginald
Albert Lloyd Du VIVIER (79370) age 26.
Spitfire X4065: 11-8-1941 303 Sq (Polish AF from RAF Speke). Pilot Officer Stanislaw Juszczak (P-0386 age 23) on training flight - possibly cockpit froze over in clouds - and he lost control. Aircraft dived into sea near Prestatyn (3 miles off). Rhyl lifeboat searched area but found nothing - pilot's body not recovered.
Spitfire K9995: 21-9-1941 57 OTU hit mudflats in Dee Estuary, total
wreck.
Royal Humane Society Award citation to Mr Prior (one of the rescuers) at a
location described as near Neston, Wirral:
While engaged on flying
practice over the coast, the pilot of a Spitfire fighter pulled out of a dive
too late and the tail of the aircraft struck the surface of the water, a
portion breaking away and the remainder travelling over the surface of the
water for some 100 yards before it burst into flames and sank. A very strong
current was running, the tide was on the ebb and the rescuers had to swim for
some 20 minutes before they reached the pilot. They then brought him ashore
where it was found that he had no injury other than the shock and the effects
of the immersions. The GOC-inC offers his congratulations to those men on the
Gallantry and excellent spirit shown. West Command Order 2087, dated 21
November 1941.
Pilot was Czech - Sgt K Janata, 788040.
When low flying, hit mud flats and crashed, pushed control column
forward when checking plug in's for R/T, injured.
Hurricane P5188: 13-3-1942 MSFU landed on Hoyle Bank and was
rescued:
Flying Officer John Bedford Kendal (83268) of the Merchant Ship
Fighter Unit [based at RAF Speke this unit provided catapult-launched
Hurricanes to suitably equipped merchant ships - though recovery of the
plane by those ships was not available] was carrying out formation
flying in Hawker Hurricane P5188 when his engine failed - reported to be
because of neglect to switch fuel tanks correctly. He had to make
a wheels-up forced landing on West Bank[sic], Hilbre Island 3 miles West of
West Kirby at 16:00 hours, the aircraft was subsequently immersed by the
sea. Flying officer Kendal was uninjured. photo.
At about six in the evening of 13th March, 1942, a Hurricane
aeroplane made a forced landing on the West Hoyle Bank. A moderate wind
was blowing from the S.E., with a slight sea, but the tide was flowing
and the bank would be covered in two hours' time. The lighthouse keeper
of Hilbre Island and an airman put off in a rowing boat to the rescue.
They had a hard row for about a mile and a half, but they reached the
bank in good time and rescued the pilot. It was another hard row back,
and the night had come before they reached the lighthouse. The
lighthouse keeper's wife put up the rescued pilot for the night.
Hurricane: 15-3-1942 was found on East Hoyle Bank by Rhyl
Lifeboat with no trace of her crew.
Spitfire K9864: 8-5-1942 57 OTU, air collision with spitfire R6769 (which managed to get back to Hawarden) crashed bank of River Dee near Flint, pilot injured,
Anson EG447: 17-7-1942 11RS, crashed into sea NW of Rhyl with 2 out of 4 crew lost. More details.
Spitfire N3276: 10-8-1942 57 OTU stalled, spun and crashed into River Dee
at Saltney Ferry, near Hawarden.
Pilot: killed on active service,
Sgt (Pilot) Gordon ROSENTHAL (age 22, death registered Hawarden) - 655729 -
buried Liverpool Hebrew Cemetery.
Blackburn
Botha Mk I L6237: 8-1-1943 11 Radio School, ditched in bad weather
near Bagillt in Dee estuary.
On 9-1-1943, 4 airmen from a plane from Hooton Park RAF Aerodrome
[Wirral] were reported
overdue and were spotted and recovered a quarter of a mile N. by E. of the Dee Buoy
at about 13:00 by the Hoylake Lifeboat after spending a night (since
6pm) afloat in their small dinghy.
Spitfire P7430: 29-1-43 61 OTU crashed, attempted forced landing
after engine failure, near Mostyn, Flintshire. Crashed, aircraft written off.
[crash site may have been on land]
Pilot Sergeant John Hugh DYER (1385327, age 21) buried
Hawarden (St. Deiniol) Church.
Mustang AP216: 5-2-1943 41 OTU crashed into Welsh Channel, pilot killed. Pilot Officer David Shingleton-Smith (127950, age 19) of 41 OTU was killed on 5 February 1943 when his Mustang Mk I AP216 hit a pole and crashed into the sea at Prestatyn Ranges [Talacre], Flintshire. Rhyl lifeboat searched but found no trace.
Spitfire P7692: 26-7-1943 61 OTU crashed at Talacre. The pilot was engaged in air-to-ground firing practice at Talacre Warren. The aircraft crashed into the target, coming to land amid the anti-invasion poles on the seaward side of the minefield. No record of pilot fatality.
Mosquito
HX867: 14-2-1944 60 OTU. Crashed into sea off Prestatyn during air
firing practice. Based 60 OTU, RAF High Ercall, 7m NW of Shrewsbury,
that trained "intruder" crews. Both the Canadian airforce crew lost.
Shortly after eleven in the morning of the 14th of February, 1944, a
Mosquito aeroplane crashed in flames half a mile south-by-east of
Chester Flat Buoy. A light north-west wind was blowing. The sea was
fairly calm. Mr. A. O. Jones saw the accident, and with help carried
a boat from his garden and launched it. It was a 12-feet skiff and not
built for use on the sea. Mr. Jones and another man, Mr. J. McWalter
Shepherd, put out in it, but were unable to give any help.
At 11.09 in the morning, the Rhyl coastguard reported that an
aeroplane had crashed in the sea about a mile north of the coastguard
look-out. The Rhyl motor life-boat, The Gordon Warren, was launched at
11.49, and half an hour later found wreckage of an R.A.F. Mosquito
aeroplane two and a half miles north-north-east of Rhyl. She picked up
a body, badly damaged as by an explosion, and took it to Foryd Harbour.
She then made another search, found landing wheels and other wreckage,
and brought them in, returning to her station again at 6.15 that
evening.
Location: Off Prestatyn: 53°21.3N, 3°27.0W
approx.
Casualties:
Flight Lieutenant William Ernest CULCHETH (J/4815) Pilot Mosquito
HX867, RCAF lost 1944-2-14 (age34) 60 OTU, Runnymede Memorial Ref :
Panel 244.
Flying Officer Earl Frederick MORTON (J/16333) Navigator Mosquito
HX867, RCAF lost 1944-2-14 (age 28) 60 OTU, buried Chester (Blacon)
Cemetery.
Spitfire X4173: 19-5-1944 52 OTU,
stalled pulling out of firing dive and crashed on Prestatyn ranges at Talacre.
Off Talacre, on 19-5-1944, a Spitfire X4173 had crashed into the
sea near the S Hoyle buoy. Rhyl lifeboat had been launched, but then a
report of a more accurate position (near the lighthouse at Talacre -
with tail visible) led to the auxiliary rescue-boat from Llanerch-y-Mor
being sent - without being able to recover the wreckage or pilot.
Pilot: Polish
Kapral Feliks WARES (P/703726, age 26) buried Hawarden Cemetery
Martinet HP242: 17-7-1944 41 OTU, used primarily for target towing, crashed at Llanerych-y-Mor (one mile SE) (a local sailing dinghy rescued one, the RAF rescue-boat rescued a second; pilot S Dudek, Polish AF)
Spitfire BM113: 24-7-1944 61 OTU hit target drogue, crashed into sea SW of West Kirby.
Off Talacre, on 24-7-1944, Spitfire BM113 hit a drogue during firing practice,
sank, pilot lost. Auxiliary rescue-boat and Rhyl Lifeboat were called
out but a fishing boat reported that the aircraft had nose-dived into
deep water with no trace of the pilot.
Pilot Flying Officer Arthur Jacob GOLDMAN (J/38019) RCAF officially
presumed dead when his aircraft hit a target towed by another aircraft.
Hurricane LF369: 31-12-1944 41 OTU was wrecked in the Dee off Fflint. Pilot Douglas Richard Kyrke NUSSEY F/O(P) J43333/R207038 from Hudson Heights, Quebec, age 20, lost his life when his Hurricane aircraft LF369 crashed four hundred yards off shore, one mile north of Flint. Body not recovered.
Anson EG186: 15-3-1945 No. 3 (Observers) Advanced Flying Unit, based at RAF Halfpenny Green in Shropshire, ditched at Llanerch-y-Mor (300 yards off) crew saved, airframe later salvaged.
Spitfire PK385: 21-5-1950 610 Sq., during aerobatics, hit sandbank 3 miles east of Point of
Ayr, scrapped, pilot died.
A Spitfire on a training flight from 610 Squadron at RAF Hooton
Park (Wirral) crashed into the sea at Gronant (near Prestatyn) - so
avoiding the many holidaymakers on the beach. The pilot, Sgt. Kenneth John
Evans, aged 25, was killed.
Chipmunk
WB747: 20-7-1954 63 Gp, entered flat spin and hit Bagillt sandbank 1
mile north west of Flint.
TWO SAVED FROM PLANE ON SANDBANK: Two occupants of a
Chipmunk plane from Hawarden R.A.F. Station had a remarkable escape
when they crashed on to a sandbank on the six miles-wide estuary of the
River Dee at Flint yesterday[20-7-1954], fortunately the tide was out at the time.
The injured men were trapped in the cockpit and would have been drowned,
as the aeroplane was completely submerged when the tide came in again
two hours later. The plane was piloted by Group Capt. H. C. S.
Pimblett, senior medical officer of No. 63 Group. R.A.F., Hawarden.
His A.T.C. Cadet passenger J. S. Howell. belongs to No. 2219
(Greenhall Grammar School) Squadron, Tenby, Pembrokeshire, which is in
camp at Hawarden. Although the plane crashed some distance from the
shore, rescuers were quickly on the scene, the first being Evan Andrews
of Queen's Avenue, Flint; Davis Barker, Salisbury Street, Flint; Ronald
Hilton, Chester Street, Flint; and Hugh Fox, Henry Taylor Street, Flint;
who were working on the roof of a local factory.
CROSSED QUICKSANDS: They saw the plane coming down in a spin
at a height of about 100 ft. and it disappeared out of sight over the
marshes of the river. The four immediately left their work, and after
removing their shoes and socks, they crossed a considerable distance of
marsh land, and about a mile of treacherous quicksands, to reach the
plane, which had made a pancake landing on the edge of the deep water
channel. The four men were joined by Police-constables J. Harris and
M. Harris, of the Flint Police, and they found the two occupants of the
aeroplane injured and trapped in the cockpit. To release them the
rescuers had to rip away the hood and a part of the cockpit dashboard
and controls with their bare hands. They were joined by members of
Flint Fire Brigade, who assisted in the work of extricating the men.
EQUIPMENT REMOVED: Police-inspector B. Roberts, Flint,
organised stretcher parties and the injured men were carried a
considerable distance to a waiting ambulance which conveyed them to
Flint Cottage Hospital, after medical attention on the spot. High
ranking R.A.F. officers with personnel arrived on the scene but, in a
race with the tide, found it impossible to salvage the aeroplane because
of the incoming tide. A quantity of equipment and some instruments were
removed. Before leaving the scene, Wing Commander Fraser personally
thanked and complimented those who had taken part in the rescue.
Information from RAF records and from RNLI(Rhyl and Hoylake) and RAF rescue-boat records list for
1940,
1941,
1942,
1943 and
1944.
Many call-outs to reported aircraft crashes in the sea
were for searches that found nothing.
Also a German aircraft wreck: A Heinkel 111 (No. 2874) was shot
down by a
Defiant from RAF Squires Gate [Blackpool] and the wreckage landed on Bagillt marshes
on 7-5-1941. Image of wreckage: 
This area is now covered in mud. More detail.
Back to top
Parkgate was an important point of departure for passenger ships travelling to Dublin. The Parkgate Packets were sailing ships (mostly two masted) that could take the ground. A Packet service meant a regular (as weather allowed) service which took passengers (it did not carry mails in this case - those went via Holyhead). They also took cargo. There was a good road link from London to Chester and a coach service from there to Parkgate which had hotels and other facilities. Many famous people: Handel (returning from Dublin in August 1742); Rev. John Wesley (many times), Jonathan Swift (from Dublin 1707, return 1709), etc used this service. Parkgate was an anchorage and the packet vessels were loaded and unloaded using boats from two wooden piers.
The Dee Estuary up to Parkgate in 1771 (South up) from Burdett's Chart:
The Royal Navy provided a service, using Royal Yachts which was intended for distinguished persons, although they took extra passengers at the Captain's discretion. Commercial interests (such as John Bibby of Liverpool, among others) also provided vessels in this trade. A crossing took at least 14 hours. In 1795-6 about 80 such voyages a year were recorded (in vessels Prince of Wales, Princess Royal, King, Queen, Lady Fitzgibbon). The service was at its peak around 1790 and had dwindled by 1830 when a good road to Holyhead (with a much shorter sea crossing); steamship service from Liverpool and the silting up of the Dee, all curtailed activities.
See image of Royal Yacht Portsmouth which provided a service from 1679-87.
Image of Parkgate-Dublin Packet ship Royal Yacht Dorset leaving Dublin, 1788:
There were several significant shipwrecks in this service. Only one (King George) occurred wholly within the Dee estuary; while two were on the Hoyle Bank which is at the entrance to the Dee Estuary. Note that a wreck within the Dee Estuary (at Hilbre Island) is recorded for a sailing packet (also named Dublin) on the Dublin-Liverpool service in 1759.
List of wrecks of Parkgate Packets (discussed below):
Unknown 1637; Anglesey, many lost
Mary 1675; Skerries, over 35 lost
Neptune 1748; Hoyle bank, over 100 lost
Dublin 1758; Irish Sea, up to 50 lost
Eagle 1766; Irish Sea, more than 10 lost
Nonpareil 1775; Hoyle bank, over 100 lost
Trevor 1775; off Blackpool, over 30 lost
Charlemont 1790; Holyhead, 110 lost
Queen 1796; off Birkdale, 0 lost
Queen 1799; Dublin, 14 lost
King George 1805; Dee, 125 lost
Prince of Wales
1807; Dublin, 120 lost
Packet 1637: A Packet(name unknown) from the Dee Estuary
(starting location named as Chester) to Dublin was lost on 10 August
1637. It was carrying Edward King, aged 25, a fellow of Christ's
College Cambridge, an acquaintance (and previously a fellow student) of
the poet John Milton. King was travelling to visit his brother and two
sisters in Ireland. The vessel was coasting in weather [variously
described as calm and as stormy] along the Welsh shore, when it struck
on a rock, was stove in by the shock and foundered. The most likely
area, where rocks would be close to the vessel's route, is the north
coast of Anglesey. With the exception of a few who managed to get into
a boat, all on board perished.
King is said to have behaved with calm heroism; after a vain
endeavour to prevail upon him to enter the boat, he was left on board,
and was last seen kneeling on deck in the act of prayer. His body was
not recovered. John Milton wrote a poem, Lycidas, published in a
collection of elegies in memory of Edward King. This poem is regarded
by many as one of the finest in the English language.
Mary 1675: The (ex - Royal Yacht) Mary was used to carry dignitaries between the
Dee to Dublin. She was wrecked on the Skerries (low lying rocky island
on the NW corner of Anglesey) in 1675 with 35 lost. This wreck has been
located
by divers and is now a protected wreck.
More details: Loss of Mary 1675
Neptune 1748:
One of the first to be documented by newspapers was the loss of the Neptune
(Capt. Whittle) on 19 January 1748. She left Parkgate with over 100 on
board and reached Chester Bar where the weather forced her to turn back.
She struck on the West Hoyle Bank with the loss of all aboard. Two
other passenger-carrying vessels left at the same time, but they managed
to get back safely to Parkgate.
More details: Loss of Neptune 1748
Dublin 1758: Another wreck occured in October 1758 when the
Dublin (Captain White; also called Dublin Trader; Dublin Merchant and
Chester Trader) foundered on a voyage from Dublin to Parkgate carrying
40-70 passengers. There was criticism at the time about the
seaworthiness of the Neptune and of the Dublin.
More details: Loss of Dublin 1758
Eagle 1766: In 1766 the Eagle (Captain Sugars) from Dublin to Parkgate foundered
in the Irish sea. Some passengers and crew survived in her boat after 36
hours at sea. Some distinguished passengers were lost.
More details: Loss of Eagle 1766
In a letter dated 12 Nov 1771; the masters of 11 ships warn of coal ships,
trading from Ness[near Parkgate] to Dublin, claiming to be Parkgate Traders.
Those ships which claimed to be "proper" passenger packets were: Royal
Charlotte; Alexander; Britannia; Kildare; King George;
Hibernia; Nonpareil; Venus; Polly; Smith; Fly.
Note that this list does not include the Trevor - which
indeed is listed as carrying coal in ship arrival/departure lists.
Nonpareil and Trevor 1775: On
October 19 1775 the Nonpareil(Capt. Samuel Davies) and the Trevor(Capt.
William Tottie) were both wrecked in a severe storm while sailing from
Parkgate to Dublin. They reached a position close to Holyhead when the
wind increased to hurricane force from the west. This drove them back -
the Nonpareil was lost on Hoyle Bank with the loss of everyone aboard
while the Trevor was lost off the shore near Rossall (North of Blackpool)
with only one sailor surviving (who managed to transfer to another
vessel, Charming Molly, being driven towards the shore at the same time).
Passenger and crew losses were 143 in total (200 in some reports):
allocated as 113 on the Nonpareil and 30 on the Trevor.
One of the distinguished passengers lost aboard the
Nonpareil was Major Francis Caulfield (brother of Lord Charlemont) who -
ironically - had been pressing the captain to leave, even though the
Captain was reluctant because of the weather, and, indeed, only succeeded
in getting out from Parkgate at the third attempt.
These vessels were carrying items valued at £30,000
comprising rich silks, raw and thrown silks, gold and silver watches,
silver plate, plated goods, thread and silk laces, jewellery,
haberdashery wares, woollen cloth, and other valuable effects. The
Nonpareil was carrying a coach which was washed up on the north Wirral
shore with a number of silver candlesticks stowed in it.
Adverts were put in local newspapers warning that plunderers would be
prosecuted and offering a 10% reward for any items retrieved.
More details of loss of Trevor and
Nonpareil (including information on shipping damaged in the Dee Estuary).
In 1785, two Parkgate-built vessels (King and Queen) were
launched to replace the two lost - they were reported as of 100 tons
burthen. Details of maiden voyage of the
King. One of them was subsequently driven ashore on the coast near Southport:
Queen 1796: Loss of Queen 1796; Parkgate - Dublin Packet
Wooden sailing vessel, b Parkgate 1786; 100 tons
Captain Miller; voyage Parkgate to Dublin; all crew and passengers saved.
Ashore Birkdale (near Southport) 3 Dec 1796.
Local newspapers describe the Queen Packet, Captain Miller, with
passengers from Parkgate to Dublin, as totally lost on the Lancashire
Coast, near Formby.
A later report specifies the site as Birkdale Beach on the
evening of 3 Dec 1796. The Captain was highly complimented by the
passengers for his abilities and humane attention, from the time she
foundered, till they and the crew, by means of the boat, had with much
difficulty escaped the fury of the waves, and were safely landed.
Queen 1799: The Queen Packet seems to have been refloated and several
years later was then described as lost by being driven against the South
Bull wall at Dublin on 22 September 1799 as she entered the harbour.
About 14 of her passengers were swept overboard. Many of the passengers
were soldiers - of the Oxford Militia.
From Saunders's News-Letter - Wednesday 25 September 1799
The passengers on board the Queen were chiefly soldiers; she
took in water
rapidly, and a heavy rolling sea washed over her deck; in this situation
several of the passengers attempted to gain the wall, and of these
only two serjeants of the Oxford Militia were fortunate enough to
succeed, having been thrown upon the wall -- the remainder, to the
number of fourteen, have perished. Some of the dead bodies were thrown on shore
near the Black-rock and Dunleary.
Image of Parkgate Packets (from a ceramic jug):
Charlemont 1790: A substantial loss of life occured
on Sunday 19 December 1790. The Packet
Charlemont from Parkgate was unable to dock at Dublin because of
adverse weather. Scared and seasick passengers pleaded to be put ashore
at Holyhead, but the captain and crew were unfamiliar with the coastline
there. In attempting to seek shelter at Holyhead, she was wrecked on the north side of Salt
Island in the entrance to the harbour with the loss of 110 lives. Only
16 people survived.
More details of Charlemont Loss.
Prince of Wales 1807: Yet another loss of a Parkgate Packet was in 1807 when the Prince of
Wales was chartered to bring troops from Dublin to Liverpool. Along with
another vessel, Rochdale, employed similarly; they were both wrecked on
the shore between Dun Laoghaire and Dublin with a huge loss of life.
More details of
loss of Prince of Wales and Rochdale.
Note that the Prince of Wales had been involved in an earlier
accident in
1787 when John Wesley was aboard.
Back to top
The largest loss of life in the Dee Estuary was when the Parkgate to
Dublin Packet Ship King George stranded and was lost on 14 September 1806 on
the Salisbury Bank. There were 125 (106 in some reports) fatalities and only 6
were saved. One report is that 118 out of 119 passengers were lost.
Very approximate position 53° 19.5N, 3° 12.0W.
Chart of Dee from 1800 (not north up) showing Salisbury Bank:
Local comment was that the ship had too fine a bow - so would not
take the ground in a stable way. She was reported to have previously
been a privateer (of 16 guns) and then a Harwich Packet, and was on only
her second crossing to Dublin. The Harwich Post-Office Packets usually
carried 4 4-pounder guns for defence. Many of the bodies of survivors washed
up on the Wirral and Lancashire shore and some of those identified were
buried at Neston Church.
There is a record of the Hoylake Lifeboat (operated by the
Liverpool Dock Board at that time; from 1803) being called out - but unable to help.
From the Cambrian Newspaper 27 Sep 1806 and Morning Herald (London) 20 September 1806 [warning: rather racist account]:
AFFECTING SHIPWRECK. The King George packet, Captain Walker, bound from Parkgate to Dublin, sailed from Parkgate at twelve o'clock on Sunday, with a flag at her topmast-head, full tide, weather hazy, and drizzling rain, with the wind nearly directly south. At half past one she struck on the Salisbury Sand Bank, and remained nearly four hours dry, with part of her crew on the sands, waiting for the next tide. No apprehensions were then entertained of her having received any injury. On the return of the tide, the wind veered round to the west, and she received the wind and tide right on her side, resting against her anchor. As the tide came in, she filled, rapidly with water; the night was dark, with rain.Her passengers, mostly Irish harvest-men, above a hundred in number, who were going home with the pittances of their labours to their families, were under hatches. The pumps were soon choaked, and the water came so fast on the Irishmen in the hold, that they drew their large pocket harvest knives, and with a desperation that a dread of death alone inspires, slew one another to make their way upon deck. The wind and waves beating hard upon her side, her cable broke, and she was drifted round with her head towards the tide, and lay upon her side. They were three miles from any vessel, and could not, or at least did not, give any signal that was heard.
The boat was launched, and ten of the crew, among which was the Captain and an Irish gentleman, got into it. It was nearly full of water, and death on all sides stared them in the face. Her Captain seeing some of his best sailors still with the vessel, and falsely hoping she might remain the tide, which had nearly an hour and a half to flow, went again on board; the Irish gentleman and three others followed him. One of the sailors in the boat, seeing a poor Irish sailor boy clinging to the side of the vessel, pulled him by the hair of the head into the boat, cut the rope that fastened it to the vessel, and the tide drove them away.
At this time great numbers ran screaming up the mast; a woman with her child fastened to her back, was at the top-mast-head: the masts broke, the vessel being on her side, and they were all precipitated into the waves! Only five men and the poor Irish sailor boy have escaped; the remainder, 125 in number, among which were seven cabin passengers, perished. The boat and her little crew were driven up by this tide to within a quarter of a mile of Parkgate. They heard the cries of the sufferers distinctly for half an hour. The ebb tide washed the vessel down into the deep water, and she was seen no more till the next tide drove her up. She lies on her side, with her keel towards Parkgate, and her head to the Welsh coast; her lower masts and rigging out of water.
The King George packet belongs to Mr. Brown, of Liverpool; she was formerly a privateer, and carried 16 guns; was afterwards employed as a Harwich packet. This was her second voyage to Dublin, for which service she has been lately patched up. She was considered as too sharp built for the sands. Some flats are expected round from Liverpool to sweep her. None of the bodies of the sufferers have yet been found.
Her previous history:
Harwich, Jan. 8. Yesterday at six am arrived the Post-Office Packet
King George, Capt. Saunders, from Heligoland, with the Mails and
Passengers, after receiving some damage at the Island.
[Sun (London) - Monday 09 January 1804]
Private Contract. The good Packet King George, late of Harwich, river built, 83 tons per register, is well found in stores, and fit for sea. Now lying Irongate Tier[sic, wharf near Tower of London]. For Particulars apply Robert Cole, at the sign of the Crooked Billet, Irongate. [Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser - Wednesday 21 May 1806]
The King George was owned by Mr. Brown of Liverpool. There is also an unconfirmed report of a small Neston colliery vessel passing close to the wreck during the night, hearing the screams, and trailing rope in the water, by which means one of the crew managed to reach safety.
Record of 5 (out of 6) of those saved in the boat of the King
George: Henry Walker (mate, brother of Captain Thomas Walker), 2 crew
(Williams and Roberts), a blacksmith and the Irish boy. Another report
states that a woman passenger was among those saved in the small boat.
Record of those buried at Neston (thanks to Burton and Neston
History Society): Captain Thomas Walker (of Parkgate, aged 34); sailor
Hugh Williams; passengers Henry Walker and Major Phillip Armstrong of
Kings County [now County Offaly] Militia aged 39; John Ladmore (from a
local family of mariners and anchorsmiths, aged 43); Edward McQuirk and
8 "poor Irishmen".
A report from Hoylake describes 23 bodies being gathered on
the beach. 24 (unnamed, including 1 girl) were buried at West Kirby;
6(unnamed, including one female) at Heswall; one(unnamed) at Bagillt and
one(unnamed) at Fflint. There were no other wrecks involving loss of
life (although the American vessel Tippoo Saib, inbound from Savannah
was wrecked at Formby Point at the same date, but with crew rescued).
So bodies reported recovered at other sites are most probably from the
King George: 8 labourers and 2 gentlemen in Lancashire (on the coast
between Crosby and Morecambe). These newspaper and parish register
reports (which do not include the coast from Hoylake to Crosby) show
that the death toll was at least 56.
Records give 7 cabin passengers, later amended to 4; another
passenger aboard (and lost) was William Benson[Besson in one report] of
Leicestershire (who was an assistant to cattle breeder Mr Honeybourne of
Dishley) and who had 6 valuable rams aboard which he was taking to an Irish
property of his boss. His body was found near Liverpool. He was about 50
years old.
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The ferry Duke of Lancaster was intentionally run aground at Llanerych-y-mor (53° 18.393'N, 3° 14.139'W) to provide a "Fun ship" in 1979. She is now (2017) abandoned and fenced off and has recently been painted a dark colour(2018 image) to be less of an eyesore. There is a barge aground nearby (53° 18.394'N, 3° 14.116'W) - looks like a standard WWII concrete barge. Apparently an older WWI pre-cast concrete barge (Elmarine, built Fidler's Ferry) was also used - but is no longer visible..
Duke of Lancaster: report
Photos of ship and barge.
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Wooden sailing barge (Mersey Flat), ketch-rigged (also called jigger).
ON 97743, built Northwich 1863, 47 tons [110 tons deadweight], owned Clare's Lighterage Co.
Registered Liverpool, register closed 1907.
Voyage Port Dinorwic to Sankey Bridges with roofing slates.
19 February 1907; sank by collision of SS Jane while anchored
in Wild Road (Dee Estuary), off Mostyn (53°19'N, 3°15'W OSGB)
Captain John Waterworth of Runcorn and mate Richard Wainwright of Widnes: both saved
The Ant [unusual name - maybe to economise on signage?] with a crew of two [this is less than the usual 3-4 crew for Mersey Flats when in the open sea] was bringing roofing slates from Port Dinorwic [in Menai Straits] to Sankey Bridges [up the Sankey Canal accessed from the Mersey by locks at Widnes or Fidler's Ferry]. Owing to the rough weather (wind force 7), the Ant was taken into the shelter of the Dee Estuary and anchored in Wild Road off Mostyn.
While her crew were asleep, at about 3:30am, the Ant was struck by the SS Jane (Liverpool registered, owned Monk and Co.) which caused her to sink in a few minutes. The two on board the Ant were picked up by the boat of the Jane and landed at Llanerch y Mor.
A buoy was put to mark the wreck and was withdrawn by 1919 as the site was covered in sand. The site is now not shown on the HO chart and is listed as "dead".
Record of court case to establish responsibility for the collision:
DEE ESTUARY COLLISION
BARGE OWNERS' CLAIM:
Before his Honour Judge Shand,
sitting under Admiralty jurisdiction in the Liverpool County Court, on
Friday, assisted by Captains Thomas Pardy and John Trenery, as nautical
assessors, the owners of the barge Ant sought to recover from the owners of
the screw steamer Jane, £300 in respect of the sinking of the Ant by
collision with the Jane in Mostyn Roads, on the 19th February last. Mr. Segar
appeared for the owners of the Ant, and Mr. Alec Bateson for the owners of
the Jane.
The plaintiffs' case was that the Ant, which was a ketch rigged
vessel of 110 tons dead-weight, anchored through stress of weather in Mostyn
Roads, Dee estuary, on the 18th February. The Ant's captain, John
Waterworth, put out his riding light, but could not keep it alight, on
account of the violence of the wind. About half past one in the morning,
however, the master saw that the light was burning, and retired below with the
mate - the only other member of the crew - and went to sleep. The Jane struck
the Ant about half-past three. The latter sank, and both, the captain and
the mate, were rescued by the crew of the Jane.
Captain Waterworth also
maintained that the Jane was to blame for the collision for having attempted
to leave her anchorage in the roads by a course which afforded very little
room, when she could have gone by a wider and, therefore, safer course.
The
allegation of improper lookout was strongly denied by Captain David Monks,
master of the Jane, and he also asserted that the course he took in
leaving the roads was a perfectly safe one. The Ant had no light burning, and
was not visible to the lookout on the Jane.
The court expressed the opinion
that, having regard to the fact that the light on the Ant had blown out
several times, and that those on board had been unable to keep it alight, it
was a highly unseamanlike proceeding for the master and mate of the Ant to go
below and sleep, leaving nobody on deck with a light to warn any vessel on
emergency. The court found that a sufficient and proper look-out was kept on
board the Jane, to whose crew, they were of opinion that no blame was
attachable, and they gave judgment for the defendants, with costs.
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There are yachts moored at West Kirby and at Thurstaston during summer months.
The moorings are protected by sandbanks but at Spring High Tide, with strong
NW wind, considerable waves build up and can cause vessels to break free. They
are then dashed against the rocks on the Wirral shore.
Wrecks of leisure yachts driven ashore near Caldy by a storm
on 4 Oct 2009:
Now (2017) there is almost no sign of any wreckage in the sand below the
rocks near 53° 21.33'N, 3° 10.26'W.
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The approaches to the Mersey and Dee are strewn with sandbanks and in onshore winds there are breaking waves along the edges of the banks. Ships that were driven onto the banks were at the mercy of the waves and many lives were lost. The strong currents running between the sandbanks caused problems for sailing ships and when wind and tide were in different directions, steep waves build up in the channel. The approaches to the Mersey are especially dangerous in Northwesterly gales. The best way to rescue shipwrecked sailors was recognised to be by using small boats that could venture into the shallow waters around a stranded vessel. If such a boat could get upwind of the wreck and then anchor, by veering out line it would be possible to come to her assistance in a controlled way. The small boats used were of the type used as local fishing boats and gigs. They had sails that could be set when conditions allowed but they relied on a number of men aboard with oars. The men were usually local fishermen with experience of such boats and of the local conditions. To be out in storm conditions in these small open boats must have been terrifying but men to crew them were readily found.
The boats would have to be based at places where a boat could be launched from the shore in strong winds. In the Liverpool Bay area, this implied from within the more sheltered waters of the Mersey itself or from Hoylake, Formby or Point of Ayr which each had an inshore channel protected by an offshore sandbank except at the top of the tide. Such rescue attempts were not conducted by dedicated lifeboats until experience showed that this was the best and safest way.
Liverpool was the site of the first dedicated lifeboat station to be established anywhere in the world. This was at Formby in 1776 and was funded by the Dock Trustees. Subsequently a lifeboat station was established at Hoylake around 1803 and a lifeboat was kept at the mouth of the Mersey itself. The Dock Trustees were charged with responsibility for safety in the approaches to the Port of Liverpool. As a result of a formal inquiry into the state of lifeboats in 1823, it was recommended that four boats be provided: at Formby, Hoylake, Point of Ayr and the Magazines (near New Brighton). The lifeboat at the Magazines was established around 1827.
After the poor showing of the lifeboat service during the hurricane of 1839, the arrangements were changed and a later report in 1843 gave the situation as 9 lifeboats: namely 2 at Liverpool, 2 at the Magazines, 2 at Hoylake, 2 at Point of Ayr and one at Formby. The lifeboat service was now very efficient and saved very many lives. This was recognised in 1851 when the RNLI (named National Institute for Preservation of Life from Shipwreck at that time) awarded silver medals for outstanding bravery to the coxswains of all of these lifeboats. Each station had a permanent crew of about 10 men and boats were launched by carriage pulled by horses kept nearby. The crew were summoned by gun and it was claimed that the lifeboat could be under way in 17 or 18 minutes from receiving the signal of distress. The lifeboats had oars and sails, but to speed up rescue, an arrangement existed with the Steam Tug Company that as soon as a signal of distress was received, one of their tugs would proceed immediately and take the first available lifeboat from within the Mersey (i.e. Dock Board or Steam Tug Company lifeboat) in tow.
In 1858 the Mersey Docks and Habour Board took over from the Dock
Trustees the provision of 8 lifeboats at Liverpool, New Brighton,
Hoylake, Formby, Southport and Point of Ayr. From 1848 one of the
Hoylake lifeboats had been stationed at Hilbre Island.
This provided a direct access by a ramp to deep water at all tides.
Since the Liverpool Bay area was divided into
small numbered squares - the location of a wreck could be communicated
quickly to the lifeboat stations which were located close to the semaphore
signal stations at Gronant (Voel Nant); Hilbre Island; Bidston Hill and Liverpool.
The optical system of communication was replaced by an electric telegraph from
1861.
The Dee Estuary is mostly quite sheltered and vessels would anchor in Wild
Road (off Mostyn) or off Hilbre to wait for better weather. In a NW gale, at
high water on spring tides, substantial waves can build up in the Dee and
vessels can be driven from their anchors onto the sandbanks.
The entrance to the Dee Estuary had three lifeboat stations: at
Point of Ayr (beach launched from Gronant, then Talacre from 1894); ramp
launched from Hilbre Island and a beach launched lifeboat at Hoylake. The
service from Hoylake started in 1803 and continues to this day (all MDHB
lifeboats having been taken over by the RNLI in 1894) with a beach launched
lifeboat and a hovercraft. The Hilbre Island station (associated with Hoylake)
started in 1848 and ended in 1939. The Point of Ayr lifeboat was established
in 1826 and the last service was in 1916. There is a beach launched inshore
lifeboat at West Kirby (RNLI from 1966 on) and a mobile inshore lifeboat based
at Fflint (since 1957; RNLI since 1966).
The Fflint service was initiated by local people after a tragedy: on the night
of 26th December 1956, a Neston wildfowler was heard shouting as he struggled
in the fog-bound waters after being cut off by the tide. More details.
There were many services by these lifeboats. Most were to vessels aground on the outside of the Hoyle Bank or on the Welsh coast. There were some tragic losses of lifeboatmen:
Traveller
On 22 December 1810 there was a terrible storm. The vessel
Traveller, of Liverpool, was driven onto the Hoyle Bank [described as on Cheshire
Coast, 1 mile east of Hoyake and a few hundred yards from the shore].
An open boat was launched from the shore by local fishermen from the Hoylake
lifeboat crew. It got to sea safely despite huge waves pounding the
beach. They found no-one aboard the Traveller, and as the lifeboat crew
rowed around the stranded vessel, an enormous wave capsized the boat.
Of the lifeboat crew of ten, eight of them were drowned.
Newspaper reports.
More
details.
Lifeboatmen Lost: John Bird (40), Joseph Hughes (38), Henry
Bird (18), Richard Hughes (36), John Bird (16), Thomas Hughes (16),
Henry Bird (18), Nicholas Seed (27). The two saved were Thomas Fulton
and Thomas Davies.
Urania 1841. The Point of Ayr lifeboat, Robert Beck master,
attended the ship Urania
wrecked on the West Hoyle Bank. All passengers and crew (277) were
saved by the Point of Ayr and Hoylake lifeboats and several other local
vessels. Unfortunately the mate of the Point of Ayr lifeboat was struck
by the boom and drowned. A new mate, John Sherlock, was reported as
appointed in November 1841.
The Dock Committee [who paid for the lifeboat service] in a meeting
in December 1841 stated:
The widow of a man belonging to the Point of Ayr lifeboat, who had been
unfortunately drowned whilst going to a wreck, was presented with £10.
Rhyl lifeboat capsize
On 23 Jan 1853 the Rhyl
lifeboat Gwylan-y-Mor capsized with the loss of 6 lives. A vessel was
reported as dismasted on the West Hoyle Bank and the Rhyl lifeboat with
9 men aboard was launched. They pulled out to sea using their oars and
then set sail for the wreck in rough weather conditions with a strong
NNE wind. They could not find the wreck [subsequently known to have
been the schooner Govan
Hill] which had now been covered by the rising tide. So, after
searching thoroughly, they set off back to Rhyl. A half mile offshore,
the lifeboat capsized. Three men were able to hang on and two of them
righted the boat and got on board. The third was pulled aboard by them.
The Coxswain, Owen Jones, was one of the survivors but 6 men were lost.
A subsequent inquiry judged that the boat had run into broken water
without a steering oar to stabilise it. As a result of this disaster,
the Rhyl lifeboatmen had a preference for a boat that was more stable.
The RNLI took over Rhyl lifeboat station in 1854 and they provided the
first of several tubular lifeboats. These were the design of Henry
Richardson and his son as submitted to the RNLI competition in 1851.
More details from newspapers.
Cherokee
Barque ashore on East Hoyle Bank on 18 February 1854. Steam Tug
Company's lifeboat capsized while in tow of a steam tug - 10 men
drowned. The Cherokee's crew of 17 were saved by their own boat and
Hoylake lifeboat. Full details.
Temperance
On 4 January 1857 the schooner
Temperance (owned Truro, b 1850 Falmouth, 113 tons) was driven ashore
near Abergele. Her distress signals were seen by the Rhyl and Point of
Ayr lifeboat stations early in the morning. The Point of Ayr lifeboat
had launched at 8:30am to a vessel aground on the West Hoyle Bank, but
found that the Hoylake lifeboat had already saved the crew. They then
proceeded to the assistance of a vessel stranded at Chester Bar which
managed to get off unaided. The Voel Nant Telegraph then directed them
to the schooner Temperance, aground in Abergele Bay with her crew in the
rigging. They proceeded under sail to the west in squally weather. As
the lifeboat passed Rhyl, an unusually heavy sea struck her, she
capsized and did not right herself. The men, who had launched the Rhyl
lifeboat, saw the Point of Ayr lifeboat capsize not far offshore and,
unable to help, they saw the crew, one by one, swept off the upturned
boat in the bitterly cold conditions until eventually all 13 were lost.
Regrettably, the men were not wearing their cork lifejackets.
The Rhyl lifeboat, which was stationed nearer to the wreck site,
had already been launched, so the tragic rescue mission by the Point of Ayr
lifeboat was not even
necessary. This remains the most serious lifeboat disaster to have occurred in
North Wales. The bodies of 8 of the lifeboatmen were buried at Llanasa
Church (parish church for Gronant) over the next days, weeks and months as the
sea washed them ashore.[lifeboat men buried, all from Gronant:
Robert Roberts, Glan y Morfa, aged 38;
David Davies, Gwallod, 44;
Thomas Roberts, Wrth yr Efail, 46;
Edward Roberts, Siamber Wen, 34;
Thomas Owens, Wrth yr Efail, 21;
Richard Davies, Colomendy, 44;
Edward Phillips, Ffordd Las, 41;
Joseph Davies, Canol y Dre, 48]
Swift
The Hoylake lifeboat was called out on 15th November 1906 to the sloop
Swift of Runcorn. In extremely heavy seas, one of the lifeboatmen, John Isaac Roberts (age 23),
was washed overboard and drowned. Eventually the sloop got out of trouble unaided.
Some services by these lifeboats which resulted in medals being awarded (note that before 1894, while MDHB provided the lifeboat service, the crews were fully professional and medals were not awarded for distguished service):
Gezina Reina
On 3 December 1863 the Hoylake lifeboat under the command of
coxswain George Davies had just returned from rescuing three men [4 in
another account] from the rigging of the Liverpool schooner, George,
(belonging to the firm of Raynes and Lupton) which had run aground in
the mouth of the Dee, when they were called out to another vessel in
distress.
This was the Dutch vessel, Gezina Reina, [wooden
galliott/schooner of Veendam, 89nt, built 1853, voyage Belfast to Mostyn
in ballast, Captain Sap (or Sapp)] which was breaking up on the West
Hoyle Bank. Nearly all the crew of 4 and the captain were swept away in
the heavy seas, but one man managed to struggle into the shallower water
of the sandbank. With great difficulty in the shallow water with big
waves running, the Hoylake lifeboat was able to rescue him.
In the summer of 1864, a handsome silver medal, and a diploma
of courage, was presented to George Davies, from the King of the
Netherlands, for the assistance which the crew of the Hoylake life-boat
rendered in saving the life of a seaman named G. Van Sperm, during the
severe storm of the 3rd of December last, from the Dutch galliot Gezina
Reina, lost on West Hoyle Bank.
Mount Pleasant
On 7th October 1889, in very heavy weather, the 1500 ton
barque Mount Pleasant of Christiana (now Oslo)(Captain Petersen, with
timber from Quebec) broke loose from her tow (tug Commodore) and ran
aground on the Hoyle Bank. She had a crew of 20 and a cargo of timber
from Quebec for Liverpool. The Point of Ayr lifeboat launched at 1:00
pm and, in very rough conditions, succeeded in getting close to the
casualty by 3pm, despite a mass of tangled wreckage (her three masts had
been carried away). They were able to take up a line floated down to
her by the crew aboard which they used to pull the lifeboat alongside
and rescue the 20 Swedish crew aboard, despite huge seas breaking over
them. The lifeboat then drew clear and her crew were able to transfer
the survivors to the steam tug Despatch which had towed out the Liverpol
No. 1 lifeboat. The Point of Ayr lifeboat then proceeded to the
shelter of Mostyn Docks, since it was too rough to land on the beach by
the station. After walking back to the station, the crew were then
called out again - but this time no trace of the vessel was found so
they finally stood down at 1:20am in the night.
For this service, the Point of Ayr lifeboatmen were awarded silver
medals by the Governments of Norway and Sweden.
A report in Lloyd's List on 12th October, states that the Mount
Pleasant arrived in Liverpool on 11th October in tow of three tugs and
would be beached there, after being ashore on East Hoyle Bank.
Matador
At 9pm on 16 October 1902, the Hoylake lifeboat was launched (for
the second time that day having already been at sea for 10 hours standing by
the Liverpool SS Heraclides) to a vessel stranded on Blundell Sands. Coxswain
Thomas Dodd managed to get alongside the stricken vessel, the barquentine
Matador (322 tons), and take off the crew of 9. He was awarded the Silver
Medal of the RNLI as well as a medal by the Russian Life-Saving Association.
Diane
The Hoylake lifeboat was launched at 10:10am on 27th August
1971 to a vessel in distress off the West Hoyle Bank in a WNW force 6
wind. Only the top of the wheelhouse of the tug Diane [also reported as Dianne, a
river tug being used as a leisure boat; 9.8m long, 2.1m beam, on passage
Rhyl to Mersey, owned Mr. Laird] was visible and the waves were
breaking over her. With no time to anchor and veer down, Coxswain
Triggs decided to drive the lifeboat directly alongside the wreck. One
man was pulled to safety, but it took another attempt in strengthening
wind, with concerted work by the crew, to pull the second man to safety.
The lifeboat struck the submerged wheelhouse and sustained some damage,
but remained afloat and was able to get into calmer water and then
return Hoylake. The wreck was reported as 1 mile north of the Dee Buoy
- but no echo sounder trace was found later.
For this outstanding service, Coxswain Harold Triggs was awarded the
Bronze medal by the RNLI.
Some other rescues (and rescue attempts) by the lifeboats:
Hoylake: King George 1806;
Traveller 1810;
Earl of Moira 1821;
Norah 1835;
Gleaner 1835;
John Welch 1836;
Athabaska 1838;
Liverpool Hurricane of 1839;
Urania 1841;
Euterpe 1845;
Brig Enterprise 1854;
Cherokee 1854;
John Horrocks 1854 ;
Red Rover 1858;
Schooner Victoria 1866;
Alice 1873;
Robert Seymour 1881;
Daniel 1885;
St. Mathaeus 1887;
Catherine Lathom 1888;
Sisters 1891;
Schooner Thomas Mason
1894;
Ann Grace 1897;
Thomas 1901;
Smack Charming Nancy 1909;
Alexandra 1910;
Flat Transit 1911;
Red Hand 1927;
Aircraft 1940s,
Launch Constance 1941.
Point of Ayr:
General Brown 1826;
Liver 1829;
Endeavour 1835;
Robert Peel 1835;
Athabaska 1838;
Urania 1841;
Despatch 1843;
PS Mermaid 1845;
Euterpe 1845;
Mary 1850;
Margaret Hughes 1850;
Caroline 1851;
Sloop Endeavour 1854;
Brig Enterprise 1854;
John Horrocks 1854;
Brailsford 1855;
Augusta C Brewer 1860;
Young Gipsy 1861;
1868 Services;
Caldwell 1870;
Mona 1883;
Norma 1884;
William 1887;
St. Mathaeus 1887;
Piel Castle 1898;
Ellen Harrison 1890;
Elgin 1890;
James Stonard
1890;
Ann Grace 1897;
Myosotis 1907;
John and William 1916.
Fflint (inshore mobile):
Heron II 1983.
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As well as the
recent yacht wrecks described above, there have been many losses of
vessels in the Dee estuary, often as a result of breaking free from
moorings or when anchored. The casualty records (Lloyd's List; Board of
Trade Wreck Returns; Newspapers; Chester, Beaumaris and Caernarfon
Shipping Register returns; etc) show the relative importance of
different ports at different dates. Capacity (where known) is shown for
vessels of over 20 tons and steamships are marked SS.
Vessels of around 50 tons would mostly be flats: barge-like sailing vessels.
Smaller vessels are mainly fishing boats. Wrecks (even more numerous) in the
entrance channels and offshore banks are not included.
Most of these wrecks will have been salvaged or refloated,
so no wreckage will be left. Also the location of the casualty is
mostly not given precisely. More detail (clickable) is given for some
of them. Also, see accounts of damage to vessels in the Dee from storms
in late 1775,
in late 1808,
in late 1826,
in late 1833,
in early 1839,
in early 1853,
in November1890.
Parkgate:
Sally(17-12-1802); King George (7-10-1808);
Storm Damage (7-10-1889); Severn Brothers(21-2-1897);
Up Guards(30-8-1898);
Richard(12-1-1899); Good Intent(13-1-1899); River
Dee(17-12-1902); Humphry(18-12-1902); James(28-12-1902); Daisy(31-1-1903);
Mary(13-2-1903);Morning Star(21-11-1903); Kitty(21-11-1903);
Annie(22-2-1908); Fanny(8-9-1908); Viola(6-11-1908); David(7-11-1908);
Curlew(22-11-1908); Edith(22-11-1908); Mary(22-11-1908);
Orion(22-10-1909); Leader(12-11-1909); Nancy(16-1-1910); Mary(16-1-1910); Mary(24-2-1910);
Violet(25-7-1910); Annie(5-11-1911); White Heather(5-11-1911);
R.D.C.(5-11-1911); Delightful(5-11-1911); Violet(5-11-1911);
Skipper(8-4-1912); Fleoe(8-4-1912)
Heswall: Primrose(13-1-1843);
Magic(30-8-1898); Martha(28-12-1900); Westminster(29-12-1900);
Dashing Spray(17-12-1902); Starting(27-2-1903); Fox(27-2-1903);
Irene(25-7-1910); Florence(7-11-1910)
Dawpool: Sally(5-3-1822);
Sarah(7-1-1839);
Dee(13-1-1843)
Caldy Point:
Mary Jane(29-12-1900); William and Nelly(22-11-1908); Lulu(12-11-1909)
West Kirby: Dove(14-10-1909); Curlew(14-10-1909)
Salisbury Bank: Hero(5-12-1822);
Britannia(5-12-1822);
Elfin (25-2-1880 25t SS);
Ellen Bradshaw(29-9-1884 66nt);
Glittering Star(20-5-1887 70t);
Lapwing(8-3-1888 31nt);
Emma Grace(28-11-1897 100nt);
Thomas(27-1-1901 65nt);
Alexandria(16-4-1914 3501gt SS).
Flint:
Ardent (7-10-1808);
Onward (24-1-1900 37t);
Star(10-5-1903 37nt);
Mark(3-11-1903 53nt)
Bagillt:
Telford (25-3-1831 Smack);
Ellen Glynne (26-2-1853);
Chance(24-10-1894 66nt);
Adelphia(23-9-1896 47t)
Greenfield:
Sirius(28-2-1853 63gt);
Caliban(21-11-1903 54nt)
Mostyn and Wild Road:
Susannah(14-1-1827 sloop);
Elizabeth(29-11-1833);
Abbey(26-3-1852 89gt schooner);
Dispatch(28-10-1866 27nt);
Fiona(19-12-1884 54t);
Tally Ho(28-12-1884 57nt);
Margaret(7-11-1890 69nt);
Trekieve(31-7-1897 1489gt SS);
Lydia(28-9-1898 49nt);
Charlaw(5-8-1905 890nt SS);
Ant(19-2-1907 47nt);
Superb(18-3-1908 47nt);
Volunteer(10-11-1912);
Alice Linda(25-1-1913 67nt);
Brilliant Star(7-2-1913 80nt);
John and William(1-1-1916 70gt)
Point of Ayr: Hiram(1-9-1799 312t ship);
Rockingham(7-12-1822 359t ship);
Town(6-9-1826 93t schooner);
Liver(28-8-1829);
Kate(29-11-1833 schooner);
Endeavour(5-2-1835 brig);
Margaret Hughes(26-8-1850 schooner);
Peggy (24-11-1851 smack);
May (26-5-1854 flat);
John Horrocks (13-12-1854 344t barque);
Norma (8-6-1884
brigantine);
James (2-5-1898);
Corby Castle(17-3-1903 45nt);
Væringer(29-7-1904 233nt brig);
Myosotis(14-11-1907 39nt) ;
Helen and Ernest(15-10-1918 50gt) ;
Santa Rosa(5-5-1934 MV 95gt).
Hilbre: Dublin(28-12-1759);
Diana(8-8-1821 262t ship);
Peter(12-3-1831);
Alicia(16-10-1831);
John(7-2-1833);
Robert Peel(23-2-1835 304t barque);
Many losses 7-1-1839;
Wellington(25-3-1842);
William(11-1-1853 39t);
Margaret(17-2-1854);
Helen/Ellen(27-10-1854);
Freddy(7-1877 38t);
Charles(2-2-1883 57t);
Glyndwr(6-1-1886 77t schooner);
Albion(16-4-1887 54t);
Shamrock(18-10-1887 75t schooner);
Primus(7-10-1889 60t schooner).
Thomas & Ann(June 1892 sloop)
Strandings still occur: on 31-1-2013
the large vessel (125m long) Ciudad de Cadiz that takes airbus wings from Mostyn to Bordeaux was
stranded on the sandbank at Mostyn. See
report and photo. She refloated on a very high tide 11 days later.
See also details of another stranding (in 2006 in Wild Road)
report .
From 2001-4 Mostyn provided a Ro-Ro service for P&O to Ireland. This was discontinued
over concerns about dredging the channel to Mostyn to provide convenient access.
The only other wrecks currently (2017) charted in the Dee Estuary south of
a line from Hilbre Island to point of Ayr:
(i) at 53° 22.482'N, 3° 13.79'6W charted as wreck 7.9m below CD
from a 1971 survey which found sign of wreckage covering an area 4m by 8m
and rising 1.6m up. A rock outcrop is some 50m NW of this
wreck. This area is SW of Hilbre islands.
(ii) at 53° 21.116N, 3° 17.245W which was found in a 1987 survey
and swept clear at 0.4m below CD. The area of wreckage is 25m by 8m lying N.S.
This location is on the west side of the Mostyn Deep opposite the
Salisbury Middle buoy.
(iii) an area is charted as foul nearby at depth 3.3m below CD at 53° 21.209N,
3° 17.121W which is described by fishermen as a timber obstruction.
(iv) Addendum 2019: two more wrecks SW of Hilbre are reported from a survey:
at 53°22.92 N, 3°13.94 W in 8.4 metres and at 53°22.77 N, 3°14.15
W in 11.8 metres below CD
Outside of a line from Point of Ayr to the Hilbre Point, there are three
channels into the Dee (the Welsh Channel, Mid-Hoyle Channel and Hilbre Swash).
Many wrecks are known in these channels and on the sandbanks between them.
Here I give links to some of these:
Wrecks that are (or were) visible at LW:
(i) Thomas 1910: see report,
53° 23.26N 3° 13.47W.
(ii) Nestos 1941: report ,
53° 24.799N, 3° 14.429W. Fuller History
of Wreck. See photos
image 1 and
image 2.
(iii) Wreckage
extending 8m by 6m: 53° 25.032N, 3° 12.379W. I visited
this wreck on foot at LW (Liv 0.1m on 12-8-1991) when some ribs were visible
protruding about 6 inches above water. The wreckage was charted as 1.1m
above CD, but is now (2017) charted as "foul" since the general depth is 1.2m
above CD at that location. I revisited this site on foot at LW (Liv
0.1m on 21-3-2019) and could see no sign of any wreckage above the sea level.
(iv) A wooden wreck, off Hoylake, has grown more prominent as the
sand level has gradually got lower. It was about 1 foot above the
surrounding sand in 2010 and, by 2019, it rises about 3 foot. The wreckage
is about 90 feet long running WSW-ENE and is in a scour pool.
Surrounding seabed is at about 3.1 m above CD, so the top of the wreck
dries 4 m or so.
It is marked (by the Hoylake Lifeboat Launch Crew) with white and orange
buoys in position 53° 24.72N; 3° 11.53W. See
Hoylake wooden wreck 2019 image.
For more detail and some discussion of possible candidates:
see full report.
Wrecks on NW side of Hoyle bank:
(i)SS Albion 1887: report,
53° 23.567N, 3° 22.606W. Contemporary
report.
Image of seabed (depths in metres below CD).
(ii)PSS Lord Blayney 1833:
details, 53° 23.6N 3° 26.3W (very approx position); also
report.
(iii) Ceylon 1901: report ,
53° 23.754 3° 26.609 W. See contemporary
report.
Image of seabed (depths in metres below
CD). Fuller details
See also PS Mermaid 1845;
Euterpe 1845;
Wrecks in Hilbre Swash and nearby (from S to N):
SS Maurita 1941: report ,
53°24.915N, 3°13.878W. Contemporary
report of loss; photo .
MV Red Hand 1927: report ,
53°24.948 N, 3°12.961W. Contemporary
report of loss; photo .
SS Resolute 1928: report ,
53°25.132N, 3°12.461W. Contemporary
report of loss.
Lota 1916: report,
53°25.05, 3°13.06W. Contemporary report of loss.
Daniel 1885: report,
53°25.19N, 3°11.89W. Contemporary report of loss
St. Matthaeus 1887: report,
53°25.265N, 3°14.245W. Contemporary report of loss.
Alma 1881: report,
53°25.43N, 3°11.66W. Contemporary report of loss.
Robert Seymour 1881: report,
53°25.715N, 3°13.163W. Image of seabed
(depths in metres below CD). Contemporary report of loss.
Many wrecks occurred on the sandbanks (called Hoyle Bank) offshore of the Dee
Estuary.
The Dee Estuary seems far away from "Pirate Territory" but for a
considerable period, while England was at war with America and then
France, letters of Marque were given to British vessels to enable them
to capture enemy merchant vessels. This was "privatising the navy" to some
extent. Liverpool was at the forefront of exploiting this opportunity to
make a lot of money very quickly. Here is recounted the aftermath of one
such capture.
The Knight had successfully captured several valuable vessels:
bringing the La Plaine du Cap (from St Domingo) into Liverpool in October
1778, and sending the captured Catharina (from Cadiz to Le Havre with a
valuable cargo) into the Mersey in November 1778.
In late December 1778, she was accompanying her latest prize, the
East Indiaman Deux Amis (China and Pondicherry to L'Orient, captured off
Cape Finisterre on 23rd December 1778) back to Liverpool. She had a
very valuable cargo: fine tea, silk, calico, nankeen, handkerchiefs,
muslin, china, arrack, cotton, wine, canes, etc, which were valued at
£150,000 - a huge sum in those days.
Part of the cargo, which was washed ashore, was lodged in the
Custom-house of Chester, [located at Parkgate], and at Liverpool, but
most of it was damaged. Sir Roger Mostyn and other local gentlemen
armed their tenants and prevented, by everything in their power, the
country people, who assembled in great numbers, from plundering the
wreck but notwithstanding all their vigilance and activity, property to
the amount of several thousand pounds was carried away.
The Liverpool newspaper published a strongly worded warning/threat to
anyone not restoring any goods to the owners.
The Knight was repaired but, in July 1779, she was sunk by a French
frigate; her crew were saved and landed at Oporto.
The same storm caused another loss of a prize: the Liverpool
privateer Townside, Captain Watmough, 130 tons, 16 guns, and 90 men,
belonging to Messrs. Mitton & Co., captured an East Indiaman Iris
(French, Captain Pinatel), laden
with coffee, dry goods, etc., but the prize was lost near Beaumaris, the
crew and part of the cargo and materials being saved.
More detail.
The Townside was
captured a few months later, and re-taken by the Sybil man-of-war.
Note that another link to piracy was the experience of the Hiram [aground in the entrance to the Dee Estuary
on 1 Sept 1799] which on a later voyage to the West indies was captured
(by a French Warship), then retaken by her crew, captured by a French
Privateer and finally retaken by HMS Unite.
Return to Dee Estuary pages.
Unknown wreckage
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Wrecks in the entrance channels
See also loss of salvage launch
Constance 1941 that was attending to the wreck of Nestos.
For many reports of such wrecks see West Hoyle Bank wrecks
Some East Hoyle Bank wrecks:
Traveller 1810,
part of Norah 1835,
Gleaner 1835,
Edward 1839,
Barque Cato 1849,
Red Rover 1858,
Ann and Elizabeth 1870,
Alice 1873,
Daniel 1885,
Mount Pleasant 1889 (refloated),
Blanche 1890,
Sisters 1891,
Ada, Glance 1903,
Fair Trade 1904.
For some charted wrecks N of Hoyle Bank, see survey and diving report .
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Deux Amis 1779
East Indiaman, voyage China to l'Orient [France]
Captured as a prize by Liverpool privateer Knight, owned Hindley,
Leigh & Co
Knight: Capt. Wilson, 220 tons burthen, 18 guns, 80 crew
1 January 1779: Deux Amis ashore Point of Ayr (Dee Estuary): 32 of
42 crew lost.
Knight ashore at Abergele, masts lost but all aboard saved.
In a NW to NE gale which started on the afternoon of 31st
December, both vessels were driven onto the North Welsh coast: the
Knight near Abergele [Conway Bay in another account] where she lost her
masts but, otherwise, hull and sailors were saved.
The prize crew aboard the Deux Amis were less fortunate; they
were driven ashore near Point of Ayr (at the mouth of the Dee Estuary;
location also described as near Mostyn; more precisely as near Llinegar,
closer to Mostyn than Talacre; property of Sir Pyers Mostyn of Talacre)
and she filled with water. Those aboard (24 English and 24 French
sailors) took to the masts and shrouds during the night which was
bitterly cold. Only 10 English and 5 French [9 and 1 in another
account] men survived: 33 [or 32] were lost.
The vicar of Llanasa (parish church for Point of Ayr and
Gronant) records that 21 sailors were buried in one grave in 1779.
When the Deux Amis grounded, many of the French, the moment
the ship struck, leaped overboard and were drowned. One of them took
with him, in the confusion, a box of diamonds, then worth £6,000 and
another took a wedge of gold, weighing twelve pounds [currently worth
£165000]; both of which were lost. The hull broke up in the
waves.
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