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Wooden brig built 1840, 309gt, registered Candia (in Crete, Greece)
Cargo of beans from Alexandria to Liverpool
Captain Gerge H Colscundi
Stranded at Malltraeth 20 December 1852.
Llanddwyn lifeboat rescued all 14 crew.
Summary: The ATHENA was a 309gt wooden brig built in 1840. At time of loss on 20 December 1852, the vessel was owned by R & G Benn and registered at Candia (Heraklion, Crete). It was carrying a cargo of beans from Alexandria to Liverpool when it stranded on Maltraeth Sands, 1 mile north of Llanddwyn. Because of the stormy conditions, the Llanddwyn lifeboat Palmer (weighing 18 cwt) was pulled by a team of horses over the Newborough sand dunes so that it could be launched nearer to the wreck. Fourteen crew members were subsequently rescued. Part of the cargo (much damaged) was recovered, as well as sails and other materials (not the anchors and chains) before the wreck broke up.
Full details from North Wales Chronicle, 24 December 1852:
MALLTRAETH.-SHIPWRECK, From a Correspondent. The Greek brigantine Athena,
Capt. George H. Colscundi, of 309 tons burden, loaded with beans, and
bound from Alexandria to Liverpool, was stranded early on Monday morning,
the 20th instant [20 December 1852], in Trefdraeth bay, between Llanddwyn and Bodowen Point, in
Carnarvon bay. The crew, 14 in number, all Greeks, except one Livernese,
were seen from there, soon after daylight, waving their caps and making other
signs for aid, while the sea was breaking in fearful waves over the
ill-fated vessel, and no boat could live in the terrific sea off Llanddwyn
Point. The pilots at the light-house brought the life-boat at last round the southern
side of the rocks, and across the narrow neck which joins this diminutive
peninsula to the mainland, and by the aid of the surrounding inhabitants,
launched it nearly opposite the stranded brig. The crew were all rescued, but
with few of their effects, except what they had on at the time, and hospitably
treated at the pilots' cottages. In the evening, 12 of them (leaving the captain
and one seaman to look after the wreck) were conveyed to Carnarvon, and on the
following morning forwarded to Liverpool. The vessel appears to be old, and
very slightly built, breaking up rapidly. The cargo of beans strews the shore
for more than a mile, and the neighbouring peasantry are collecting it in
heaps near the tent erected by the pilot watchmen. The sea has been less
agitated since the wreck, and hopes are now entertained that the rigging and
sails will be saved, unless it returns again to blow from the S.W.
From the
captain's papers (who cannot speak a single English word) it appears that they
sailed from Alexandria, on the 27th Sept., and had therefore been 83 days
on the voyage.
ANOTHER ACCOUNT. On Monday last the Greek brig, the Athena, G.
Colscundi, master, became a total wreck in Mall-draeth Bay. She was bound
from Alexandria in Egypt to Liverpool, and was freighted by Cassvotti,
Brothers & Co., with 3000 Ardoles New Sardi beans. At 8 am, on the above
day, wind S.W., blowing hard, the sky thick, the brig was perceived from
Llanddwyn ashore in Malldraeth Bay, distant one mile and a half N.W.E.[sic], when
three men immediately proceeded to ascertain whether the crew had got on
shore. When these men were abreast the vessel, they observed two of the crew
in the main rigging under shelter to leeward of the topsail. They then
directly hastened home, and a messenger was sent to Carnarvon to report, and
to Rhyddgaer for horses to convey the lifeboat to a convenient spot for
launching to the rescue. The ball was hoisted and the gun fired for lifeboat
crew to assemble. The first gun was fired at 10 minutes before nine am. The
firing was repeated five times, and at half-past nine, the crew had all
assembled. The boat was launched, and an unsuccessful effort was made to pull
her round the point. They then ran for Porthgewch, and took the boat over
land to the other side, and made for the brig. The surf was high, and the boat
filling, the crew were obliged to make for shallow water, in order to bale
her out. She was then towed for about a quarter of a mile towards Mall-
traeth, and three more hands taken to double man the oars. A second attempt
was made to reach the vessel, and the boat filled again, and had to be taken
to the shallows to be baled out. Another attempt being made, these intrepid
men got alongside of the ill fated vessel.
Having let go the anchor to the
northward of her, and veering towards her, they got a tow-line on board, when
all the crew, 14 in number, leaped into the boat, as if rushing from the jaws
of death. The anchor was then weighed, and, the tow-line being hung to until
the boat was brought astern of the brig, they let go, and dropped towards
the shore, which they reached at noon, or soon after.
The crew of the vessel
were in a very helpless condition, and would in all probability, were it not
for the life-boat, have all perished. After being supplied with victuals,
twelve were brought to Carnarvon, where they were provided with a lodging by
J. Jackson, Esq, the Agent of the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society, who the
next morning forwarded them at the expense of the Society to Liverpool, to
the care of the agent at that port. The life-boat, after the rescue of the
crew of the vessel, was hauled on shore and placed on the truck which had
arrived and brought it to Porth-y-cwch by the horses by half-past four p.m.,
and ultimately secured in the boat-house. The boat was damaged in one of the
planks, and the tiller was injured.
Location A U-shaped area of a wooden hull is sometimes visible on the beach. It was visible from 2006-2019 at 53°9.171N, 4°24.852W. Many pictures of the wreckage can be found on the web. Local information is that this is the remains of the Athena. Note that this location is not charted - the charted wreck is a little further off-shore and is the remains of the Watkin F Nisbet (steel SS lost 1940).
Image from above from Google earth 2009 (approx 8m across):
More detailed Image.