Flats Ada and Glance
Wooden sailing flats owned by Thomas Perry of Liverpool
Voyage Liverpool to Shotton (Hawarden Bridge) with steel billets
Both vessels lost on East Hoyle Bank on 28 February 1903, crews saved.
Ada: ON 83509, wooden sailing flat registered Runcorn, built St. Helens 1851, 51 tons,
Captain Henry Williams (42) and mate Edward Hughes(32), both of
Bagillt.
Glance: no matching vessel in Mercantile Navy List. BOT wreck
return gives 48 net tons, Captain R Ward plus 1 crew.[Glance of
Liverpool; Flat built Winsford 1872, ON 65998, 70tons, not listed after
1883 - reported
sunk 1882]
From Cheshire Observer, Saturday 7 March 1903
LOSS OF TWO FLATS. During the hours of Saturday night and Sunday
morning, two flats - Glance and Ada - belonging to Messrs. Taylor and
Perry, of Liverpool, and bound from Liverpool to Messrs. John Summers's
Hawarden Bridge Works, Shotton, with steel bars, foundered during the heavy
gale which prevailed at the time on the East Hoyle Bank. The men from the
flats were rescued by Captain Taylor, of the tug boat Apollo, belonging to
Messrs. Summers, and handed over to Mr. Thos. Matthias, of Dock-road,
Connah's Quay, the local agent of the Shipwrecked Fishermen's and Mariners'
Royal Benevolent Society. The men, when landed, were in a very exhausted
condition, having experienced contrary winds and a rough sea since they left
Liverpool.
Point of Ayr lifeboat records show a launch to Ada and Glance - with no service provided. [since tug had rescued crews]
BOT wreck return includes both vessels
MDHB records state that Glance was a wooden barge of 156 tons [sic: weight
of cargo?] which foundered on the edge of East Hoyle Bank (position 86 per
chart) on 28 February 1903. The wreckage was partly destroyed by blasting and had a
depth 2.4m above CD in a position quoted as 53°26'25"N, 03°15'55"W
[OSGB]. Subsequently, it was charted in 1975 as drying 1.9m, but later
disproved in 1987 - possibly since then covered in sand. [This agrees with
my observation that the East Hoyle Spit has grown - now drying over 3 metres -
in recent decades]
Ada is listed by MDHB as sunk on edge of East Hoyle Bank (in position
98 per chart) and wreckage was partly destroyed by blasting. No more precise position
is listed.