Shipwrecks

Whitford Bay

This is an extract from the book
Gower Coast
by
George Edmunds

No1 'Agot
No2 'Bount Hall'
N0 3 16 vessels
No 4 SS Evengeline

Wreck No1---'Agot' 1900

At Whitford sands in November, the barque 'Agot' was driven ashore in ballast. The Rhossili LSA company was sent for, but there were long delays in communication, apart from the fact that they were some distance from the wreck, and by the time they did arrive the vessel was ebbed.
A pilot had been left in charge of the 'Agot' after the crew had been taken to Llanelli by pilot boat. He would let no one aboard, not even the coastguard. The Captain of the 'Agot' returned and ordered the pilot to leave the ship, but by this time the pilot had found the spirits, and had taken more than he could manage. From the deck of the vessel was a ladder which was long enough to reach the sands, but he did not heed it; he fell off the ship and ended up unconscious on the sands.
After a while the vessel became a total wreck.

Wreck No 2--- The 'Bounty Hall' 1819

This was an East Indiaman of 700 tons which came ashore on Llanmadoc Sands. The circumstances of her stranding were obscure, but she arrived quite undamaged with valuable cargo of rice, spices and sugar. All the villagers assisted the crew to discharge the cargo, after which the vessel was successfully refloated.
" The Cambrian" newspaper reported that five days after her advent, the Swansea Cavalry were detailed to proceed to Llanmadoc to safeguard the perishable goods, but they found that the Llanmadoc folk with commendable restraint had preserved intact the pile of desirable food-stuffs dumped in the Burrows.

Wrecks No 3--- 16 vessels unknown 1868

One of the worst maritime disasters that ever happened on this coast took place in Broughton Bay and Burry Estuary on the night of January 22^nd, for out of a fleet of 19 coastal sailing vessels varying from 80 to 400 tons, 16 were totally lost and over 30 crew perished.
The fleet was outward bound for Llanelli on the ebb tide and unaware of the ground sea building up in the Bay. The weather had been stormy a few days before, but there was little wind in the evening of that day. Tugs, each heading a string of half a dozen sailing ships, towed them through the upper reaches of the estuary as far as Whitford Sker.
With what little wind there was and with the help of the ebbing tide the ships hoped to reach the open water beyond Burry Holmes before the flood set in.
This was not to be, for the wind died down completely away and the tide turned and the groundsea increased to an extraordinary level until huge waves were coming in, in tremendous strength without breaking. Those vessels that had not cleared the Holmes - only three had - were trapped. Anchors were dropped, but many cables broke with the violent rolling. The ships, with their sails hanging limply, were tossed about like corks. Some drifted helplessly back to be dashed against the rocks, and each other. A few sank in the middle of the Estuary, having had their bottoms knocked out by the continual thumping on the sand, for such was the extraordinary character of the heavy swell, that at one moment a vessel would be floating on the crest of a wave, and the next, after sweeping down its hollow, would be aground on the sand.
With the tide coming in many were driven ashore in a sinking condition. The following morning revealed that at least five ships were badly damaged on Whitford Sands, with as many high and dry at Broughton.
Of those in distress off the Burry, some of the crews swam ashore, some to Gower and some to Pembrey, but from the strandings eighteen lives were lost.
At first it was feared that the number of deaths was higher, but it was later learned that two ships had reached their home ports in France, thus reducing the additional death-toll to nineteen.
Of the sixteen ships lost, four belonged to Llanelli. The 'Onward', 'Amethyst' and 'Jennie Celine' foundered with all hands, while the 'Brothers', the 'Huntress' and 'Roscius' were among those that stranded on the sands. The 'Ann' was wrecked on Burry Holmes, the 'Mary Fanny', with her crew of four, safely rounded the Burry Holmes only to be wrecked in Rhossili Bay. She was later salvaged and rebuilt to last more than fifty years until she was sunk by a U-boat in 1918.
The disaster happened late on a Sunday evening; the beaches were deserted and the local villagers of Llanmadoc were in church. None were aware therefore, of the terrible catastrophe taking place so close at hand. In the morning, when they went down to the Sands they beheld a sight never to be forgotten. From Whitford Point to Burry Holmes the shore was covered with seamen's clothes, torn sails, shattered hulls, ropes, broken spars, carpenter's tools and vast quantities of coal. The bodies of the sailors, as they came ashore, were interred in the churchyards of the parishes where they were picked up, over 30 being buried in Llanmadoc Churchyard.
In fact there is confusion over the exact number of lives lost - 18 or 19 seems to be realistic figure, yet several accounts refer to over 30 being buried in Llanmadoc with others in other parishes; this would put the final death toll at maybe twice the eighteen figure.i.e.36. I tried to find the gravestone in the churchyard to confirm the figure but it escaped my search.

Wreck No 4 --- SS 'Evangeline' 1904

The SS 'Evengeline' was driven ashore in a very heavy weather whilst in ballast. She was a fairly new ship so was not badly damaged.
Farmer's carts were hired to help carry her stores to the shore, and, while some of the bags of biscuits were lowered, one bag tore open, spilling the contents. On seeing this, one of the men on the sands decided to put some of them in his pockets. As he was doing so. He did not notice one of the crew watching him, but the seaman on seeing this took a ship's block and threw it at the man. Fortunately, it misses him by inches but went clean through the bottom of the cart nearby.
Channels were cut to float her and some months later she was pulled into deeper water, little worse for having been stranded

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