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The Hopper Barge No. 42 wrecked on the Plymouth Breakwater and sank under tow during the attempted salvage.

Type

Steam hopper barge

History

On Friday, 12th September 1913, the 150-ton self-propelled Hopper Barge No. 42 was making her way from Cadiz in Spain to Southampton via Corunna at the end of a dredging contract.  The barge was to stop in Plymouth to take on coal for her bunkers. She arrived after dark on a fine but cloudy night at the entrance to Plymouth Sound and signalled with flares for a pilot.  At that time, the pilot, Thomas Staddon, was busy aiding the huge White Star liner Oceanic to leave the Sound.  There was no answer from the pilots, so the impatient Captain James H. Burns then decided to enter the Sound by himself, ordering full speed ahead.  Unfortunately, the Captain had shaped a course on the wrong side of the Breakwater lighthouse. The lookouts shouted that they could see the Breakwater ahead, the Captain ordered full speed astern, but it was too late and the barge drove up onto the Breakwater just before midnight.  The barge drove hard onto the rocks a little to the west of the Breakwater Fort and tore a hole in her forefoot.  The crew lit flares and sounded the steam whistle to attract attention, but before help could arrive, the rising tide allowed the ship to fall broadside onto the Breakwater.  The action of the waves made the ship bump heavily, and soon the hull was punctured by several holes.

Hopper Barge No. 42 on Plymouth Breakwater, click the image for a larger version

The Trinity House pilot was one of the first to help the Hopper crew and he got to the stricken vessel in a boat belonging to Pilot Cutter No. 1.  Staddon and the crew of the pilot vessel had seen the barge steam into Plymouth Sound when they were busy with the Oceanic, they then watched helpless as the barge drove up onto the Breakwater.  Leaving the three crew on the Pilot cutter, Staddon rowed to the barge and found the crew getting ready to abandon ship.  The pilot convinced the Master to try and refloat the barge; the engines were put full speed astern, and the hull moved backwards a few feet before coming to a stop.  They then decided to await the arrival of a harbour tug.  The battleship HMS Conqueror was at anchor in the Sound; she saw flares and illuminated the scene with her searchlights, then put sailors ashore on the Breakwater to assist.  The tug turned up at the same time that the King’s Harbourmaster, Commander D’Aeth R.N., arrived on the scene in his launch.  The Pilot, his crew and some of the crew of the launch managed to get a steel hawser from the hopper barge to the tug waiting offshore.  This task was made more difficult as the wind had picked up from the south southwest, and there were waves breaking around the wreck.  By now, the hopper was filling fast, and there were fears that she would sink if towed off the rocks.  The firemen came up from the engineroom to report that the water was now at the level of the stokehold plates and just under the boiler fires, so the salvage attempt was postponed and the tow line cast off.  The crew were then taken to the Harbourmaster’s launch by the Pilot.

The Plymouth lifeboat Eliza Avins was launched just after midnight and made her way to the Breakwater under sail and oars. The lifeboat was met by the Harbourmaster’s launch, which had already taken off the eight crew; they were then transferred to the lifeboat and taken to Sutton Harbour.  The crew were taken to the Sailors’ Home in Vauxhall Street and welcomed by the superintendent and matron, Mr and Mrs Dodd.  One of the hopper crew, Edwin Taylor, was hurt when he fell as the ship grounded and required medical treatment before being sent home to Liverpool.

The vessel owner, Mr James, arrived in Plymouth to supervise the operations, and some efforts had been made to stop the holes in the hull in the hope that the barge would float; they also put air-tight barrels inside the hull.   Previous attempts to move the ship on Sunday had failed, but they tried again to refloat the on the flood tide on Wednesday evening. The tugs Mildred (Capt. Cundy), Stag (Mr Dunn), Boarhound (Capt. Daymond) and Reindeer (Capt. Toms) were prepared for the task, and a dozen men were put on board the hopper barge along with her remaining crew.  They took the barge under tow at 5 pm under the direction of Captain Cundy, and after an hour, the barge slid off the rocks, but stayed afloat with a list to port.  The tugs Reindeer and Stag placed themselves one on each side of the vessel and used their powerful steam pumps to empty the hull of the hopper barge.  The cavalcade of ships then headed west along the Breakwater, intending to head inside the Sound to the Cattewater where the barge could be beached and repaired.  However, it soon became clear that the water was gaining inside the damaged hull despite the efforts of the steam pumps, and the ship was getting lower in the water.  Some of the older and wiser men on the barge took refuge on one of the tugs.  As the ships rounded the Breakwater at 8 pm, the list became more serious, and there was a hurried rush to get the remaining men onto the tug Stag, including the owner and the captain. The two tugs alongside let go while Boarhound and Mildred carried on towing, but eventually the hopper turned over, her bows rose into the air and went under, rose again and finally sank beneath the waves just 250m from the Breakwater lighthouse, taking all the ropes, cables and pumps with her.  The barge was valued at £500 at the time, and it was considered feasible to salvage her, but instead, she was broken up where she lay.

Captain Burns, when interviewed later, attributed the accident to 'the many brilliant and blinding lights inside the harbour' which stopped the Captain and lookouts from seeing the Breakwater until they were almost on top of it.  A letter to the Times after the event highlighted the dangers of turning searchlights onto any ships entering the harbour.  The author of the letter was on a steamer entering Plymouth Sound, working her way through the shipping channel, when she was lit up by two very bright searchlights ahead, making it impossible to see the buoys on either side of the fairway or any other ships ahead.  The ship’s captain was concerned that he could not see, so he was sounding the horn frequently, but the lights continued to be pointed at the vessel.

The crew of Hopper No. 42 were Captain James Burns, mate C. Palmer of Liverpool, T. Swain of Southampton, engineer, second engineer J. Vest from Southampton, firemen B. Dickerson and D. Allen, deck hands J. Taylor and J. Lloyd, all from Liverpool.  

Location and Access

Drawing of the Hopper Barge No. 42 by The SHIPS Project, click the image for a larger version

Plymouth Breakwater, west end

When examined by divers in 1969 she was found to be in two parts with the boiler separate from the upturned hull.  The wreck now lies at the western end of the Breakwater in 12 metres of water on a sand and shale seabed, to the north west is boiler and firebox and to the south west are the remains of the upturned hull, partly buried.  As the wreck sits in the main shipping channel permission is required to dive the site from the King's Harbour Master, diving has to be fitted in between shipping movements so may be refused.  The dive is best done at slack tide but even then there may still be some water movement, and diving at mid-tide is not recommended as the current is too strong.

Nearby wrecks include the FS Poulmic , the cargo ship Fylrix , armed trawler HMT Abelard and the steamship Vectis

Last updated 15 July 2025

Position GPS: 50° 20.140N  004° 09.590 W
Depth: 12m

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