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A steamship thought to have been blown ashore on the Mewstone in the 1877 hurricane.

Type

Screw steamship

History

The 332-ton iron-hulled steam ship Rothesay was built in 1874 in the Hull shipyard of Humphrys, Pearson & Co. Ltd. in Hull.  The vessel was 44m long, powered by a 50 h.p. Humphreys & Pearson compound steam engine.  Rothesay was owned by the John Cory Steam Shipping Company in Cardiff. 

Painting of Rothesay ashore, click the image for a larger version

The Rothesay was returning to Cardiff from Caen in ballast on Sunday, 14th October 1877, having refuelled with coal at Dartmouth in Devon.  The master was Captain Thomas H. Vance, and there were 11 crew on board.  The ship cleared Start Point in South Devon and made use of the strong wind, making 6 knots with the engine running and sails set.  The wind kept on increasing, so the Master decided to run to Plymouth for shelter, but they were now in the midst of a hurricane, and the ship became unmanageable.  The crew got both anchors ready, a difficult job in the dark when the lamps kept getting blown out.  The Master only had a vague idea of their location as they could not see the Breakwater light, and they tried and failed to heave the lead.  The ship was driving eastwards towards land, so the port anchor was let go, but it had no effect, and the ship was soon amongst breakers.  They let go of the second anchor, but the chain would not run out, and the ship struck the rocks.  The crew immediately took to the rigging for safety as the huge waves were making a clean breach over the ship.  The hull continued to bounce inshore over the rocks as the waves lifted the hull and the wind pushed her on.  The crew came down from the rigging long enough to make a large fire on the forecastle as an emergency call for help, but got no response.

In the confusion, one of the crew was washed overboard and was luckily driven on shore by the waves.  Having survived the ordeal, the crew still on board found that he was alive and managed to get a small line to him.  The crew used this rope to haul a larger warp rope between the ship and the shore, then the crew used the warp to get ashore through the waves and over the slippery rocks.  The Master and crew landed about 3 am and remained on the beach until daylight, when they were picked up by a boat and taken to Plymouth.  Later, the Captain and two crew returned to the wreck, but by now she had a dozen holes in her bottom, her stem had been knocked away, propeller shaft broken, and stern post carried away.

There are conflicting reports about where the ship went ashore.  The early accounts say that Rothesay was driven ashore to the westward of the Mewstone, which puts the wreck on the Mewstone itself.  However, in the report from the Master, it states that ‘Ship had driven on shore on the mainland near the Mewstone’.  There is a painting by British artist William Gibbons, which is said to depict the Rothesay wrecked on the Great Mewstone; however, the landscape is wrong and it shows the Rothesay ashore on the mainland.  Also, an advert asking for tenders to refloat the Rothesay described her as being ‘between Mewstone and Shagstone’.  So it is more likely that the Rothesay was wrecked on the shore between the Mewstone and Shagstone, and not on the west side of the Mewstone.

Diving the Rothesay

Between the Mewstone and Shagstone.

The painting shows the wreck aground at the low water mark on the rocks between the Mewstone and Shagstone.

Nearby wrecks include the Ajax , the Mewstone Cannon Site , Nepaul , Constance and Glen Strathallan

Last updated 23 December 2025

Position GPS: 50° 18.81 N 004° 06.70 W
Depth: 12m

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