The steel steamship Belford was launched from the Sunderland yard of John Priestman and Company (Yard No 87) on 6th May 1901. She measured 325.0′ x 47.0′ x 25.6′ and her tonnage was 3216 gross tons, 2076 net tons. She was powered be a triple expansion steam engine by George Clark Limited of Sunderland delivering 272 nominal horse power. Her official number was 114634.
Extract Lloyd’s Register 1915.
The Belford was owned from new by the Sunderland based steam shipping company of Speeding & Marshall until December 1915 when she was purchased by Messers Christie and Company of Cardiff. Their ownership of the Belford was to be brief.
Builders long section of Belford- Lloyd’s Register.
Monday 9th February 1916 dawned gloomy and bitterly cold on Islay. Heavy rain showers were sweeping ashore on storm force winds from the north west as latest winter Atlantic depression developed a huge swell pounding the shoreline and driving it’s salt spray across the lands bordering the north west coast. Wartime coast watchers went about their business wrapped up in oil skins, scanning the horizon to detect any suspicious shipping movements although it would be unlikely to spot anything in the storm. Ashore at Ballinaby a steamship was spotted mid morning, drifting offshore but, as no signals of distress were seen, it was merely logged. Around 2pm, Allan McEachern, a coast watcher at Smaull, spotted the mast top of a vessel ashore just north of the farm. He hurried across the fields until he was looking down on a large steamship of around 3000 tons port side onto the cliffs but with no sign of any crew. He hurried back to call for help. Word was sent to Ballinaby where a phone had been installed at the start of WW1 and the Kilchiaran life saving team were summoned. On their arrival they could not raise any of the crew aboard the vessel and were unable to get aboard as she was being battered by high seas rolling across her lower decks.
Postcard of the Belford ashore, taken between 11-12 February 1916.
The following day the Coastguard and the local Lloyd’s agent managed to board the stricken vessel which was still being moved by the swell from the previous days weather. The boarding party found a ‘scrap log’ in the pilothouse. From this they discovered that the ship was the Belford of Cardiff, her master was Joseph Marshall, and she had a total crew of 25. The Belford had departed from Barry Dock on 27th January bound for New York in water ballast. Reading on they found an entry for the 30th January, that recorded when 200 miles west of Queenstown at 09.30pm “sudden race of engine; stopped; examined propeller; all blades gone”. Log entries over following days record sending up distress rockets but no record of sightings nor contact with any other vessels. The next entry of note is on 9th February which only stated – “drifting”, there were no further entries. As both the ship’s boats were gone the boarding party concluded that the crew, on seeing the vessel was going to run ashore, had abandoned ship. Later that day a body washed ashore at Ballinaby. The body had not been in the sea for long and, from papers found on his body, confirmed him as 2nd mate aboard the Belford. Parts of a lifeboat were also found close-by but no other crew members.
Montage of the 1916 shipwreck photo and a site picture taken in June 2023.
The wild weather continued over following days meaning the wreck was taking a pounding. By the evening of Saturday 12th February only the stern section was still intact and, during Sunday 13th February, the remainder of the wreck succumbed leaving no part of the Belford visible although the inlets around the site were strewn with wreckage.
Over the next few weeks two more bodies were liberated by the sea. On 15th February a second body washed ashore at Coul Point and on 26th February a third came ashore at Machrie at the north end of Machir Bay. The bodies were interred in Kilchoman churchyard. The Belford had drifted offshore for 10 days with no help forthcoming and tragically all 25 crew lost their lives close to land and safety.
The wreck of the Belford is one of the least visited of the Islay wrecks due to the distance from suitable boat launch sites and to the same Atlantic swell that wrecked her in the first place. The wreckage lies mainly in a shallow gully 6 metres deep, between a reef which breaks the surface and the base of the cliff in position 55° 50.047’N, 006° 27.485’W (GPS). At the north east end of the gully a boiler is the largest single intact item and the white sand seabed is strewn with metal plates, ribs and other items of wreckage.
A dive through the narrow shallow gully is only for the most experienced diver except on one of the rare, perfectly calm days. Normally, when the swell surges through the gully, the diver has to cling to pieces of wreckage to prevent being swept, out of control, backwards and forwards among the jagged metal. The dramatic effect of the swell can be seen in the rock formation, which is undercut two metres on the shore side, and on the wreckage itself where the gleaming items of brass provide evidence of the abrasive effect of the waves and suspended seabed particles sandblasting it as it surges through.
We would like to thank Lloyd’s Register Foundation – Heritage & Education Centre for allowing us to reproduce documents from their archive in this article.
