Shipwrecked on Arran – a few tales from the south coast

A recent trip to the Isle of Arran allowed for a bit of “on the ground” research into some of the vessels wrecked along the the islands south coast. The fact that the south coast is a veritable ships graveyard was reinforced by not one, but two storms that battered the south end during our stay……courtesy of Eunice and Franklin.

A quick look at the wreck chart for Arran leaves the reader in no doubt where the bulk of the wrecks around the coast of Arran have occurred. The cause of these wrecks has been mainly by stranding during either too much or too little wind or in dense fog. The coastline is rock bound with a few sandy bays interspersed between the fingers of rock that creep out from the shore, waiting to catch unsuspecting vessels. Strong tides around the small island of Pladda have also contributed to the list, and there are many more that are not included in the book.

I had three main objectives. Firstly, confirm if the wreck of the SS Glenann was still visible above water. Secondly, from a photograph taken in 1894 locate any wreckage from the barque rigged sailing ship Elmbank at Shannochie, and finally identify the approximate location of the stranding of the SS Dartmoor and three other vessels on Torrylinn Beach near Kilmory in 1907.

The SS Glenann was a small coastal steamer that ran aground on Torrylinn Beach on 21 January 1932 and became a total wreck. For many years she was just visible above the surface at low tide directly out from the track to the beach from Kilmory.

I am pleased to report that the Glenann battles on, the rudder post still protrudes above the surface at low water in position 55° 26.022’N 05°13.755’W, probably in no more than 1.5-2m water. I understand that the remaining wreckage has been pummelled flat over the years and can often be covered by sand. So one for the snorkel at best.

My second challenge took me a few kilometres east of the Glenann to the rocky beach below Shannochie Farm. Here on the 6 January 1894 the barque Elmbank came ashore in a storm, and eventually broke up around 100m offshore.

I have looked for this wreck before, using the fencing in the field above the wreck and features along the shoreline for position, but not found anything. I believe there should still be a lot of the wreck insitu, flattened in 3-5 metres. So I thought a walk along the rock platform may illicit some metal in the rock pools. Unfortunately all I could find inshore was a lot of steel rigging and cabling, clearly very old, from  a sailing ship and in the right place. 

So the hunt continues. If anyone has ever dived or snorkelled on the wreckage, I would be interested to know the extent of remains. The Elmbank was valued at £20,000 in 1894, the underwriters were only able to recover £18. 15s.4d from the sale of effects recovered from the wreck. Ouch!

Finally, the SS Dartmoor. The 306′ long steamship stranded on the same beach as the Glenann on 1st December 1907. Tugs and a salvage steamer were sent to try and refloat her but amazingly the SS Rushlight owned by Ross & Marshall and tugs Cruiser and Victor owned by Steel & Bennie all went ashore in the following week. The scene sounds difficult to believe had it not been captured and made into a postcard at the time. I bet they sold a few of these, and the skippers would have had a tough time in the bars along Greenock waterfront on a Friday night.

My final task was to position the Dartmoor on Torrylinn Beach, as can be seen below. All four vessels were recovered and repaired. The Dartmoor was refloated on 16 May 1908 by the East Coast Salvage Company and towed to Glasgow for repair by their salvage ship Wrecker. Thus ending a strange and almost unbelievable tale of salvage. 

This is a taster, and I will upload these stories in a bit more detail soon. More information about shipwrecks around Arran can be found here