Steamship. Ran Aground 14th February 1913.

Liberian steamship which ran aground on Herd Sand south of Tynemouth harbour entrance, having suffered damage to her steering apparatus in a storm, 20th January 1963. She was built of steel in Glasgow in 1929. She was then scrapped. 'In the early hours of 20th January 1963. The Lebanese steamer Adelfotis II was seeking shelter in the Tyne after becoming disabled in a storm. The ship grounded first on the Black Middens before being driven ashore on the Herd Sands near the Groyne and the only way to save the crew was to use the breeches buoy. The Brigade was joined by the Sunderland VLB and at 8.45 a.m. the Captain decided to abandon ship. The crew of 23 and a dog were rescued by breeches buoy. The ship was eventually broken up for scrap where she lay.' (UK Hydrographic Office) 3,725 – Ton, 111.55 length, 15.29 beam, 6.68m draught, Built: 1929
Where built: Port Glasgow
Builder: Lithgows Limited
Speed: 11 knots
Ownership/registration detail:
1929, Built as BARON STRANRAER, registered in Ardrossan and owned by H Hogarth and Sons.
1950, Sold to H Schmidt, Germany and re-named VENUS.
1957, Sold to a Liberian company and re-named ADELFOTIS II, registered in Monrovia
1961, Transferred to Lebanese registry under the same name. Registered to A. Angelicoussis

The site lies approximately 200m out from the Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade Museum.

Steel, 2,482-ton, Spanish registered steamship, was built on the Tyne in 1880 and owned at the time of loss by a Spanish shipping company. Her single iron propeller was powered by a three-cylinder, triple-expansion steam engine that used two boilers.
On 5 February 1915 the Albia was on a voyage from Sagunto to Jarrow with a crew of twenty four, eight passengers and a cargo of iron ore, when she stranded on Whitestones Reef, one mile south-east of Sunderland. The crew managed to refloat the vessel, which had damaged her hull in the grounding. The captain decided to make full speed for her destination. However she was taking in water fast and by the time they reached the mouth of the Tyne, she was in immediate danger of sinking. A Tyne pilot cutter skipper who saw her predicament, rushed to her aid and took off twenty one people in all. It is believed that the remaining people took to the boats, minutes before the Albia foundered just outside of the river mouth and close to the main shipping lane.
The wreck is very substantial with some large box sections. However, she is well broken up and covered in many fishing lures and monofilament fishing lines. Her boilers are standing upright, along with her brass condenser and engine block and are surrounded by jumbled mounds of steel debris, masses of broken pipes and broken machinery, which are all covered in heavy sediment.
Grid reference conversion made 04.03.2011 with http://gps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/etrs89geo_natgrid.asp with Lat/Long referenced as N 54 00 2 W 01 23 03

Iron, 1,508-ton (1508T Spokes database) British steamship, registered in London and built in 1885. She was owned by the Sargasso Steam Ship co. and managed by Messrs M. Issacs of London. Her single iron propeller was powered by a three-cylinder, triple-expansion steam engine that used two boilers.
The Sargasso had just left Smith’s Dock Co. works at North Shields after an extensive overhaul and repairs on 18 April 1912 and was leaving the Tyne for passage to Cartegena with a crew of twenty-one and a cargo of coal. She passed Lloyd’s hailing station at the Low Light, North Shields at 16:30 with the iron 116-ton steam paddle-tug Thames, owned by Robert Stephenson Allen, taking her outside the river. The paddle-tug cast the rope and ran alongside her at ‘dead slow speed’ to take off the captain’s wife and two daughters, who had been having a trip down river to the harbour mouth.
With the ladies safely on board, having said their goodbyes, they were waving handkerchiefs to the captain as the two vessels pulled apart. As the tug was swinging clear and beginning to head back up the river, the steamship Mary Ada Short came into view and smashed into the Sargasso with a terrific force, striking her on the starboard side, alongside the number two hatch, almost cutting her in two. The Mary Ada Short remained in the breach for a minute or two, with her bows towering high over the stricken Sargasso, then they slowly drew apart.
The Sargasso heeled over almost immediately and settled down by the foreword. In addition to the North Shields-registered Thames, which was barely a hundred metres away by then, the 75-ton North Shields tug Triton was also in the vicinity. So both vessels, along with the little Foy-boat, drew alongside the sinking ship. The bulk of the steamer’s crew leapt aboard the Triton, but two of the engineers jumped onto the little Foy-boat, whose crew took a terrible risk and showed great daring in rowing up to the steamer, which may have capsized and dragged then down with her. The Sargasso sank in less than five minutes of being struck.
The wreck, believed to be that of the Sargasso, lies orientated in more or less a north-north-east to south-south-west direction on a seabed of dirty sand and stone, in a general depth of 15m. She is well broken up, rather decayed and partly buried, standing only about 1.5-2m high, with the remains of her two busted boilers and engine block about the highest point. They are sitting amid the vessel’s ribs and broken, twisted iron work. It appears that the wreck has been dispersed at sometime or another, which is not surprising, being in the shipping lanes! Much of the non-ferrous metal has long since gone; the wreck covers an area of about 70m x 25m.
Grid reference conversion made 04.03.2011 with http://gps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/etrs89geo_natgrid.asp with Lat/Long referenced as N 55 00 44 W 01 23 31

Iron, 928-ton, British Steamship registered at Newcastle upon Tyne and owned at the time of loss by J.E. Tully of Newcastle. She was built in 1869 and had a single iron propeller that was powered by a three-cylinder, triple-expansion steam engine, employing one boiler.
On 20 August 1900 the Greenwood was on a voyage from London to the Tyne in ballast, under the command of Captain J. Wilson, with a crew of fifteen and one passenger, when, just outside of the Tyne entrance, she was in a collision with the London-registered steamship Ulysses. Both vessels were seriously damaged, but the Greenwood was holed below the water-line and lost her power. The tide and light north-north-east wind blew her in against the South Pier wall, where she foundered and was lost before tugs could puller her clear.
The remains of the Greenwood are only about 50m away from the wreck of the destroyer Witherington, but further out towards the pier end. She is now totally collapsed and well smashed up like that of the destroyer. Her boiler stands upright in the midst of broken iron ribs and frames protruding from the silty sand, along with lots of thin, brass tubes scattered around the seabed that have come from the brass condenser that burst open. Not far away from these is an old iron anchor and iron propeller. Like the destroyer, she has lots of fishing lines, complete with weights and hooks criss-crossing over the wreckage.
Owner: J. E. Tully, Newcastle upon Tyne
Built: 1869
Propulsion: Screw driven, 3 cylinder triple expansion
Boilers: 1
Crew: 15
Passengers: 1
Master: J. Wilson
Grid reference conversion made 04.03.2011 with http://gps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/etrs89geo_natgrid.asp with Lat/Long referenced as N 55 00 36 W 01 24 02

Iron, 1,126-ton Norwegian-registered steamship, built in 1874 and owned at the time of loss by D/S Hekla. Her single iron propeller was powered by a three-cylinder, triple-expansion steam engine that used one boiler.
On 23 April 1902, the Hekla was taking a cargo of iron-ore on passage from Bilbao for the Tyne, under the command of Captain H.S. Jespersen, when she was in collision with the unregistered steamship Dilkira, just south of the river Tyne. The Hekla tried to beach in shallow water, but foundered and was lost with seven of her seventeen crew. (Spokes database has her sinking due to collision).
There has been no positive identification of this wreck to say she is that of the Hekla, however the position the details of her sinking make it highly likely. The wreck lies on a sandy seabed about 200m inshore from the western end and bow section of the wreck of the Oslofjord. The whole outline of the vessel’s hull can be made out, with iron plates, ribs, double bottom sections, girders and broken machinery, most of which only stands about 1-1.5m from the seabed and it is surrounded by a small scour. Her boiler stands upright, but is showing signs of breaking up. Quite a number of crustaceans can be found hiding amongst the wreckage, early in the summer months.
Grid reference conversion made 04.03.2011 with http://gps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/etrs89geo_natgrid.asp with Lat/Long referenced as N 55 00 0 W 01 23 53
Built: 1874
Propulsion: Screw-driven, 3-cylinder triple-expansion engine
Boilers: 1
Master: H S Jespersen
Crew: 17
Crew Lost: 7
Owner: Dampskibsselskabet Hekla

Steel, 965-ton, 68.19m long, 9.26m beam, 5.28m draught British Steamship registered at Newcastle. She was owned at the time of loss by J. Elliott & Co. of Newcastle upon Tyne and was built in 1870 by Smith at North Shields. Her single iron propeller was powered by a two-cylinder, inverted-compound-steam engine, using one boiler. Her centrally positioned machinery was built by R & W. Hawthorn at Newcastle upon Tyne. She had one deck, four watertight bulkheads and was classed at A1 at Lloyds.
On 8 December 1877, the Monkseaton was in ballast on passage from Rotterdam for the Tyne under the command of Captain W. Weightman when she foundered and was lost, following a collision with the North Shields registered steamship Jenny Otto.
The wreck lies orientated in more or less a north-west to south-east direction, on a dirty seabed of mud and sand in a general depth of 25m. She is completely collapsed, well broken up and badly decayed with the highest section of 3m being around her boiler and engine. Large lengths of flattened and bent copper pipes can be made out between the midships section to the stern end. Everything is coated with the hard white casings of marine worms and parts of the wreck have dead man’s fingers clinging to the most exposed structures.
Grid reference conversion made 04.03.2011 with http://gps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/etrs89geo_natgrid.asp with Lat/Long referenced as N 54 58 29 W 01 20 52. Grid ref from this lat/long does not tally up with the NMR number.

Iron, 612-ton, 49.6m long, 8.55m beam 5.66m draught, sailing barque, registered in Liverpool. She was owned at the time of loss by P. Nelson & Co. of Liverpool and built by Mackern in 1863 at Preston. She had two decks, two watertight bulkheads and was classed as Lloyd’s 100 A1.
On 3 March 1881, the Cecilia was under the command of Captain T.B. Nelson and carrying a cargo of coal on passage from Newcastle upon Tyne for Valparaiso, when she was driven ashore at Lizard Point and lost with her crew of eighteen, during a force ten south-easterly storm.

The wreck is believed to be that of the iron barque Cecilia and lies orientated in an east to west direction in a general depth of 6m, just south-east of Souter Lighthouse and 200m east of the small shingle beach. She is now totally collapsed, decayed and well broken up, with just her anchor, ribs, keel and iron plates dispersed along a deep, silty gully, covering an area of around 40-50m. A number of artefacts have been recovered in recent years, including three small brass portholes, a brass deck wash-port and four dead-eyes.

Grid reference conversion made 09.02.2011 with http://gps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/etrs89geo_natgrid.asp with Lat/Long referenced as N 545 58 8 W 01 21 22

Iron, 945-ton, 65m long, 9.6m beam, 4.3m draught, steamship. She was built in 1889 for H. Schildt by Rostocker Act. Ges at Rostock in Northern Germany and called the Georg. On 6 August 1914 she was captured by HMS Comorant and taken to Gibralter. In 1915 she was sold to Tyzack & Branfoot of Newcastle upon Tyne and renamed George R, but later in 1915 she was acquired by Kaye, Sons and Co. Ltd, the owners at the time of loss and renamed the Poltava (Official No.139078). Her single iron propeller was powered by a two-cylinder, compound-steam engine that used one boiler.
On 19 April 1917, the Poltava had set out on a voyage from the Tyne with a cargo of coal, but detonated a mine laid by the German submarine UC44 just off Souter Point. The vessel foundered within minutes, however none of her crew was lost.
The Poltava is quite a substantial wreck, lying on a seabed of dirty fine sand and mud in a general depth of 39m. It is upright and standing up to 4m high in the midships, though partially buried. Unfortunately, the top upper structures and most of the hull have now collapsed in on themselves. Although she has not been positively identified, the wreck’s location and size make it most likely to be the Poltava. Lots of copper pipes are visible through the jumble of twisted iron plates and debris, as well as iron bollards, pieces of lifeboat-davits, broken hatch-covers and hundreds of soft corals that have taken hold at the most exposed ends of the wreck.
Grid reference conversion made 09.02.2011 with http://gps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/etrs89geo_natgrid.asp with Lat/Long referenced as N 54 27 2 W01 17 17 The NMR states her location as 3 miles ENE from Souter Point.

Iron, 750-tons, 55m long, 8.5m beam, Danish-registered steamship. She was owned at the time of loss by Messrs N.K. Stroyberg of Aalborg of Denmark and built in Sunderland as the Ben Lomond, in 1871, for a North Shields company. Her single iron propeller was powered by a two-cylinder, compound-steam engine that used one boiler.
At 7pm on 4 January 1906 the Inger was in ballast on passage from Aalborg for Sunderland, under the command of Captain E.S. Thorkelin, when she ran aground during thick fog, heavy seas and a massive ground swell. The Whitburn Volunteer Life Brigade rushed to the scene, but the vessel was too far odd shore to render assistance. However, the Sunderland lifeboat William Charles had been called and managed to get alongside the stricken vessel to rescue the one passenger and crew of eighteen Danish seamen. All attempts to refloat her were made impossible when the engine room flooded through the badly-holed hull plates and it wasn’t long before she began to break up, eventually to become a total wreck. It is believed that the vessel was partly salvaged, but the rest was left to the elements.
The wreck lies on a hard, weed-covered seabed of rocks and boulders, in a general depth of 5m. Very little of the vessel remains now, except for some twisted iron plates, keel and rib sections and her iron propeller. However, some five years ago, a porthole and some short lengths of copper-piping were recovered. The wreck, however, is now gradually concreting into the seabed. Grid reference conversion made 09.02.2011 with http://gps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/etrs89geo_natgrid.asp with Lat/Long referenced as N 54 57 16 W 01 20 48