The square known as no 136 per chart is centred approximately on position 53°26.0N, 3°23.2W, and is 2 x 2 nautical miles in size, oriented towards 345° [which was magnetic north when the system was set up]. This is part of the West Hoyle Bank. Newspapers report wrecks (and vessels aground) at this location when a lifeboat service was requested. Usually this would have been the Point of Ayr lifeboat, funded by the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board until 1894, and based at Gronant.
Flat Betsy 1869,
Schooner Gnu 1869,
Smack Mona 1883,
Barque Minnie Brown 1894
Wooden sailing flat Betsy of Liverpool [ON 1067] 55t
From Liverpool Mercury , Thursday 18 February 1869
RESCUE BY THE POINT OF AYR LIFEBOAT. The following report has been received
by Mr. G. H. Hills, marine surveyor of the Mersey Docks Board, from John
Dawson, under date of Gronant, Rhyl, Feb 13:- "At seven a.m.[Sat 13 February 1869] we perceived
signals at the telegraph directing the lifeboat to a vessel in distress on the
West Hoyle Bank, near No. 136 per chart, which was immediately sent off, in
a heavy N. W. sea, and found her to be the flat Betsy, of Liverpool, Evan
Ellis master, bound with a cargo of coal from Liverpool to Dublin. The
lifeboat succeeded in saving the crew, consisting of three men, and landed
them at the station at eleven a m. The vessel sank overhead just before the
lifeboat came on shore."
There were many vessels called Betsy (and Betsey) but the one described above
is no longer listed after 1870, unlike other possible vessels.
Usually Mersey Flats would only venture on short coastal voyages - a trip across
to Dublin was a challenge for such a vessel.
Wooden schooner Gnu of Barrow [ON 12594] 91t
Local newspapers:
Lloyd's List, Friday 18 June 1869:
Iron ore from the Cloghcorr mine was exported using a pier at Glenariff
in Red Bay at that date.
Wooden smack Mona of Bangor [ON 1837, reg Beaumaris] 36t
From Shipping and Mercantile Gazette, Monday 3 December 1883
From Flintshire Observer, 6 Dec 1883:
The Point of Ayr Lifeboat put out when the vessel was seen in distress - but
she had been abandoned by the time the lifeboat arrived. The Mona's crew had landed
at 9 am and took a train from Prestatyn back to Bangor.
Wooden barque Minnie Browne of Glasgow [ON 72639]
From London Evening Standard; Wednesday 26 Dec 1894
Lloyds List Wednesday 26 Dec 1894:
From Liverpool Mercury, Tue 25 Dec 1894
THE WRECK SEEN FROM RHYL. Our Rhyl correspondent telegraphs: The Point of Ayr Lifeboat had been taken over by the RNLI from MDHB in late 1894 -
and they closed the lifeboat station at Gronant and planned to build a new
station at Talacre. During this period, the lifeboat had to be housed outdoors
and arrangements to launch it were sub-standard.
It was later reported that the Renfrew was
wrecked in 135 per chart, near the top of the
West Hoyle Bank, and on the south side, or about half a mile to the S.E. of
where the Minnie Brown struck, which was 136 per chart. This implies that the
Minnie Browne
was lost in the southern part of square no. 136.
Built 1854; owned Allen Green, Liverpool
Voyage Liverpool to Dublin with coal, lost 13 February 1869
Captain Evan Ellis and 2 crew saved by Point of Ayr lifeboat.
Built Alloa 1854; owned James Fisher, Barrow [company still operating].
Voyage Red Bay to Connah's Quay with iron ore, lost 14 June 1869
Captain Edward Jones and 4 crew saved by Point of Ayr lifeboat.
Vessel had sunk by 15th June.
Report from Point of Air Life Boat Station, Gronant, Rhyl, June 14th, 1869: At
8:30 a.m. we perceived signals at the telegraph directing the lifeboat to a
vessel in distress on the West Hoyle Bank, near No. 136 per chart, which was
immediately sent off, and found her to be the schooner Gnu, of Barrow, Edward
Jones, master, bound with a cargo of iron ore from Red Bay, in Ireland, to
Connah's Quay. The life boat succeeded in saving all hands, consisting of five
men. They had left the vessel in their own boat when the life boat met them,
which they were in great fear of capsizing, as the sea was very heavy on the
Hoyle Bank, They had brought some of their clothes, etc., in the boat, which
they threw overboard to lighten the same, still they were momentarily
expecting it to swamp under them, and some of them had taken their clothes off
for swimming in the event of their boat being swamped. I need not say how
delighted the poor fellows were to see the life boat coming to their rescue.
The lifeboat was housed at 12 noon.
RHYL, 14th June. The GNU (ON No 12594), Jones, from Red Bay, Antrim, to
Connah's quay, which struck the West Hoyle bank, yesterday, has sunk.
Built Bangor 1837; owned John Thomas, Bangor.
Voyage Glasgow (Bowling) to River Dee [Runcorn in another report] with pig iron.
Aground on West Hoyle and wrecked 2 December 1883.
Captain Richard Williams and 2 crew saved in own boat.
Mona: Liverpool, Dec 3 12:12pm: The Mona sloop of
Bangor, from Glasgow for River Dee, cargo pig iron, wrecked yesterday on West Hoyle Bank.
A WRECK. On Sunday [2nd December 1883], a small vessel was observed to be
aground on the West Hoyle Bank, in what is known as 136 per chart. The crew of
the vessel were subsequently seen to leave the vessel in their own boat and
landed at the Point of Ayr. The vessel subsequently became a wreck. On Monday it
was learned that the name of the craft was the Mona, and that she was going
from Glasgow to the river Dee with pig-iron.
Built MacDougall, Maitland, Nova Scotia 1881; owned George Browne, Glasgow.
1022 tons, 185.3 x 37.1 x 22.0 ft.
Voyage Liverpool to River Plate with coal, lost 22 December 1894
In NW force 10 ashore West Hoyle Bank.
Captain David Davies (age 58) and 18 crew lost.
To the list of disasters on the Welsh coast must be added the wreck of a
barque on Hoyle Bank, at the mouth of the Chester Dee. It is suggested that
the vessel seen on the bank by the Coastguards and others at the station
belonging to the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, at Prestatyn, Flintshire, was
the Minnie Browne, outward bound from the Mersey, and having a crew of
eighteen, commanded by Captain Davies, of Newquay. As in the case of the
Kirkmichael, which was wrecked at Holyhead, the Minnie Browne was being tugged
towards the Welsh coast, when she was caught in the gale. The towing-rope
broke, and nothing was afterwards seen of her. The men at the look-out
station say that the vessel struck the bank just off Prestatyn, and foundered
in a very short time. Whether it was the Minnie Brown is not definitely known:
but, from the heavy seas breaking over the bank, it is certain that the
entire crew perished. The efforts to launch the Rhyl and Point of Ayr
lifeboats were futile, owing to the fury of the gale.
MINNIE BROWNE - Liverpool Dec. 23, 5 p.m. - Hillbre Island[sic] Dec. 23, stern of boat
with name Minnie Browne, of Glasgow, painted on it, has been washed ashore
Hillbre Island.
THE WRECK OF THE MINNIE BROWN. NINETEEN LIVES LOST. LIST OF THE CREW.
Among the wrecks in the vicinity of Liverpool,
the loss of the Minnie Brown of Glasgow, will prove one of the most serious as
far as loss of life is concerned, the whole of
the crew (18), together with the pilot, being drowned. The Minnie Brown[sic]
was a wooden barquentine[sic], of 983 tons register, and belonged to Messrs.
Brown and Watson, 16, Bothwell-street, Glasgow; Messrs. Nicol and Co.,
James-street, being the Liverpool agents. She was laden with coals for the
River Plate, and left the Mersey on Friday evening in tow of the tug
Black Prince. She was left off the Ormeshead about half-past seven by the
tug, but must have afterwards been driven back by the gale, and
wrecked on the West Hoyle Bank. So far as can be ascertained, the hull of
the ship seems to have been broken completely up by the furious sea
which prevailed, and it is only by the wreckage that has been washed ashore,
together with the body of a seaman (Olaf Hansen) belonging to the ship,
that the nature and extent of the catastrophe can be gauged. The Minnie
Brown was built in 1881 at Maitland, Nova Scotia, and in June last was
overhauled and repaired at Troon, N.B., and re-classed. The apprentice,
Robert Brettle, of Nottingham, was making his first voyage to sea. There
can be little doubt but that the whole of the crew and the pilot have
perished. The following is a list of the crew:-
David Davies, master, 58, of New Quay, Cardigan.
John Maltman, mate, 41, of Wigton.
James H. Parry, second mate, 22, of Cardigan.
George Nobbs, cook and steward, 55, of Southampton.
George Munro, carpenter, 25, of Liverpool.
James Thomas, A.B, 35, of Montrose.
William Abbott, A.B, 20, of Dundee.
William Smith, A.B, 39, of Heligoland.
Peter Walsh, A.B, 30, of Newcastle.
Pedar Thoraldsen, A.B, 25, of Norway.
Niel P. Nielsen, A.B, 20, of Denmark.
David Rollo, A.B, 36, of Edinburgh.
Walter Howe, A.B, 23, of Chester.
Olaf Hansen, A.B, 22, of Norway.
William J. Hill, O.S, 17, of New Zealand.
P. Klink, O.S, 21, of Germany.
G. Latham, O.S, 21, of Manchester.
Robert Brettle, apprentice, of Nottingham.
The Captain David Davies lived at 7 Lewis Terrace, New Quay.
Probate for £55 was granted to Mary Ellen Davies and Lizzie Caroline Davies
(both described as spinsters).
The Liverpool pilot was also reported to have been aboard, and hence lost.
However the pilot would usually disembark onto the towing steamer, also there
is no record of a pilot lost in 1894.
Saturday's gale
was the heaviest experienced for many years. It was a regular cyclone, and
carried almost everything before it. No serious injuries have as
yet been reported in the district, and the damage has been confined to the
usual dismantling of slates and chimney pots. Shortly after four
o'clock in the afternoon, a telegram was received from the Nant Voel
Telegraph Station, belonging to the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, and
situated on the top of the mountain between Prestatyn and Gronant,
stating that a barquentine was aground on the West Hoyle bank,
between Prestatyn and the Point of Ayr, and asking that the lifeboat be
despatched at once. The message was addressed to "Hughes, Rhyl,"
a gentleman who formerly held the office of local secretary to the
Lifeboat Institution, which is now filled by Mr. J. Pierce Lewis,
solicitor. The latter gentleman at once gave orders for the lifeboat to
be launched, and a signal gun attracted the attention of hundreds of
people who rushed to the beach. The crew rapidly obeyed the summons, but
as it was discovered that to launch the vessel out of the Voryd
harbour meant courting a collision with the pier, the wind blowing in
that direction, it was decided to convey the boat to the other
end of the town, two miles to the other side of the pier.
This was accordingly done but on arriving at the water edge an unlooked-for
accident took place. The boat was being launched bow forward, and
had partially left its resting-place, when a heavy sea struck it and
jammed it between the wheel and the carriage. Despite the energies of
the crew, it was found impossible to move the boat, which is a heavy one,
and, to the mortification of the officers and spectators, they resolved
that their life-saving machinery was helpless. The lifeboat was
floated on Sunday morning, the carriage having to be taken to pieces.
No
accurate intelligence as to the fate of the vessel referred to in the
telegram was received until yesterday afternoon, when I interviewed a
gentleman who with a telescope was an eyewitness of the wreck. He first observed the
vessel staggering under bare poles in the direction of the West Hoyle
Sandbanks. He could not see a human being on board, but the spray
probably hid them from sight. Suddenly she went aground, and
mountainous seas poured over her, and her main-topmast toppled over.
Her main and mizen masts were the next to go, and within 20 minutes
of her striking, she had broken up and disappeared completely.
Therefore, if the lifeboat had succeeded in reaching the scene of the
disaster half an hour after the receipt of the telegram, it would
unfortunately have been of no assistance.
The Point of Ayr lifeboat
also endeavoured to go to the rescue, but had to turn back owing to the
terrible seas.