Desk Based Assessment
Date 28 November 2014
Event ID 1002097
Category Recording
Type Desk Based Assessment
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1002097
The Rhoda was built in 1863 by MacNab & Company, Greenock. More information available online from http://www.clydesite.co.uk/clydebuilt/viewship.asp?id=20780 [accessed 10 December 2014], (Moir and Crawford 2004: 49). Current UKHO data (December 2014) records a single record for a wreck identified as the possible remains of the Rhoda within the Clyde. This record relates to position 55.92797, -4.89535 (WGS84 decimal degrees). The surveying details indicate that when the obstruction was originally recorded one of the possibilities was that it represented the wreck of the Rhoda, lost in this area. However, subsequent surveys have indicated that the obstruction may be a boulder or fastener in an area of ‘innumerable trawl scours’, and the record has been amended to ‘F’ (foul). It appears likely that the name (which still reads Rhoda- possible) has yet to be updated, but on the basis of the equation of the obstruction with a boulder or fastener, it is unlikely that there is a wreck at this position.
The second position recorded for the Rhoda is recorded within the RCAHMS database (NumLink 102742), and also within the Characterising Scotland’s Marine Archaeological Resource database (which used the RCAHMS database as the primary source) at 55.9055 -4.92867. Although there is no UKHO point at this position the RCAHMS database records UKHO survey details. Assessment of the survey details show that they are the same as those recorded in the current UKHO database for the wreck of the HMS Seagull 540m to the east, with the exception of the last surveying entry of the latter which led to the identification of that wreck as the HMS Seagull. The positions given in the survey details cited in the RCAHMS database are for the area of the HMS Seagull, and thus it is likely that the RCAHMS record represents an error, possibly stemming from a mistake inputting the UKHO position. The other details within the RCAHMS database for the Rhoda amount to that of a documented loss. Thus, the Rhoda has been removed from the project dataset.
Information from Sally Evans (Cotswold Archaeology), 28/11/2014.
