Archaeology Notes
Event ID 853061
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Archaeology Notes
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/853061
NS27NE 8007 2610 7849
N55 58.0780 W4 47.1998
NLO: Gourock [name: NS 230 770]
Gourock Bay [name centred NS 247 777]
Whiteforland Point [name: NS 258 780]
Greenock [name: NS 280 765]
Fort Matilda [name: NS 260 779].
Location formerly entered as NS 2618 7850 [N55 58.0817 W4 47.1217].
Glasgow, 3rd Oct. The IONA (s), sunk off Gourock last night by collision with the CHANTICLEER (s): no lives lost.
Source: LL, No. 15,130, London, Friday, October 3 1862.
Greenock, 2nd Oct. Part of the wreck of the IONA (s), which sunk after collision below this place last night, has washed ashore at Kilcreggan.
Source: LL, No. 15,131, London, Saturday, October 4 1862.
Greenock, 9th Oct. The IONA (s), which sunk off Gourock 2nd Oct., after collision, belonged to Glasgow, and was bound from hence to Nassau, N.P., Capper, master. She was in ballast at the time.
Source: LL, No. 15,136, London, Friday, October 10 1862.
Glasgow, 14th Oct. The CHANTICLEER (s.s.), Brown, which was in contact off IONA (s), was bound down the Gourock, 2nd Oct., with the Clyde on a trial trip: after the collision she proceeded on to Bowling with her port bow stove and about 10 feet water in her fore compartment.
Source: LL, No. 15,141, London, Thursday, October 16 1862.
NMRS, MS/829/72 (no. 10257).
Quality of fix = 0010
Evidence = Echo sounder
Horizontal Datum = OGB
General water depth = 27
Circumstances of Loss Details
-----------------------------
The IONA I sank following a collision with the British ship, SS CHANTICLEER.
Source: The Clyde Passenger Steamers, p.115.
Surveying Details
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1 March 1983. A wreck was reported in 55 58 03N, 004 48 18W by the Vale of Evesham Sub Aqua Diving Club. This is possibly the IONA 1, which sank in 1862.
Source: Petty Officer Wood, HMS Neptune SAC.
7 April 1983. It was reported that the wreck in 55 58 03N, 004 47 00W may be the IONA I, sunk in 1863. The IONA I sank following a collision off Clyde House, nr Fort Matilda. The wk located in 55 58 06N, 004 47 04W may be this vessel.
Report by D Mcentee.
24 September 1985. The wreck lies in the approximate position 55 58 06N, 004 47 08W - close to the Whiteforeland buoy. The least echosounder depth was 23.6 in a general depth of 27 metres. Predicted tidal reduction 0.9 metres. Report by J Crowther.
6 July 1993. The site was examined on 8 May 1993 in 55 58 04.9N, 004 47 07.3W. NGR 226182e, 678489n. The least echosounder depth was 22.8 in a general depth of 26.5 metres. No scouring was observed. The side scan sonar indicated a height of 2.4 metres. The wreck lies with its keel on an orientation of 060/240 degrees on a sand and mud seabed. The vessel is approximately 25 metres (82 feet) long with a central paddlewheel arrangement discernible on the sonar trace. A small section lies 10 metres to the NE of the main wreck.
Report by HMS GLEANER.
Hydrographic Office 1995.
(Classified as iron paddle steamship: date of loss cited as 2 October 1862). Iona: this vessel was in collision and sank off Gourock Bay (Chanticleer). Capt. Capper.
Registration: Glasgow. Built 1855. 174grt. Length: 68m. Beam: 8m.
(Location of loss cited as N55 58.07 W4 47.07).
I G Whittaker 1998.
Material reported under RoW amnesty (2001):
A1330 2 maker's plates [inscription not cited], 1 porthole: from seabed.
NMRS, MS/829/35.
The equation of this wreck with the recorded loss of the Iona I is accepted.
The UKHO chart (no. 1994, published 1974, revised 1994) notes Tail of the Bank to the E of the outer end of the defined channel of the River Clyde, off the Clydeport Ocean Terminal (NS27NE 56), Greenock. The name is centred at N55 57.4 W4 45.1 [NS 282 771].
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 6 December 2004.
