Iona I: Tail Of The Bank, Upper Firth Of Clyde

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).

(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.

Quality of fix = 0010

Evidence = Echo sounder

Horizontal Datum = OGB

General water depth = 27

Circumstances of Loss Details

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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.

(Location of the base of the funnel cited as (WGS-84) N55 58.0780 W4 47.1998 [NS 26177 78503]). This vessel was built by J and G Thomson on the Clyde in 1855, and rapidly achieved as a fast and well-appointed passenger vessel operating on the Clyde (mainly on the ‘Royal route’ between Glasgow and Ardrishaig, Loch Fyne) for David Hutcheson and Co. She was purchased, probably by Mr D McNutt, for service as a blockade runner to the Confederate States in the American Civil War, and was converted for this purpose. While leaving the Clyde at the start of the first transatlantic crossing, she was in collision and sank.

Known informally as the ‘Queen of the Clyde’ this vessel is significant as an early and famous example of the Clyde passenger steamers that developed in the later 19th century. She is also significant as an excellent example of the advanced ship design and marine engineering practice that was developing on the Clyde at that time, and as an example of the British ships that served as blockade-runners to the Confederate States between 1861 and 1865.

The ship was originally known as the Iona, but is commonly termed the Iona I to avoid confusion with her successor vessels, the Iona II and Iona III. Iona II lies wrecked in the Bristol Channel and is recorded by English Heritage [NMR, Swindon]

UKHO chart the vessel as a wreck dangerous to navigation (no. 4155) at (WGS-84) N55 58.076 W4 47.194 [NGR NS 26183 78499] and at depth 22.5m in a general depth of 27m [below MLWOST]. This location lies approximately 100m SE of the Whiteforland Buoy, off Greenock and Gourock.

The wreck has been the subject on survey on numerous occasions, including sonar survey by HMSML Gleaner (in 1993) and Clydeport (in 2009). It has been dived on numerous occasions by both commercial and recreational divers, although this has been largely constrained by its situation within a major shipping channel. It has been the subject of a degree of artifact extraction or ‘casual salvage’; a builder’s plate survives in private possession. Some commercial salvage was carried out in the 1950’s, while anchor damage may also have occurred.

Diving investigation by Wessex Archaeology on 1-5 March 2009 revealed that the vessel lies on a silty seabed in about 30m depth of water. The vessel survives partially intact, is oriented NE-SW, and lies upright, on an even keel. The definable area forms an elongated oval measuring about 56m from NE-SW by up to 15m transversely. A mound of coal survives to the SW of the wreck, and a debris field of indeterminate extent lies around it.

The central portion of the vessel (measuring 25m in length) is in the best condition, and survives to upper deck height; the boilers, crankshafts and (probably) engines remain in situ, as do coherent fragments and debris from the paddlewheels and possibly the paddleboxes. Elsewhere, the vessel is less well preserved, and does not survive to deck height, being largely collapsed and partly buried. The NE end survives in slightly better condition, and is tentatively identified as the bow.

The wreck was seen to be ‘fairly rich’ in marine life, the exposed ferrous surfaces being covered with marine growth in the form of ‘short turf.’ The predominant current threat to the wreck is considered to be that of deterioration through natural processes, most significantly corrosion.

A model of what is apparently this vessel is held in the Glasgpw Museum of Transport under accession number [GAGM] 1888.44.

[Section 5: site description and detailed survey, noting survival of specific items, and ecology.

Section 6: interpretation (including identification) and post-wrecking event site history.

Section 10: [comprehensive] bibliography, archive and internet references.

App. III: context index [artifacts].

App. IV: list of artifacts recovered.

App. VI, VII and VIII: history and archive].

MS/5899.

Whittaker ID : 1522

Name : IONA

Latitude : 555804

Longitude : 44704

Date Built : 1855

Registration : GLASGOW

Type : SS (IRON)(PADD)

Tonnage : 174

Tonnage Code : G

Length : 68

Beam : 6

Draught : 3m

Loss Day : 2

Loss Month : 10

Loss Year : 1862

Comment : Collision and sunk off Gourock Bay (CHANTICLEER). Capt. Capper

UKHO Identifier : 004155

Feature Class : Wreck

Wreck Category : Dangerous wreck

State : LIVE

Classification : Unclassified

Position (Lat/long) : 55.96803,-4.78536

Horizontal Datum : ORDNANCE SURVEY OF GREAT BRITAIN (1936)

WGS84 Position (Lat/long) : 55.96794,-4.78656

WGS84 Origin : 3-D Cartesian Shift (BW)

Previous Position : 55.96833,-4.78555

Position Method : Electronic Distance Measuring System

Position Quality : Surveyed

Position Accuracy : 10.0

Depth : 22.5

Depth Method : Found by echo-sounder

Depth Quality : Least depth known

Water Depth : 27

Water Level Effect : Always under water/submerged

Vertical Datum : Lowest Astronomical Tide

Name : IONA I

Type : PADDLE STEAMER

Flag : BRITISH

Length : 68.6

Beam : 6.1

Draught : 2.7

Sonar Length : 25.0

Shadow Height : 2.4

Orientation : 60.0

Tonnage : 174

Tonnage Type : Gross

Date Sunk : 02/10/1862

Bottom Texture : Sand

Scour Depth : 0.0

Debris Field : SMALL SECTIONS 10MTRS TO NE OF MAIN WK

Contact Description : Entire wreck

Original Sensor : Diver Sighting

Last Sensor : Acoustic Sensor

This wreck should not be confused with that of her successor vessel, the Iona II, which was probably also a blockade runner and foundered off Lundy [Island, in the Bristol Channel] on 2nd February 1864.

Her wreck is cited by English Heritage (PastScape) under serial number NMR SS14NE 2 (HOB UID 1082110).

Information from Serena Cant, English Heritage (NMR, Swindon) and RCAHMS (RJCM), 26 March 2012.

The Iona I is recorded as having been built in 1855 by J & G Thomson, Glasgow (Moir and Crawford 2004: 35). More information available online at http://www.clydesite.co.uk/clydebuilt/viewship.asp?id=6478 [accessed 01 December 2014].

Information from Sally Evans (Cotswold Archaeology), 28/11/2014.

Name: Iona I

Position: 55.96833,-4.78555

Basis for Identification: Detailed study (Wessex Archaeology 2009)

Shipbuilder: J & G Thomson, Govan,

Build Date: 1855

Loss Date: 1862

Vessel type: Paddle steamer

Surviving Features and Condition : Substantial sections survive. For full details see Wessex Archaeology (2009)

Seabed and type and marine environment: Sand and silt with some broken shell and gravel. For further details see Wessex Archaeology (2009)

Information from Sally Evans (Cotswold Archaeology), 28/11/2014.

The maritime archaeology of the Clyde has been identified as a focus for a major study of human interaction with the river through time by the RCAHMS following on from recommendations by the Scottish Archaeological Research Framework (ScARF). Source to

Sea has been developed as the long-term research programme, of which the research into human connections with the River Clyde forms part. This project has comprised a study of the surviving shipwreck heritage of Clyde-built vessels lost within the Clyde estuary and Firth of Clyde.

This project has collated information from a range of sources and has enhanced knowledge of Clyde-built wrecks within the Clyde. In particular information from recreational divers has proved invaluable and has been the source of detailed information about the current condition of many Clyde-built wrecks, useful for on-going management. A number of wrecks previously recorded as of unknown identity in the RCAHMS database were positively identified during the project and more accurate positional information was established for a number of other wrecks. Additionally, the project identified a potentially significant wreck (Margaret Niven) the remains of which were not previously recorded. This project has also identified a number of other potentially significant wrecks within the Clyde, which reflect both its unique contributions to world-wide shipbuilding and local connections. These wrecks include paddle steamers (Lapwing and Princess of Wales), Clyde Puffers (e.g. Margaret Niven), steam-yachts with military connections (HMS Breda), a dredger (Greenock) and an 18th-century West Indiaman (Lady Margaret). Numerous other wrecks have been identified by this project, and all display some degree of significance.

Information from Sally Evans (Cotswold Archaeology) April 2015

Material reported under RoW amnesty (2001):

A1330 2 maker's plates [inscription not cited], 1 porthole: from seabed.

NMRS, MS/829/35.