Irishman: Sgeir Thraid, Inner Sound

Corry, by Broadford, 22nd Sept. The IRISHMAN (s), of Drogheda, from Liverpool to Portree to ship sheep, got on the Skernatraid rock in mid channel between the islands Scalpay and Ransay, on the evening of 20th Sept., and remains, apparently much damaged.

Source: LL, No. 15,122, London, Wednesday, September 24 1862.

NMRS, MS/829/72 (no. 10253).

(Classified as steamship: no cargo specified, but date of loss cited as 20 September 1862). Irishman: this vessel stranded on Skernataid Rock [Sgeir Thraid], between Scalpay and Raasay.

(Location of loss cited as N57 19.83 W5 55.5).

I G Whittaker 1998.

(Location of loss cited as NG 628 335 [N57 19.0 W5 56.0]). Irishman: the scattered remains of this wreck lie in shallow water on the E side of an exposed reef, the Sgeir Thraid; the location is about 1500m offshore. Most of the wreckage is iron, but there are some large timbers and copper piping.

In about 1986, local scallop divers discovered 'a quantity' of copper pins and some timber in an area about 200m S of the beacon (NG63SW 5) on the reef. Wreckage identified by Steven Birch (resident of Scalpay) included parts of paddlewheels, engines, possible boilers and iron framing, together with some wooden [timber] structure.

Reconnaisance diving (using scuba) was carried out by Colin Bain and Simon Birch on 21 September 1996. Items specifically recorded included a side lever (a cast or forged iron beam) from one of the engines.

MS/2959.

IRISHMAN, paddle steamer built 1834 by Scott, Greenock with 2 side lever engines by Scott & Sinclair. 386 tons gross, 189 tons net. 144 feet long, 21.7 feet broad, draught 10.5 feet forward, 11.5 feet aft. owned by Drogheda Steamship Company, registered at Drogheda. Official number 16832. Operated on Drogheda to Liverpool route carrying passengers and cargo and livestock. Sep 1862 chartered by Liverpool merchant to go in ballast to Portree, Skye to bring back a cargo of sheep. Engaged Pilot for Scottish portion of voyage. Lost 20 Sep 1862. Stranded on reef Sgeir Thraid, between islands of Scalpay and Raasay, in fog. No loss of life.

Historical Sources;

House of Commons 1859 Return of steam vessels.

House of Commons 1852/53 Report on capabilities of the Mercantile Navy for purposes of war.

Lloyds List, 24 Sep 1862.

Drogheda Argos, 27 Sep 1862.

PRO Kew, Certificates of British Registry. BT107/370 Drogheda 5/1834. BT107/393 Drogheda 1/1848. BT108/205 Drogheda 2/1857.

Survey Details:

Scattered wreckage within 20 to 50 metres south east of navigation beacon on Sgeir Thraid, includes major portion of both side lever engines, one of which is upright and in the inter tidal zone, and other in approx 5 metres depth. Engines identifiably of Scott & Sinclair type with elaborate gothic arch type framing. Major portion of paddle wheel beneath overturned engine, part of other paddle wheel beside second engine. Portion of boiler. Large timber which may be part of keelson, nearby.

Part of the upper frame of the upright engine is missing, but has been identified at Sgeir Dhearg. Appears that an attempt has been made to remove this engine portion for salvage, but thereafter abandoned.

Nautical Archaeological Society, part II survey undertaken Autumn 1996.

Report on file with NAS Training, Portsmouth.

Source: Steven Birch, Scalpay and J. Colin Bain, Scottish Institute Maritime Studies, University of St Andrews, 27 February 1997.

NLO: Sgeir Thraid [name: NG 628 335]

Scalpay [name NG 60 30]

Inner Sound [name centred NG 64 40]

Skye [name centred NG 45 35].

Location formerly entered as NG 6280 3350 [N57 19.8 W5 56.4].

[No accurate location cited]. The substantial remains of a relatively early marine steam engine and associated machinery, lies scattered around the skerry of Sgeir Thraid; there are possible hull components nearby. The wreckage appears to be under no immediate threat.

On moving to Scalpay (in 1991) NAS member Steve Birch became aware of rumours of a steamship wreck on Sgeir Dhearg and of wooden ship remains found by a scallop diver nearby. Diving with Dr Colin Bain, a specialist in early maritime steam propulsion, led to the identification of remains as those of the Irishman, an early wooden paddle steamer wrecked on Sgeir Thraid in 1862.

The Irishman was built at Greenock in 1834 by John Scott, later Scott-Lithgow, for the Drogheda Steam Packet Company. The 24th steamship built by Scott, she was fitted with two side lever engines giving a combined 190hp. The vessel seems to have spent her entire service trading out of Drogheda plying to and from Liverpool with passengers and livestock. In September 1862 whilst under charter she steamed from Liverpool to Portree to load sheep. On the 18th she was off Broadford on Skye and encountered heavy fog and even the provision of an additional local pilot failed to prevent the vessel running onto a skerry north of Scalpay. Unfortunately the stranding occurred at high water and as the tide fell the Irishman 'received considerable injuries' (the skerry dries to 4.2 metres). No blame for the stranding was attributed to the master or crew, who abandoned the wreck without loss of life. They rowed to safety at Broadford and tradition links this event to nearby Rubh an Eireannaich (Irishman's Point). A navigational beacon [NG63SW 5] now stands on the skerry above the wreck site and research suggests that this may have been erected as a direct result of the Irishman's loss.

The visit to the site was made during good diving conditions, and lasted 69mins to a maximum depth of 5.2m. Steve Birch, the diver who drew the ADU's attention to the site, guided the ADU diver (Mr M Lawrence) to the main features on the seabed.

Sgeir Thraid lies in an isolated position to the North East of the isle of Scalpay and is only accessible by boat, the closest harbour being Corry Pier near Broadford, 8 kilometres distant. There are no strong tidal streams over the skerry but it is badly affected by winds from the S to NW. During these conditions ground swells breaking over the skerry makes any approach very difficult.

The seabed is gullied bedrock that is covered with a thick growth of kelp and other sea weed. Some gullies contain an amount of white sand but little other sediment was observed in the area seen during the ADU visit. It is a testament to the quality of the engineering that the machinery from the wreck has survived so well, even in the exposed intertidal area of the site.

The main part of the wreckage lies around 40m to the SE of the beacon [NG63SW 5] on Sgeir Thraid in a series of gullies orientated NE/SW. A scatter of wreckage from the ship covers an area approximately 70m x 20m and lies beneath a heavy cover of kelp. On low water spring tides the two side lever engines, the paddle wheel crank, and associated items, almost dry completely and this has enabled a detailed survey to be made of these parts by the team without the use of diving techniques.

The starboard engine sits upright with a paddle wheel crank laying across it. The port engine lays on its side 6m to the south. Both are virtually intact. Associated wreckage from the paddle wheels, boilers and uptakes lay in gullies close by the main wreckage area. The support frames for the crankshafts and the side levers lay around the engines but two other sections of the gothic style decorated frames are located on Sgeir Dhearg, a small islet almost a kilometre away.

The disarticulated state of the engines, side levers and the crankshaft support frames strongly suggest that the machinery was dismantled, probably soon after the wrecking, for the purpose of salvaging valuable metals from bearings and bushes. The dispersed location of parts of the machinery and the fact that no non-ferrous items are visible on the machinery tends to support this hypothesis.

Steve Birch reported seeing timbers and associated copper alloy fastenings laying to the South west of the main site, on the far side of a small ridge in the skerry. Part of a second boiler and uptake was discovered by the ADU diver that had not been seen during previous dives made to the site by the local team.

There is no firm evidence to indicate that the wreck is under threat from sport divers as the site is well away from the popular West of Scotland diving sites. The distinct lack of non ferrous metal on the wreck is unlikely to encourage the transient holiday diver to pilfer or deliberately damage the wreck for trophies. Survival of the machinery is good considering it has been in an exposed situation for over a hundred and thirty years. This suggests the material has reached a state of equilibrium with its environment and is likely to survive for a considerable time into the future.

Only one other wreck (City of Bristol, 1827 [model held in the Science Museum, London]) with contemporary machinery in a similar state to the Irishman is currently known but that site has not yet been assessed and therefore no meaningful comparison can be made. The gentle wrecking and sympathetic dismantling of the Irishman's machinery gives great potential for this almost intact suite of early marine steam machinery to be considered for recovery for museum restoration and public display. However the current state of knowledge of conserving large iron artifacts recovered from seawater and the potentially high cost of doing so makes such an undertaking unlikely to be a viable proposition in the immediate future. The wreck site is not under any foreseeable threat, is monitored on a local basis and an excellent survey is being made.

Visited by Mr M Lawrence (ADU), 2 May 1997.

MS/2958.

(Location cited as N57 19.8313 W5 56.4641 (WGS-84) [NGR NG 6281 3351]). Irishman, Sgeir Thraid, Isle of Skye. Desk-based site assessment was carried out by Wessex Archaeology at the behest of Historic Scotland. The wreck was initially reported by scallop divers, and was partially recorded by Colin Bain in 1996, since when no further archaeological investigation is recorded.

The recognised site lies in shallow water on the E side of the drying reef or skerry of Sgeir Thraid, about one mile North of the island of Scalpay, in the Inner Sound. It covers an area measuring about 70m by 20m, within a series of shallow gullies orientated NE-SW between the main and outer reefs. Little fine- or medium-grained surface material has been noted, and the seabed comprises largely cobbles and boulders. It essentially comprises two well-preserved but disarticulated side-lever steam engines (6m apart) with their associated transmission, the remains of two paddle-wheels and up to two boilers, a profusion of fittings, and some isolated ship-timbers.

The full extent of the remains is unknown. The wreck is apparently dispersed, one of the boilers lying within an unsurveyed area close to the reef. One large timber (located between the engines and the beacon on Sgeir Thraid) is of complex form with an iron fitting along its length; it may be a sponson wingwale. Two broken portions of cast-iron ornamental engine-framing have been found on Sgeir Dhearg, to the E. Copper fastenings and possible hull-timbers have been reported in deeper water some distance away, but these may be from a different vessel.

These remains are accepted as those of the Irishman, a Drogheda-registered merchant paddle steamer which ran aground on 20 September 1862 while en route for Portree to collect a cargo of livestock. Built at Greenock in 1834, she was a typical small- to medium-sized merchant ship of 232nrt (by builder's certificate) and measuring 144ft (43.9m) in length; she apparently operated out of Drogheda throughout her working life.

The available documentary and newspaper evidence indicates that the vessel hit the rock in the late afternoon or early evening, while the rock was covered close to High Water (calculated as 4.3m at Portree at 1628 GMT on 20 September 1862). She was badly damaged (and presumably holed) but did not apparently break up immediately. The apparent absence of non-ferrous components and the discovery of part of the ornate Gothic framing of the engines on a nearby islet suggest that salvage was attempted. Cuprous fittings have apparently been recovered (but not reported) by recreational divers.

There is little evidence of threat from human agency, but the remains are in an exposed location, which dries in part, close to a reef. It is probably particularly influenced by waves from the East, and is unlikely to be completely stable. The apparent absence significant sediment and the dispersed nature of the wreck suggest at least a moderately high-energy environment.

This vessel is an important surviving example of an early steamship, the engines being of particularly significance. Although essentially typical in construction and service, she represents the transition between sail and steam propulsion, and between wooden and iron structure.

(Illustrated with maps, underwater photographs and drawings).

MS/3070.

The location assigned to this record remains unverified. Sgeir Dhearg is not noted as such on the current edition of the OS (GIS) AIB, but presumably the rock or skerry at NG 6374 3301.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 18 June 2007.

Whittaker ID : 11267

Name : IRISHMAN

Latitude : 571950

Longitude : 55530

Type : SS

Loss Day : 20

Loss Month : 9

Loss Year : 1862

Comment : Stranded on Skernataid Rock, between Scalpay and Raasay.