Today's photo was taken along the breakwater at Stockton, Newcastle.
On 30 September 1904, the Adolphe was being towed through the entrance of Newcastle harbour by the tugs Hero and Victoria after an 85-day voyage in ballast from Antwerp under the command of Captain Lucas. Heavy seas prevented the tugs from holding her, and after the tug hawser parted she was swept first on to the wreck of the Colonist, then battered by waves that forced her on top of other submerged wrecks on what was then called the Oyster Bank. The lifeboat hurried to the scene and within two hours all 32 of the crew had been taken off.
The northern breakwater of the entrance to the port of Newcastle was extended after the loss of the Adolphe. When the breakwater was extended in 1906 and reached the remains of the Adolphe, her remaining two masts and jib-boom were removed for safety reasons. She is actually resting across the remains of SS Wendouree, wrecked in 1898, and SS Lindus, lost in 1899.
Over 200 ships have gone aground in this area and below is a link to those ships.
The latest ship to run aground in Newcastle was the Pasha Bulker. She ran aground on the 8th June 2007 during a huge storm. She was refloated sometime in July 2007 I believe.
@quietpurplehaze Thanks Hazel. Only dangerous when we have an east coast low (cyclone) and they don't happen too often. The last one was a couple of months ago when we lost power for 4 days and before that there was one in 2007 when the Pasha Bulker ran aground, but that was refloated after a month.
@karlow75 Yes the Pasha Bulker was quite a sight and it was quite a storm too. Unfortunately, the captain didn't heed the warnings to move out to sea and escape the oncoming storm. I believe there were about 56 coal ships out there that day.
@chimfa@kwind@bkbinthecity@susanalena@mittens@dolphin@pcoulson@mbmomentsintime@2nutsinatree@annied Thanks everyone. There are lots of wrecks along this bit of the coast. Luckily it is much safer these days and the last one to run aground and be wrecked was in 1974 and that is the most famous Sygna. There was another bulk carrier which ran aground in 2007 and that was the Pasha Bulker, they didn't heed the warnings of the oncoming storm and ran aground near Nobby's Head. Luckily it was refloated a month later.
@thimblelady@888rachel@taffy@happysnaps@stray_shooter@pixiemac@beachdog@pippie Thanks everyone, it is a great place for photography. We were there with our walking group, but I lagged behind quite drastically as I was too busy taking photos to keep up with everyone. They just left me to it in the end and carried on their merry way. I knew the pub where we were all meeting up for lunch though, so that was the main thing.
great story