Samtampa

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SS Samtampa was a 7,219 ton steamship wrecked on Sker Point, off Porthcawl and Kenfig, Wales, in the Bristol Channel on 23 April 1947.

There were 47 fatalities in the incident, 39 from the ship and 8 volunteer crewmembers of the Mumbles RNLI rescue team from the lifeboat Edward, Prince of Wales who died attempting to save the crew of the Samtampa. The lifeboat had returned to base, having initially failed to find the vessel, but had been sent out a second time. An oil spill from the tanks of the wrecked ship created an area of calm water, which the lifeboat coxswain, William Gammon (previously a winner of the RNLI Gold Medal), attempted to use to their advantage to enable them to pull alongside. A large wave then capsized the ship on top of the lifeboat, and those who died were choked by the oil rather than drowning. ^[1].

A memorial to the victims of the Samtampa tragedy is in the New Cemetery at Porthcawl.

The location of the wreck on Sker Point was 03° 44' 26" W; 51° 30' 01" N.

Samtampa was built as SS Peleg Wadsworth (Hull Number 2203) as part of the Liberty ship programme in World War II, and was launched on 12 December 1943.

April 23 2007 marked sixty years since the loss of the Samtampa, the Mumbles lifeboat and all their crews. In recognition of the anniversary, a church service took place in Porthcawl on Saturday April 21, followed by a smaller service at Sker Point^[2]