SS Castilian

Career
Name: SS Castilian
Operator: Ellerman Lines
Completed: 1919[1]
Fate: sunk on 12 February 1943
Status: Dangerous wreck
General characteristics
Tonnage: 3,067 tons[2]
Length: 331[2]
Beam: 46.8[2]
Capacity: Live ammunition[3]

SS Castilian was carrying a cargo of munitions[3] to Lisbon when she struck East Platters Rocks, near The Skerries, Anglesey, Wales and on 12 February 1943 sank.

In 1987 a Royal Navy clearance vessel spent several months removing unexploded ordnance from Fydlyn Bay nearby believed to have come from the wreck.[3] In 1997 the location of the wreck on East Platters Rocks was designated under section 2 of the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 with a 500 m exclusion zone regarding scuba diving activities because of its potentially dangerous cargo.[4]

Other boats with the same name

There were two other Ellerman Lines ships called SS Castilian. The first, ex-Umbilo, was purchased in 1909 from Bullard, King & Co renamed Castilian, 1917 torpedoed and sunk by U-61 off Ireland.[1] The third built 1955, 1963 renamed City of Peterborough, 1964 reverted to Castilian (1966-7 chartered to Cunard, temporarily renamed Arabia), 1971 sold to Maldives renamed Maldive Freedom.[1] An even earlier Castilian was wrecked on Porthmadog Bar in 1868.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c "The Ships List - Ellerman and Papayanni". http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/ellerman1.htm. 
  2. ^ a b c "WWI Standard ships". http://www.mariners-l.co.uk/WWIStandardShipsWarJ.html. 
  3. ^ a b c Holden, Chris (2008). Underwater Guide to North Wales Vol. 2. Calgo Publications. pp. p57. ISBN 978-0-9545066-1-2. 
  4. ^ Statutory Instrument 1997 No. 1976 The Protection of Wrecks (SS Castilian) Order 1997 (Coming into force 13 August 1997)
  5. ^ "Vessel Losses and Casualties in Tremadoc Bay and St Patrick's Causeway". http://freespace.virgin.net/r.cadwalader/maritime/lifeboat/wreck.htm.