The wreck is now largely buried in sand with its keel orientated 110/290 degrees. The hull has collapsed towards the bow. The boiler gives the wreck a height of 8m above the general level of the seabed. Twenty-two small earthenware jars with cork stoppers have been recovered and reported to the Receiver of Wreck.

Event and Historical Information:
The TORCH was built in 1860 by L Hill & Co, Port Glasgow. Technical specifications are given as 274gt; 160ft length x 21ft breadth x 12ft depth; 1 deck; 4 bulkheads; screw propulsion powered by a single boiler linked to a compound engine producing 75hp. At time of loss on 1 March 1873, the vessel was owned by the Dublin and Liverpool Steamship Packet Company and registered at Dublin. Under the command of her master, Robert George Cullin, the TORCH left Liverpool at 11 pm on 28 February 1873, and at 1.15 am the following day the master left the 1st mate, Thomas Wossor, in charge of the vessel. The weather at the time was clear with a moderate southeasterly breeze. On the bridge in addition to the mate was an able seaman as lookout, with another at the wheel. At 2.20 am a red light was reported on the port bow, judged to be two miles distant, and the TORCH turned away to the northwest. Almost immediately the red light disappeared and a green light came into view, causing the mate to put the helm to starboard. It was too late to avoid a collision, and the TORCH struck the CHACABUCO on her starboard side close to the mizzen rigging, and then dropped astern (see NPRN 271443). All onboard the TORCH were rescued by the steam tug GUIDING STAR, except a man named Loring, who became jammed in a bulkhead on the starboard side and drowned in the rising water in front of his shipmates. The tug was requested to tow the TORCH stern first, assisted by a second tug ROVER, but the TORCH foundered at 9 am some three miles off Great Ormes Head.

Sources include:
Board of Trade Inquiry 1873 Part VI Table 42 pg99 (335)
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Lloyds Register of Bristish and Foreign Shipping, 1 June 1872-1873 number 276 in T
Receiver of Wreck Droits Database 2007, RCIM6/2/5
UK Hydrographic Office Wrecks and Obstructions Database. ? Crown Copyright and database rights. Reproduced by permission of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office and the UK Hydrographic Office (www.ukho.gov.uk)

Maritime Officer, RCAHMW, March 2009.