Salvage operations appear to have blown the ship apart. The remains lie mostly on to the north and northwest of Maen Piscar in 16-18m. Very little has any height above the seabed. Hull plating lies flat on the seabed, but parts of the ship's machinery such as the two boilers are recognisable. The ship's anchors lie to the south.

Event and Historical Information:
The HAVSO was a steel-hulled steamship built by the Burntisland Shipbuilding Company in 1930. Technical and configuration specifications are given as 1843gt, 1094nt; 265ft 8in length x 43ft breadth x 18ft depth; 1 deck; screw propulsion powered by two steam boilers linked to a triple expansion engine producing 144hp; machinery by MacColl & Pollock Ltd, Sunderland. At time of loss, the vessel was owned by D/S A/S Havso and registered at Arendal, Norway. The ship was carrying a cargo of scrap metal from Newport to Liverpool on 21 March 1937, when it encountered a gale and heavy rain, rendering visibility very poor. The ran onto the Maen Piscar rock, off Rhoscolyn, in the early hours of the morning. The crew managed to escaped in their own boats in the short time before the ship sank (15 minutes). The ship's distress call was picked up by the Seaforth wireless station who sent a steamer and a tug to render assistance. However, at first light, it quickly became clear to officials of the Liverpool Salvage Association that refloating the vessel would not be possible.

Sources include:

Holyhead Chronicle, 23 July 1937

Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Lloyd's Register Casualty Returns, 1 July - 30 September 1937, p.8 (g)

Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping, 1 July 1936 - 30 June 1937, number 76402 in H
SS Havso, Wreck Site EU

Wynne-Jones, I, 2001, Shipwrecks of North Wales, 4th edition, p.55

UKHO ID 7175: Contains public sector information, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0, from UK Hydrographic Office.

J. Whitewright, RCAHMW, May 2023

This record was enhanced in 2020 with funding from Lloyd's Register Foundation as part of the project ‘Making the Link: Lloyd's Register and the National Monuments Record of Wales’. Visit Lloyd’s Register Foundation Heritage and Education Centre for more resources.