The wreck of the WAESLAND lies in two pieces, 20m apart, in 71m of water. The bow section is orientated 280/100 and is 61m long. The stern section is orientated 135/315 and is 68m long and 13.7m wide. The broken section amidships is
The wreck was originally identified by the UKHO as the KIRKBY (NPRN 274829). Research by Dr Innes McCartney (2022: 190) for the Echoes from the Deep project, following a detailed survey by Bangor University May 2018, identified the wreck as being dimensionally, positionally, and archivally consistent with the loss of the WAESLAND. The record has been updated to reflect that research.
Event and Historical Information:
The WAESLAND was a 4,752 gross ton steamship, built by J. & G. Thomson at Govan, Glasgow, in 1867. Initially built as the SS RUSSIA for the British & North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. She was Cunard´s first transatlantic screw steamer and upon being sold to the Red Star Line in 1880, was renamed WAESLAND and lengthened to 435.1 feet and fitted with compound engines. The vessel began sailing under a Belgian flag in 1898.
At the time of loss on 5 March 1902, the WAESLAND was under the command of Captain Apfield, en route from Liverpool to Philadelphia with 114 passengers on board and miscellaneous cargo. Thick fog lay over the Irish Sea and at around 11:30pm the steamship HARMONIDES of the Houston Line, inbound to Liverpool from South America, struck the WAESLAND amidships on the port side. In less than half an hour the the WAESLAND's passengers and crew got away on the boats and were picked up by the HARMONIDES. Two passengers were killed in the collision. The WAESLAND sank within 35 minutes and the ship's survivors were taken to Liverpool.
Sources include:
Evening Express, 7 March 1902, p.3
Lloyds Register Documentation:
1) https://hec.lrfoundation.org.uk/archive-library/ships/waesland-1867/
2) https://hec.lrfoundation.org.uk/archive-library/ships/waesland-1867-22555/
Lloyd's Register Casualty Returns, 1 January - 31 March 1902, p.8 (d)
McCartney, I., 2022. Echoes from the Deep. Leiden: Sidestone Press. https://www.sidestone.com/books/echoes-from-the-deep
S/S Waesland, American Line, Norway-Heritage
UKHO ID 9957: Contains public sector information, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0, from UK Hydrographic Office.
J. Whitewright, RCAHMW, December 2023.
This record was created 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.