The wreck identified as the INISHOWEN HEAD (UKHO 11986) lies in 54m of water and is orientated 090/270 degrees. The wreck was first located and examined by the UKHO in 1945, with subsequent surveys in 1962, 1971, 1976 and most recently in 2011 when it had a surveyed length of 106m, a width of 25m, and a maximum height above the seabed of 8m. It is described by the UKHO as having a strong magnetic anomaly and lying with the bows to the east, which are covered in sand, scour leading SE from the western end. The wreck was identified by the recovery of its named bell, reported to the UKHO in 2008 (by G. Jones). The length of the wreck also correlates with the length of the original ship.
Event and Historical Information:
The INISHOWEN HEAD was a steel screw-steamer built in 1886 at Belfast by Harland and Wolff (Official No. 93155, Yard No. 189). The vessel was 3050gt, 104m length, 12.3m breadth, 8m depth, two decks, two masts, schooner-rigged, elliptical stern, clencher built. The ship was powered by a 3-cylinder triple expansion steam engine with 2 double boilers, single shaft and single screw. Diameters of cylinders 24 1/2in, 37in, 64in, length of stroke 48in.
The ship was registered as a new vessel in June 1886 by the Ulster Steamship Company of Ulster Chambers, Belfast. The ship was managed by G. Heyn and Sons (Frederick L Heyn designated manager). The company operated routes between Russia, Canada, and United States Gulf ports to Belfast and Dublin, with a large proportion of the company's vessels being taken into Government service during the war.
The intelligence collated by the Admiralty regarding the attack and sinking of the ship notes that the INISHOWEN HEAD had left Port Talbot at 8.00pm on the 13 February 1917 and was on passage to St Johns, New Brunswick. The master for the voyage was W. J. Campbell. The ship was attacked, without warning, 1 1/4 miles south of Skokholm at 3am on 14 February. The first torpedo struck the starboard side at No. 1 hold abaft the forecastle head. The decks were broken up and bulwarks smashed. The second torpedo struck the vessel between the 3rd and 4th holds and, it is thought, exploded the magazine. The second torpedo was fired whilst the lifeboats were hanging to their falls. Many of the crew originated from Belfast (e.g. the master, W. J. Campbell; the chief officer, Mr. Mathers; and the chief engineer, Mr. M?Clure). One sailor, John McMaster, age 17, from Co Antrim, was drowned in the sinking and is commemorated on the memorial to the Mercantile Marine at Tower Hill, London. The remainder of the crew escaped in two boats and landed at Marloes. The submarine was last seen steaming away in a southerly direction. The ship's port of Belfast Shipping Register entry is closed with the annotation 'Sunk by German gunfire in Bristol Channel 14 February 1917'.
Sources include:
ADM 137/3980 Home Waters Ships Attacked February 13 - 20 1917, The National Archives, Kew.
Belfast News-Letter, 15 February 1917, p.5
Goddard, T, 1983, Pembrokeshire Shipwrecks, p.104
Irish Independent 15 February 1917, p.3
Lloyd's Register Casualty Returns, 1 January - 31 March 1917, p.11 (i)
Lloyds Register Documentation, LRF-PUN-BEL53-0262-F: https://hec.lrfoundation.org.uk/archive-library/ships/inishowen-head-1886/
Northern Whig, 23 February 1917, p.3
Port of Belfast Shipping Register 1878-1893, CUS/1/6/1/9, 12 in 1886
Sailor John McMaster, Commonwealth War Graves Commission
South Wales Weekly Post, 17 February 1917, p.5
U-Boat Project: Commemorating the War at Sea
UKHO ID 11986: Contains public sector information, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0, from UK Hydrographic Office.
https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?12235
J. Whitewright, RCAHMW, July 2025.
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.