A hollow in the seabed, surrounded by large boulders, between Maen y Sais and Maen y Fran is reported to contain various iron bars and plates. A large iron hatchcover and corroded anchor can be found on the southern side of Maen y Sais. A clay bottle and three ink bottles have also been recovered from gulleys and declared to the Receiver of Wreck.
Event and Historical Information:
The SOUTHERN CROSS was newly built vessel which had been launched a month previous at Teignmouth. It was on its maiden voyage to Liverpool to be coppered carrying a ballast of pipe clay. It struck on a rock off Rhoscolyn Head on between 9 and 10 o'clock on the night of 15 March 1855 during very thikc weather. The SOUTHERN CROSS sank rapidly, but the 19 crewmen managed to take to the ship's lifeboat. The lifeboat was also wrecked on rocks, but fortunately 18 crewmembers were able to scramble into the rock and were saved. Clinging perilously to the rock until next day, the crew were eventually rescued in two trips by the Rhoscolyn lifeboat.
Sources include:
BSAC Wreck Register 1988, Addendum 1 to Vol G, 576 (340)
Caernarfon and Denbigh Herald, 24 March 1855
Gater, D, 1992, Historic Shipwrecks of Wales, pg52
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Receiver of Wreck Droits letter and printout June 2001 RCIM6/2/5/5
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).
Wynne-Jones, I, 2001, Shipwrecks of North Wales, 4 ed, pg49-50
