The boiler from the AGGRAVATOR can still be seen at the high-water mark in Porth Neigwl (Hell's Mouth). It measures some 2.1m in length and approxaimtely 2.50 in diameter. The firedoor and smoke box are missing and are likely to have been salvaged. Occasionally, a rudder and the remains of a capstan are uncovered by lowering of the beach level after storms.

Event and Historical Information:
The AGGRAVATOR was wooden screw steamer, described in some sources as a 'steam flat' built in 1860 at Runcorn in Cheshire. The vessel was 54grt, 37nt, 69ft length, 17ft breadth, 6 foot depth. It was powered by a 2-cylinder steam engine with a single screw. At time of loss of 5 August 1898, the ship was owned by Messrs Hunter and J. T. Howells of Pwllheli and registered at Liverpool.

On 5 August 1898 the AGGRAVATOR was discharging a cargo of coal at Porth Neigwl under the command of D. Hughes, when it was caught by a southwesterly force 10 gale. Unable to escape the bay into the teeth of the gale, the vessel became stranded. The position of loss is on the beach in front of a brickworks (shown on the 2nd Edition OS Map) that was owned by J.T Howells, so presumably the AGGRAVATOR was unloading coal for the brickworks.

A detailed history of the AGGRAVATOR is provided by Chris Holden as part of the Welsh Wrecks Research Project (link below).

Sources include:
Board of Trade Wreck Return 1898 Appendix C Table 1 pg121 (693).

Gwynedd Archaeological Trust HER, PRN 59593: https://archwilio.org.uk/arch/query/page.php?watprn=GAT59593

Holden, C., 2020. The wreck of the AGGRAVATOR (1898). https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/browse/issue.xhtml?recordId=1213259

Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002.

Wessex Archaeology, 2013, Undesignated Intertidal Sites Porth Neigwl, Llandanwg and Pensarn, Wales, report ref: 83800.34, pg1-3

J. Whitewright, RCAHMW, January 2025.