The wreck lies with its keel orientated 090/250 degrees with the bows to the east. The bows are in slightly deeper water than the stern. The rounded stern and sternpost is still discernible and stands 2-3m high. The twin iron propellers are still insitu, although the port side propeller is in better condition. Both engines remain insitu amongst a mass of tangle winches, ribs, collapsed hull plates, hand-wheels, bits and other machinery. The forward section has totally collapsed with many ribs and plates lying around. What may remain of the bow is now largely covered in sand and gravel. A brass letter A, measuring 10-12inches in height, had been recovered from the stern area.

Event and Historical Information:
The ILESHA was a steel-hulled motor vessel built by I J Abdela & Mitchell Ltd at Queensferry in 1914. The vessel's original name was KINGSHOLM. Technical and configuration specifications are given as 89ft length x 17ft 2in breadth x 7ft 3in depth; quarterdeck 22ft, 4 bulkheads; twin screw propulsion powered by 4cylinder oil engines; machinery aft; made by J & C G Bolinders Co Ltd. Abdela and Mitchell acquired the Dee Shipbuilidng Yard in around 1908-9, which allowed them to build larger coasting vessels than their Brimscombe yard (Langford, 1988).
At time of loss on 8 August 1915, the vessel was owned by Elder, Dempster & Co Ltd. Although primarily insured to operate in the Bristol Channel, the ILESHA was carrying crude oil for ship's use from Liverpool to Lagos. The vessel got into difficulty 3 miles off Bardsey when its port side engine failed. The ship was abandoned and drifted on the west side of Bardsey. The steamer LADY OF THE ISLES offered assistance and used divers to blast a channel into through the rocks. This allowed the ILESHA to reach deep water again and the ship was taken around the island into shelter of the east side to undertake the necessary repairs. However, before these repairs could be undertaken, the ILESHA suddenly foundered.

Sources include:

Abdela & Mitchell Ltd, shipbuilders and marine engineers, list of ships build, engine drawings, photographs, Gloucester Archives D2875
File containing a history of Abdela & Mitchell's Dee Shipbuilding Company Works at Queensferry, Flintshire Record Office, D-DM/1036/1/1
Board of Trade Wreck Return 1915 p.18 (2)
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Langford, A M, 1988, The Steamboat Builders of Brimscombe, Part 2, Gloucestershire Society for Industrial Archaeology Journal, pp.3-20
Lloyd's Register Casualty Returns, 1 July - 30 September 1915, p.7 (g)
Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping, 1 July 1915 - 30 June 1916, number 31 in I
MV Ilesha, Wreck Site EU
Port of Bristol Shipping Register 1892 - 1916, Bristol Record Office 37908/1/13, Folio 253
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)

Maritime Officer, RCAHMW, August 2016.

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.