The wreck site of the SOMERSET COAST has been identified during research by Dr Innes McCartney (2022: 221) for the Echoes from the Deep project. McCartney concluded that the SOMERSET COAST is positionally, dimensionally, and archivally consistent with UKHO 10064 (NPRN 516126), and the record has been updated to reflect that research.

Event and Historical Information:
The SOMERSET COAST was a steel-hulled cargo vessel built by Sir Raylton Dixon & Co Ltd.Middlesbrough, in 1911. Technical and configuration specifications are given as 1149gt, 468nt; 250ft 5in length x 36ft breadth x 14ft 5in depth; 1 deck, 4 bulkheads, forecastle 29ft; screw propulsion powered by twin steam boilers linked to a triple expansion engine producing 178hp; machinery by Richardsons, Westgarth & Co Ltd., Middlesbrough. At time of loss on 21 April 1917, the vessel was owned by Powell, Bacon & Hough Lines Ltd and registered at Liverpool. The vessel was on passage from Bristol to Liverpool when it was in collision with the Barrow registered steamship SOUND FISHER. The SOMERSET COAST subsequently foundered 2 miles west-southwest of Bardsey.

Sources include:

Board of Trade Wreck Return 1917 Part II, Table A, p.35 (3)

Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Lloyd's Register Casualty Returns, 1 April - 30 June 1917 p.7 (f)

Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping, 1 July 1915 - 30 June 1916, number 1638 in S

McCartney, I., 2022. Echoes from the Deep. Leiden: Sidestone Press. https://www.sidestone.com/books/echoes-from-the-deep
SS Somerset Coast, Wreck Site EU

J. Whitewright, RCAHMW, April 2023

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.