The hulk of the HMS CONWAY came to rest on the Platters Reef. Although burnt to the waterline in 1956 and reportedly demolished, oak timbers and iron knees remain insitu. A badly corroded iron cannon, once used as ship's ballast, also lies alongside the reef. Smalls finds from the vessel itself which have been recovered and reported to the Receiver of Wreck include copper pins, ship's nails and a rivet. In September 1987, volunteers from the Seiont II Maritime Trust recovered the anchor of HMS Conway from the Anglesey shores. The 5-ton anchor is displayed on the quayside at Caernarfon. Another anchor and the ship's masts have been installed at Birkenhead as a memorial to the thousands of cadets who lost their lives at sea. Artefacts from the CONWAY are buried in a time capsule under the memorial. The large ground chains that held in place HMS CONWAY's mooring buoy remain in place (see NPRN 506783).

Event and Historical Information:
HMS CONWAY was built as a 2nd rate man of war at Plymouth Dockyard. The ship was built to a design by Sir Robert Steppings. The ship was launched in 1839, but was never commissioned and laid up in ordinary as an unfinished hull. In 1852, the ship was docked and fitted with a steam engine and propeller and in 1854 the ship joined the fleet in the Gulf of Finland blockading the Russian Navy as HMS NILE. The ship visited Merseyside in 1859, which corresponded with the need for the Mercantile Marine Service Association to find a larger training ship. The ship was eventually placed on loan to the association by the Admiralty and returned again to the Mersey on 23 June 1876 stripped its engines. The vessel remained at its station off the Sloyne until 22 May 1941, when heavy air-raids on Liverpool Docks caused her to be moved to a new berth near Bangor Pier. At the end of World War II, the Mercantile Marine Service Association decided to find an anchorage which could also provide a shore-base, and eventually purchased the manor of the Marquees of Anglesey, at Plas Newydd. The CONWAY was moored here from April 1949. In April 1953 she was scheduled to be dry-docked at Birkenhead for a refit. The tow was taken up on 14 April 1953. A delay on the passage under tow to two Liverpool tugs (DONGARTH and MINGARTH) caused the CONWAY to be caught by the powerful ebb tide in the Swellies. The lead tug was unable to make headway. The rear tug came forward to assist. However, the towing cable parted and the force of the tide pushed the CONWAY onshore with one of the tugs still attached. Within 24 hours it became clear the vessel had broken its back and it was declared a total loss on 15 April 1953. The National Library of Wales has a collection of black-and-white photographs taken by Geoff Charles which show the vessel on shore, men breaking the ship, and the results of the fire on 31 October 1956 which largely destroyed the hulk.

Sources include:
Gater, D, 1992, Historic Shipwrecks of Wales, pg133-4
Geoff Charles Collection, National Library of Wales (WlAbNL)003366279
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Receiver of Wreck Droits Database 2007
Wynne-Jones, I, 2001, Shipwrecks of North Wales, 4 ed, pg89-94

Maritime Officer, RCAHMW, July 2008.