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Walpas

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NPRN271668
Map ReferenceSG72SW
Grid ReferenceSG7231020820
Unitary (Local) AuthorityMaritime
Old CountyMaritime
CommunityMaritime
Type Of SiteWRECK
Period20th Century
Description

A very small wreck lying orientated north-south and with a height of 3.6m above the seabed.

Event and Historical Information:
The WALPAS was a wooden schooner built by E Eklund at Raumo in 1901. Technical and configuration specifications are given as 312gt, 132nt; 127ft length x 30ft breadth x 12ft depth; 3 masts, 1 deck. At time of loss on 27 April 1918, the vessel was owned by Augustus Westberg of Luvia. Finland, although the vessel was still registered at its port of built (Raumo, Russia). The master at time of loss was A F Hanelius. The offical diary of the U 91 and Kpt Lt Alfred von Glasenapp's private diary contain descriptions of sighting the schooner, its capture and sinking. The official diary notes the time of sinking as 20:00 and that the Walpas was carrying 454tons of pitch from Fleetwood to Cadiz and had been paid 75,000 marks in advance. The Glasenapp's diary notes that he had asked the master why he had entered the restricted zone - the answer given was to make money. The WALPAS's master was not downhearted by the loss of his schooner, but declared that the schooner was worth at most 20,000 marks at most and that he had received a bonus of 2000 marks in advance. The burning sailing vessel, 'a gigantic torch of pitch' stayed visible for hours against the night sky. The WALPAS was sailing under the newly adopted Finnish flag, which is what the German diaries record that it was a Finnish and not a Russian ship. The Walpas's master reported the loss location as 15 miles west by north of Bardsey to the Board of Trade. A few days later another report was sent through from Holyhead - 20 miles west-northwest of Bardsey Head. This wreck was located by HMS BEAGLE in October 1981. The site was included in the multi-beam surveys undertaken by Bangor University in 2018, as part of the Royal Commission's HLF funded Partnership Project - 'Commemorating the Forgotten U-Boat War around the Welsh Coast 1914-18'.

 

Sources include:

KTB U91, RM97/1032, Militaerarchiv Freiburg, Bundesarchiv, folios 69, pp.236-7
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Lloyd's Register Casualty Returns, 1 April - 30 June 1918, p.14 (i)
Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping, 1 July 1914 - 30 June 1915, number 38 in W
The Story of the WALPAS, People's Collection Wales
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)
Walpas, U-Boat Project: Commemorating the War at Sea



Maritime Officer, RCAHMW, May 2019.

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.