The wreck is reported to be in 3 parts and well broken up as a result of salvage operations undertaken in 1992 .The longitudinal axis of the wreck (keel) is orientated along the compass bearing 165/345 degrees, with the bow to the northeast. A large scour to a depth of 5m is reported to the west of the wreck. Sports diver reports in the 1980s noted that the ship's clipper bow and counter stern stood proud of the seabed by up to 3.6m.
Event and Historical Information:
The ALBANIAN was an iron-hulled steamship built by T Royden & Sons, Liverpool, in 1870. Technical and configuration specifications are given as 1417gt, 919nt; 291ft length x 31ft depth x 22ft depth; screw propulsion powered by an inverted compound engine producing 170hp and made by J Jack & Co, Liverpool. At time of loss, the vessel was owned by Frederick Leyland (Bibby Line).
The Bibby Line was established by John Bibby (as John Bibby & Co) in 1805. In 1850, the company took a share in the single screw steamer RATTLER and formed the Liverpool & Mediterranean Steam Shipping Co. The company inaugurated services to French and Italian ports. Three years later, a regular service to Portugal was commenced using the small steamer DOURO. By the early 1870s the company (renamed after John Bibby's death as John Bibby & Sons) had recognised the need to diversify. James Bibby's partner, Frederick Leyland, proposed to expand trade to the United States and Boston. James Bibby, on the other hand, believed that the Mediterranean and India or Burma would produce better results. Initially the company continued to concentrate on the Mediterranean, but in 1872 James Bibby decided to pass his controlling interest to Frederick Leyland. On the 1st January 1873, Leyland became the owner of twenty one steamers and the tug CAMEL. Leyland continued to use the Bibby line name and to trade to the Iberian peninsular and the Mediterranean. He had also introduced a transatlantic service by the mid 1870s. The ALBANIAN was one of the Bibby line steamers used for Iberian and Mediterranean trade. On 18 November 1877, the ship was on passage from Liverpool to Leghorn and then Genoa when it was in collision with the sailing barque NYDIA off the Great Orme. The ALBANIAN subsequently foundered.
Sources include:
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Wynne-Jones, I, 2001, Shipwrecks of North Wales, 4 ed, p111
