Site Record

Archaeological remains associated with the loss of this vessel are not confirmed as present at this location, but may be in the vicinity.

Event and Historical Information:
The OTWAY was a wooden schooner built by Nicholson at Annan in 1864. Technical and configuration specifications are given as 101gt, 91nt; 78ft 9in length x 20ft 1in breadth x 9ft 9in depth; copper fastened. At time of loss on 13 January 1879, the vessel was owned by W Burnyeat of Whitehaven and registered at that port. The schooner was carrying a cargo of coprolites (a phosphate-rich Cretaceous sediment often containing fragments of fossils) from Ipswich to Belfast. Coprolites are mined from the belts of Gault Clay and Lower Greensand running across south-east England from the Wash to Isle of Wight. The high amounts of phosphates had been identified by Rev John Henslow in 1842. In 1847, Edward Packard had established the first factory to produce fertiliser from the deposits by acid treatement at Ipswich. A labour intensive industry developed in many Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire parishes from that period until the late 1870s when the Free Trade Act made imports from outside the UK more economically viable and sustainable in terms of meeting market needs. The extracted coprolites were transported to a washmill where the excess soil was washed away and then shipped to manure works. The OTWAY, carrying one such cargo, went ashore at Rhoscolyn and was wrecked with the loss of one crewmember.

Sources include:
Board of Trade Wreck Return 1879 Appendix Parts I-IV pg104 (169)
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Lloyds Register of British and Foreign Shipping, 1 July 1878 - 30 June 1879, number 349 in O

WWW resources:
http://www.bedfordshiregeologygroup.org.uk/leaflets/BLGGCoprolites.pdf

Maritime Officer, RCAHMW, October 2010.