The orientation of the wreckage concentration suggests that the keel lay northeast-southwest. A large boiler stands on end in 8m of water, 20m from the base of the cliff. More wreckage lies alongside and comprises steel plates, ribs, and the cargo of solidified cement. The rudder post is recognisable, but the propeller has been recovered. The largest pieces of wreckage are near the cliff face lodged between rocks and boulders.

Event and Historical Information:
The KYLE PRINCE was built by the Dublin Dockyard Company in 1908. Technical and configuration specifications are given as 115ft long x 23ft 9in breadth x 9ft 9in depth; steel hull, machinery aft, 1deck; weather deck; 3 bulkheads; quarterdeck 86ft; boat deck 9ft; forecastle 22ft. The steamship was powered by a single boiler linked to compound steam engine with screw propulsion. Machinery was supplied by Ross & Duncan, Glasgow. The ship was owned by the Monroe Brothers, Liverpool, at time of loss. The KYLE PRINCE was carrying cement on a voyage from Barry to Liverpool on 8 October 1938 when the coaster experienced very bad weather, and was forced to shelter for some days at Milford Haven. On sailing, the ship reached Bardsey where in high seas and strong winds a pipe in her engine room ruptured, causing her boiler room to start to flood. The rising water level soon put out the fires whilst the Captain sent out a radio distress signal but this went unheard and seven hours later with the KYLE PRINCE settling ever deeper into the sea, she drifted nearer to the coast of Anglesey. Here both anchors were dropped and distress rockets fired, but with no acknowledgement from the shore, the nine crew on board thought they were doomed. Unbeknown to them, their rockets had been seen, and the Holyhead lifeboat CITY OF BRADFORD, had already been launched and eventually reached the wreck. Four times Coxswain Richard Jones took the lifeboat close to the steamer taking men off at every pass, as they leapt from the rails. Abandoned to the sea, when her cables parted she went ashore and commenced to break up. Much of her timber cargo was salvaged, after which she was abandoned.

Sources include:

Holyhead Chronicle, 14 October 1938
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Lloyd's Register Casualty Returns, 1 October - 31 December 1938, p.7 (g)
Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping, 1 July 1935 - 30 June 1936, number 28337 in K
SS Kyle Prince, Wreck Site EU
K 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)

Maritime Officer, RCAHMW, December 2007.

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.