Wreckage from the OSSEO was originally reported in 1976, with a further diver's report (by K. Hurley) in 1989 which located the site on the seaward side of Holyhead Breakwater, c. 300m from the Breakwater Lighthouse. The wreck is close by to that of the KIRKMICHAEL (see NPRN 271901), with the 1989 report noting that the two are difficult to distinguish from one another.
The UKHO location for the wreck is placed on the inshore side of the breakwater. However, the diver reports, accounts of the sinking, and a photograph of the KIRKMICHAEL (reported the time to have been lost in the same area) on the breakwater after it was wrecked make it clear that the wreck location is on the seaward side.
Event and Historical Information:
The OSSEO was a steel hulled three-masted barque built in 1889 at Londonderry by C J Bigger (Official No. 94212. The vessel was 1463gt, 1399nt; 245.3ft in length, 36.9ft breadth, 21.7ft depth, 1 deck, 1 bulkhead. At time of loss the vessel was owned by B. H. McCorkell, Londonderry, and was under the command of master R. Boggs.
On 30 December 1894, the OSSEO was carrying a cargo of nitrate from Taltal, Chile, to Ardrossan, when it was caught in a northwesterly force 9 gale. Heading for the shelter of Holyhead, the barque ran onto the breakwater and was lost with all 26 crewmembers.
Sources include:
Board of Trade Wreck Return 1894, Appendix C, Table 1, p.133 (655)
Y Brython Cymreig, 4 January 1895, p.1
Hocking, C, 1989, Dictionary of Disasters at Sea During the Age of Steam, p.523
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Lloyd's Register Casualty Returns, 1 October - 31 December 1894, p.12 (h)
Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping 1 July 1893 - 30 June 1894, number 426 in D
South Wales Echo, 31 December 1894, p.2
UKHO ID 7453: Contains public sector information, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0, from UK Hydrographic Office.
J. Whitewright, RCAHMW, July 2025.
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.