The wreck of the IONIAN still lies at the base of the cliff. The ship's boilers, engines and large quantities of steel plating are reported to still be insitu. However, the full character and extent of archaeological remains is unknown.
Event and Historical Information:
The IONIAN was a steel-hulled steamship built by Workman, Clark &Co, Belfast in 1901 (yard number 177). Technical and configuration specifications are given as 8268gt, 5324nt; 460ft long x 57ft 5in breadth x 37ft depth; 3 x decks, 4 x masts, boat deck 103ft, forecastle 56ft; twin screw propulsion powered by 6 boilers linked to 6cyl triple expansion engines producing 604hp; official number 113989. At time of loss, the vessel was owned by Allan Line Steamship Company Ltd and was registered at Glasgow. Sources differ as to whether the steamship hit a mine laid by German submarine UC51 on 14 October 1917 and foundered near Crow Rock, 2 miles west of St Govan's Head, or whether the ship was torpedoed two miles west of St Govan's head on 20 October 1917 and drifted ashore near Huntsman's Leap, St Govan's Head. The one hundred and sixty men on board got away safely in the ship's boats. However, one boat overturned in the surf and the 22 occupants were sent into the water. Six drowned, but the remainder survived by clinging to the rocks where they were found the next morning by a local farmer who took them to hospital at Pembroke Dock. The IONIAN's other boats were picked up by a patrol boat near the entrance to Milford Haven. An inquest was held into the deaths of the six men and the bodies buried within Castlemartin churchyard.
Sources include:
Appropriation Books, Official Numbers 113951 - 114000 (113989)
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Goddard, T, 1983, Pembrokeshire Shipwrecks, pg108-9
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Lloyd's Register Casualty Returns, 1 October - 31 December 1917, p.10 (i)
Mercantile Navy List, 1910, Page 251
Mercantile Navy List, 1915, page 288
SS Ionian, Wreck Site EU
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.