The wreck site of the BRYNYMOR has been identified during research by Dr Innes McCartney (2022: 226) for the Echoes from the Deep project. McCartney concluded that the BRYNYMOR is positionally, dimensionally, and archivally consistent with UKHO 12132 (NPRN 506486). The record has been updated to reflect that research.
Event and Historical Information:
The BRYNYMOR was a steel-hulled steamship built by the Burntisland Shipbuilding Co Ltd, at Burntisland, Fife, in 1936. Technical and configuration specifications are given as 4771gt, 2931nt; 410ft length x 56ft breadth x 25ft 4in depth; 1 deck and 2 shelter decks, 6 bulkheads, cruiser stern, 2 masts schooner rigged; screw propulsion powered by a reciprocating direct acting vertical inverted cylinder triple expansion engine (diameter of cylinders 21.5in, 35in, and 62in, stroke 45in); two boilers cylindrical multi-tubular, loaded pressure 220lbs psi; engine and boilers built by D Rowan & Co Ltd of Glasgow; official number 144008. Amongst the ship's internal spaces was provision for a wireless/telegraph room. The ship was registered new at Swansea on 18 June 1936 by the Brynymor Steam Ship Company Ltd. The Burntisland Ship Building Company retained a mortgage on the vessel until December 1940.
At the time of loss on 14 March 1942, the vessel was on passage from Newport to New York in ballast as part of convoy ONSM76. The ship foundered off the Bishop and Clerks after a collision with the EMPIRE HAWKSBILL. The ship's registry at Swansea was closed on 13 April 1942.
Sources include:
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Lloyd's Register Casualty Returns, 1 January - 31 March 1942, p.8 (f)
Lloyds Register Documentation: https://hec.lrfoundation.org.uk/archive-library/ships/brynymor-1936/
Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping, 1 July 1941 - 30 June 1942, number 20774 in B
McCartney, I., 2022. Echoes from the Deep. Leiden: Sidestone Press. https://www.sidestone.com/books/echoes-from-the-deep
Port of Swansea Shipping Register 1935-1973, West Glamorgan Archive Service D/D PRO/RBS/S 1/10, 2 in 1936
UKHO ID 12132: Contains public sector information, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0, from UK Hydrographic Office.
https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?71878
J. Whitewright, RCAHMW, December 2023.
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.