The wreckage of the DAN BEARD's bow section lies in around 14m of water, scattered amongst boulders. Sections of the foremast and winch parts are visible at low water (for stern section of wreck see NPRN 240675). Two 20mm shell casing inscribed '20-mm-mk-2 NES 1942' have been recovered and reported to the Receiver of Wreck. A gun was recovered in September 2004 and is now on display at Porthgain.

The vessel may be protected under the Sunken Military Craft Act (Pub.L. 108-375, Div. A, Title XIV, Sections 1401 to 1408, Oct. 28, 2004, 118 Stat. 2094) which protects the sovereign status of U.S. sunken military wrecks in that no person may engage in or attempt to engage in any activity directed at a sunken military craft that disturbs, removes, or injures any sunken military craft. The Maritime Administration, US Department of Transportation, should be contacted for further information.

Event and Historical Information:
The DAN BEARD was a Liberty Ship built by Permanente Metals Corp, No 2, Richmond, California, in 1943. Technical and configuration specifications are given as 422ft length x 57ft 7in breadth x 37ft 3in depth; screw propulsion powered by two oil-fired steam boilers linked to triple expansion engine producing 2500hp. Liberty ships were cargo ships built in the United States during World War II. They were British in conception but were adapted by the USA and came to symbolise US wartime industrial output. Based on vessels ordered by Britain to replace ships torpedoed by German U-boats, they were purchased for the U.S. fleet and for lend-lease provision to Britain. Eighteen American shipyards built 2,751 Liberties between 1941 and 1945. The Permanente Metals Richmond, California Yard £2, produced three hundred and fifty one EC2-S-C1 Type vessels between 1941-45. The DAN BEARD was given the Maritime Hull Commission Number 0464 and operated by United States Army Transportation Service. The ship was named after Daniel Carter Beard (1850 - 1941) or Dan Beard, who was a painter, illustrator, and founder of "The Society of the Sons of Daniel Boone" which developed into "The Boy Pioneers" in 1905, which then became the Boy Scouts of America. The DAN BEARD is noted as having taken part in the Normandy Landings of 6 June 1944. It used by the US Army Transportation Service to bring nearly 500 troops and about 120 army vehicles to support Operation Overlord. Operation Overlord was the Allied operation that launched a successful invasion of German-occupied Western Europe and saw more than 2 million Allied troops landed at the beachheads of Utah, Pointe du Hoc, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. The Stockyard Shipping Corporation, New York, (in existence from 1919 to at least 1961) are given as the managing owner in some sources and were one of 107 shipping companies to operate the so called `Victory Fleet? of more than 3,400 American flag vessels. The company was awarded a special War Service Flag or pennant on 27 September 1944 by the US War Shipping Administration. At time of loss, the ship was on passage from Barry to Londonderry in ballast, when it was torpedoed by the German submarine U-1202 (commanded by Kapitanleutnant Rolf Thomsen) seven miles off the Strumble Head. The torpedo struck the port side of this Liberty Ship level with No 3 hold, causing her to break in two immediately. The sinking position given for the stern was 51 56N, 05 29W (see NPRN 240675). The survivors abandoned ship in two lifeboats and one life raft, a third lifeboat capsizing whilst being launched, and a fourth being swamped. Wave heights at the time were 20-30 foot. The last to leave the vessel were the Master and armed guard commander who was responsible for the ship's guns and defence. Both men jumped overboard and were picked up by No 2 lifeboat. Distress flares sighted by the Strumble Head Coastguards saw the Fishguard lifeboat launched at 6 p.m., but on reaching the wreck found it surrounded by oil and abandoned. One of the ship's lifeboats with 23 survivors reached the shore safely, whilst a life raft with 13 men on board was picked up by the Fishguard lifeboat, one of the survivors who was seriously injured died before they reached the lifeboat station. The bow section of the wreck drifted ashore 2.5 miles south of Strumble Head. U-1202 had been on a mission to report on the British development of the minefields of the Bristol Channel/St George's Channel/Irish Sea for Admiral Donitz. Thomsen would report 'Experience of U1202 in the Irish Sea - a good area for operations, full of possibilities. Heavy convoy traffic, continuous single-ship traffic around the points of concentration of convoy rotes in AM9470-9670-9250. Consequently these are the most favourable submarine stations. Defence - mediocre sea defences, aircraft over day and night; all same we managed to proceed offshore by Schorchelling, and were never detected. Good conditions for navigation.'

Sources include:
Armstrong, P and Young, R, 2010, Silent Warriors: Submarine Wrecks of the United Kingdom, Vol 3, pg18-21
Bennett, T, 1987, Shipwrecks around Wales, Vol 1, pg33-4
BSAC Wreck Register 1988, Addendum 1 to Vol G, 53 (336)
Bunker, J, 1973, Liberty Ship: The Ugly Ducklings of World War II
Elphick, P, 2006, Liberty: The Ships that Won the War
Goddard, T, 1983, Pembrokeshire Shipwrecks, pg125-6
Lane, F C, 2001, Ships for Victory: A History of Shipbuilding under the U.S. Maritime Commission in World War II.
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Receiver of Wreck Droits letter and printout June 2001, RCIM6/2/5/5
Sawyer, L A and Mitchell, W H, 1985, The Liberty Ships: The history of the "emergency" type cargo ships constructed in the United States during World War II.
UK 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).
Wales Online 3 September 2004, http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/second-world-war-gun-recovered-2421443

Maritime Officer, RCAHMW, April 2019.