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Faraday

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NPRN273247
Map ReferenceSM70NE
Grid ReferenceSM7872206285
Unitary (Local) AuthorityMaritime
Old CountyMaritime
CommunityMaritime
Type Of SiteWRECK
PeriodModern
Description
Remains are reported to lie on both sides of Hooper's Point, well scattered amongst the rocky gullies and covered in kelp. Salvage works have reduced the wreck's visible remains to one boiler and three drums of submarine cable.

Event and Historical Information:
The FARADAY was a steel-hulled cable layer built by Palmers Shipbuilding Company Ltd, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in 1923. Technical and configuration specifications are given as 5523gt, 2639nt; 394ft 3in length x 48ft 3in breadth x 34ft 6in depth; 2 x decks, cruiser stern, boat deck 179ft; twin screw propulsion powered by three steam boilers linked to a 6-cylinder triple expansion engine producing 530hp; machinery aft; official number 147458 (sources differ giving 2934tons, 360ft length x 52ft breadth, 4 cylinder engine, 536nhp, and official number 68535). At time of loss on 26 March 1941, the vessel was owned by Siemens Brothers & Co Ltd and was registered in London. The cable layer was on passage from Falmouth and Milford Haven to Alexandria carrying 3,870 tons of submarine telephone cable (90 miles in length). The ship was bombed by German aircraft 1.5 miles off Saint Ann's Head and set on fire. This soon spread the length of the ship, and without power the FARADAY drifted ashore at Hopper's Point, near West Dale St Ann's Head. The survivors abandoned the vessel, some in lifeboats and others on board a Belgium trawler which managed to get alongside. The trawler transferred the 56 men to the Angle life boat ELIZABETH ELSON, which landed them at the lifeboat station. The FARADAY burned all night, finally sinking. Sixteen of the crew of 125 lost their lives in the incident.

Sources include:
Bennett, T, 1987, Shipwrecks around Wales, Vol 1, pg39-40
Goddard, T, 1983, Pembrokeshire Shipwrecks, pg117-8
Hocking, C, 1994, Dictionary of Disasters at Sea in the Age of Steam, pg238
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Lloyds Register of British and Foreign Shipping, 1 July 1937 - 30 June 1938, number 24769 in F
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).

Maritime Officer, RCAHMW, November 2008