The vessel is reported to have been heavily salvaged, but much still lies on the beach. Some deck and winch parts lie in the top of the beach and in the sand in the centre of the beach. Some of the hull plating can also be found on the right hand side of the bay.

For information on the Protection of Military Remains Act 1986 Act and its administration with regard to vessels, please contact the Ministry of Defence, Wreck Section, Naval Personnel Secretariat, Room 125 Victory Building, HMNB Portsmouth, PO1 3LS.

Event and Historical Information:
HMS BARKING was one of sixty-two such ships built for World War II all prefixed with the letters 'BAR'. The BARKING was built by Lobnitz & Co Ltd, Renfrew in 1941 (laid down 3 May 1941, launched 25 May 1941, yard number 1034). Technical and configuration specifications are given as 153ft long x 32ft breadth; 630 gt; screw propulsion powered by a single boiler linked to a triple expansion engine; armed with a single 3in (76mm) anti-aircraft gun. The BAR class were used for various heavy lift purposes including boom-defence, cable laying, salvage and buoy work. The ship was commissioned on 17 December 1914 and sources suggest that HMS BARKING spent time in Freetown, Sierra Leone, before being laid up in reserve. HMS BARKING was then disposed of by sale on 6 March 1964 to Thomas Ward's ship breaking yard at Briton Ferry. The vessel was on tow when it broke adrift from the tug in wind conditions SE force 6. With no one board to connect another tow line from the tug, the vessel drove ashore some half a mile from St Ann's Head almost under the Coastguard Station. HMS BARKING went ashore at 9.15 am at high water on 14 March 1964. The rocks on the beach penetrated the hull as the tide fell, and all efforts to refloat the vessel failed. The vessel was abandoned for ten years, breaking its back in the process, until 1974 when a salvage company began to dismantle the vessel where it lay.

Sources include:
Goddard, T, 1983, Pembrokeshire Shipwrecks, pg129
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Receiver of Wreck Droits Database 2007 RCIM6/2/5
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)

www resources:
http://www.dive-pembrokeshire.com/barking.html
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205120169
http://www.brecon-scuba.org/page.php?id=267
https://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/7665.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar-class_boom_defence_vessel

Maritime Officer, RCAHMW, March 2018.