Archaeological remains associated with the EAGLE are not confirmed at this location, but may be present in the vicinity. This entry is for the Documented Loss of the EAGLE  on the 29th July 1879.

Event and Historical Information:
The EAGLE was an iron-hulled steamship built by Gourlay Brothers of Dundee in 1858. Technical and configuration specifications are given as 297gt, 169nt; 164ft 3/10ths x length x 22ft 8/10ths breadth x 12ft 6.5/10ths depth; screw propulsion powered by twin inverted engine (diameter of cylinder 35 1/2 in, length of stroke 27 in). The vessel was added to the Port of Swansea on 19 April 1872 by John Newall Moore, a merchant of Neath. The transactions on the register reveal a mortgage with the West of England and South Wales Mutual Bank and then various lots of 8 shares being sold Henry MacPherson Clark of Creswell House, Maindee, near Newport, gentleman; William Edward Bevan Gwyn of Plas Cwrt Hix near Carmarthen; Thomas Garret of Weston-Super-Mare, gentleman; Edwin Newman of Manor House, Yeovil, and these shares being sold back to John Newall Moore in 1874.

At the time of loss on 29 July 1879, the ship was carrying 290 tons of steam coal from Swansea to Dublin. An Inquiry found a saltwater discharge pipe had ruptured 'whereby the sea was allowed to flow into a bunker and hence into the ship'. The certificate of the chief engineer was suspended for six months for having neglected to examine the pipe.

The loss location noted in the ship's registry was 25 miles northeast of Bishops. In other sources, it is given as 13m west-northwest of Cardigan. The two positions plot in the general area of the seabed obstruction UKHO 9989 and so the documented loss of the wreck has been provisionally associated with that UKHO entry pending further seabed survey.

Sources include:
Board of Trade Wreck Return 1879 Part II pg23 (223)

Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002

Port of Swansea Shipping Register 1866-76, West Glamorgan Archive Service D/D PRO/RBS/S 1/6

UKHO ID 9989: Contains public sector information, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0, from UK Hydrographic Office.

J. Whitewright, RCAHMW, November 2023