The substantial hull timbers of the PAUL are still visible on the beach.

Event and Historical Information:
The PAUL was a wooden 4-masted schooner built by B McAsteers & Co, Seattle, in 1919. Technical and configuration specifications are given as 1538gt, 1285gt; 230ft length x 45ft 1in breadth x 18ft 2in depth. The schooner was built at the MARGARETHA SAGER and had another name change, MOUNT WHITNEY before being renamed PAUL. At time of loss the vessel as owned by Ohlman Ingerman and registered at Flensburg, Germany. The schooner was carrying a cargo of timber from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Bad weather in the Atlantic had caused the schooner to lose many of its sails. Approaching Milford Haven on 20 October 1925, where the captain was intending to obtain new orders from the ship's owner, the schooner encountered fog and drove onshore in Carmarthen Bay. Eleven of the PAUL's crew took to the lifeboat to be picked up by the Ferryside lifeboat RICHARD ASTLEY, which returned to the PAUL to take off the captain and remaining four crewmen. The Cardiff tug BEAVER made several attempts to haul the PAUL off the sands but was unsuccessful. Local labour was used lighten the ship by unloading the 1300 tons of timber, but the PAUL remained fast on the sands. The masts were still standing in August 1962.

Sources include:

Bennett, T, 1987, Shipwrecks around Wales, Vol 1, p.84
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Lloyd's Register Casualty Returns, 1 October - 31 December 1925, p.12 (g)
RCAHMW Colour Oblique Digital Aerial Photographs, C652902
RCAHMW Colour Oblique Digital Aerial Photographs, C916729
RCAHMW Colour Oblique Digital Aerial Photographs, C916728
SV Paul, Wreck Site EU
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, February 2009.

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.