A memorial to the crew of the SAMTAMPA (see NPRN 240190) and the Mumbles lifeboat was unveiled at the final resting place of the lifeboat in 1992.

Event and Historical Information:
The EDWARD PRINCE OF WALES was a Watson class lifeboat built by J S White Ltd at Cowes in 1924. The lifeboat was built as No 678 for the Welsh Lifeboat Fund and measured 45ft length x 12ft 5in breadth. The lifeboat was launched at 6.10pm on 23 April 1947 to go the assistance of the ex-Liberty Ship the SAMTAMPA which had anchored with engine trouble in Swansea Bay. The westerly winds had risen to gale force and the SAMTAMPA's two anchor cables had parted at 4.40 and 4.50am. The SAMTAMPA was onshore on the Sker Rocks and breaking up some 20 minutes later. The lifeboat had set out with coswain William Gammon in charge and then returned, because the lifeboatmen had failed to read the light message flashed to them by the Mumbles coastguard which gave them the exact postion of the SAMTAMPA. The lifeboat set out again and was not seen again until the following morning when it was found upside down a shortway further along the rocks from the SAMTAMPA. Eight lifeboat men were drowned along with the 39 crewmen of the SAMTAMPA. During the lifeboat's twenty-three years on station, it saved 129 lives. A new lifeboat was on station by July 1947 and was named after the coxswain, the WILLIAM GAMMON. This lifeboat is now part of the collections of Swansea's Waterfront Museum.

Sources include:
Bennett, T, 1987, Shipwrecks around Wales, Vol 1, pg95-6
Gater, D, 1992, Historic Shipwrecks of Wales, pg65-6
Larn and Larn Shipwreck database 2002
Rees, P H, 1973, Gower Shipwrecks, pg17-19
Smith, G, 1991, Shipwrecks of the Bristol Channel, pg103-7

Maritime Officer, RCAHMW, August 2008.