Archaeological remains associated with the loss of this vessel are not confirmed as present at this location, but may be in the vicinity.

Event and Historical Information:
The BELLE USK was a pilot vessel built by J Chambers Ltd, Lowestoft, in 1929. Technical and configuration specifications are given as 104gt, 43nt; 88ft length x 19ft 9in breadth x 9ft 6in depth; screw propulsion powered by a single steam boiler linked to a compound engine producing 29hp; official number 145659. At time of loss, the vessel was owned by the Newport Pilot Boat Company Ltd and was registered at Newport. The vessel went aground in dense fog on Nell's Point on 5 December 1957, a half mile from the dock's entrance. The vessel had been putting a pilot aboard a vessel in Barry Roads and was returning to Barry Docks. After the vessel took a heavy list to port, the master and crew dropped the starboard anchor, drew the boiler fire, and lay ropes to hold the vessel in case it was freed by the tide. The BELLE USK was then abandoned to its fate. The vessel had sustained substantial structural damage - the keel was broken and twisted, the stern post and propeller broken, the stern tube displaced, the dead wood broken and leaking, with planking started and the rudder bent. Three days later it was reported that the vessel had broken up in the weekend's gale. The boiler and machinery now lay on the beach with the debris of the wooden hull lying around.

Sources include:

Lloyd's Register Casualty Returns, 1 October - 31 December 1957, p.28
Lloyds Weekly Casualty Return, Volume CXLX, number 10, 10 December 1957, p.307, and number 11, 17 December 1957, p342
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002

Maritime Officer, RCAHMW, May 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.