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If you
stand outside Southwold’s Sailors’ Reading
Room today and look out to sea, you’ll be lucky
to catch sight of a single ship. But for James Maggs,
compiling his Southwold diary in 1843, there was “…a
fleet of from 7 to 8 hundred sail of vessels appearing
between the two Nesses….”
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It’s
not surprising then that, over the last four
centuries, Southwold’s Sole Bay has seen
many hundreds of shipwrecks. Southwold’s
coastline isn’t rocky, but the combination
of North Sea storms and shifting sands and sandbanks
still make it treacherous.
Wrecks have included craft
of all sizes: warships, brigs, steampackets, steamers, tugs
and many more. In 1672, the huge Royal James
went down in the Battle of
Sole Bay along with 700 of its crew. 1897
saw the small longshore boat Donnachadh run
down by a steamer with the loss of one life.
283 wrecks are recorded in
the 19th century. In the 20th century up to
1979, numbers had dropped to 43, as a result
of better boats, better skills and improved
navigational aids. Loss of life dropped dramatically
with the launch of the lifeboat service. |
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It
was a dark and stormy night
Find
out about the night Southwold had to cope with
two wrecks at once....
And what has this eagle got to do with it? Click the pictures..
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Stranded
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Thirteen
strandings have been recorded on or near Southwold
beach since 1842. The London-registered barque
Princess Augusta, struck the beach in 1838 opposite
Ferry Road. It became a total
wreck. In the museum you can see a picture of
the ship aground and, if you look at the photo
closely, you can just about see its figurehead
(above) which is now in the museum.
By
the way, If you are interested in figureheads,
check out Lucilla! |
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