# What might have Caused Engine Failure on the SS Camlough?



## Nswstar2

I've been researching the events which lead up to the stranding (and wrecking) of the SS Camlough in 1932 on a beach near where I live in Southwest Scotland.

Built in 1920, the Camlough was coal-fired a 166 ft. single boiler/triple expansion engine ship, one of the fleet of 'Kelly's Coal Boats'. At the time of the engine failure, she was en-route from her home port of Belfast to Birkenhead on the NW coast of England, traveling in ballast to collect a load of coal.

I have some scanned copies of the original Belfast Times Report of the wreck (at night, in a gale, and on an exceptional high tide, which lifted most of the ship up onto the rocks at the beach at Monreith, from which she could not be re-floated).

My interest has been captured by the fact that this winter's storms have scoured away feet of sand and disclosed the footprint and some remaining structures of the stern of the ship (boiler room back to the very tip of the stern and stub of the shaft, where the propeller would have been fitted). I've been photographing the wrecksite and gathering evidence about the wreck - attempting to envisige the structures of the ship rising up from the footprint that remains after most of the ship was cut up on the beach for salvage in '33/'34). 

The first-hand description of the steam-filled Engine Room is most compelling! See attachments (sorry for quality - they come via British Historic Newspapers).

Suggestions as to what might have been the problem (clearly it was something which allowed for some repairs to be made, allowing her to limp for home before the engine failed completely).

I'll do a follow-on to this post with a few more attachments - photos of the ship and the current wrecksite.

I've been collecting an ever-expanding list of do***ents about the ship. The wreck is well-known locally, but until recently almost all of the wreckage that remained on the beach has been buried in sand, with only a few rusty bits of bottom structure emerging. The site is regularly covered at high tide, and the remaining wreckage is sinking into the sand at an angle of approximately 15 degrees, down at the stern and slightly listing to port.

Any thoughts/observations, etc. would be much appreciated.


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## Nswstar2

*More on SS Camlough - then and now.*

Further photos - photo of five of the seven crew members (including the Chief Engineer who is quoted extensively in the Belfast News Letter account and also of the heroic cox of the Portpatrick life boat.

The contemporary photos are a detailed side-on shot of the Camlough's identical sister ship SS Corteen (later Ballyclare) - taken from the Kelly's Coal Boats thread on the Belfast Forum, and from the same source, the only good photo of the SS Camlough that I've been able to find, taken of her during the 12 years of service before she was wrecked.

This story is providing wonderful glimpses into the coaster trade which was so vital in times past. And while almost all ships of this era have long gone to the breakers, it's rather captivating that so much of her remains held fast in the Solway sands 85 years after she came to grief there!


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## Nswstar2

*Photos of SS Camlough Wrecksite this winter*

A few photos of the Wrecksite of the SS Camlough near the Black Rocks on the beach at Monreith, Southwest Scotland.

The front 100+ feet of the boat was stranded high on the boulders and protruding fingers of volcanic rock. It was subsequently cut up for salvage in situ (1933/4) and there is little evidence of this section of the boat, except a few corroded small pieces of sheet/plates in the area to the North of the surviving wreckage.

However the stern of the boat was resting on sand, and I guess that having cut away and removed the side plates and machinery/boiler, they allowed the bottom few feet of the stern to sink into the sand rather than struggling to salvage any more.

It lies tilted back into the sand at an angle of approximately 15 degrees and slightly listing to port.

At low tide on several days this past winter enough sand has been scoured away to reveal the concrete floor of the triangular ballast tanks at the stern of the ship, and even (on one day only) the projecting stub of the propulsion shaft at the stern where the propeller would have been fitted.

Much of the stern is covered at each low tide in a shallow pool of water, which fills the area where waves have scooped out the sand. The stern tube has been sliced open lengthwise to salvage most of the propulsion shaft (that tube becoming a collecting space for various pieces of metal detritus, but still displaying the bottom half of three bearings which would have supported the shaft).

This winter, the tides periodically rebury the portion of the wreck that is furthest stern (angled lowest down) but so far they have also been uncovering it again, as new gales blow from different directions).

This whole project is very much like working a jigsaw puzzle that has most of the pieces missing!

Note: I fear that one of my photos was inadvertently uploaded in larger format than intended (I selected the wrong file). However the website won't now let me 'manage my files' to delete it and replace it with the smaller version I meant to select. Apologies if this error causes any problems.


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## Duncan112

To my mind the telling phrase is "Make the disconnections" implying that there was a problem with one of the engine stages necessitating changing the steam pipes (and possibly removing some running gear) in order to bypass the defective stage and run the engine either as a simple or double expansion.


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## Nswstar2

Well spotted! That makes complete sense. THANK YOU!

I guess that this situation would have made for a steam-filled Engine Room, and a temporary solution like this would certainly result in the engine running at reduced power. Apparently the temporary fix didn't work for long, either. Perhaps the 'fix' put too much stress on the remaining working parts of the engine.

Follow-on question: What kind of problem(s) might have put one of the cylinders out of action without catastrophically damaging the entire engine in the first place? A blown valve?

Of course the luck was absolutely against the ship, as both the first engine failure and then the failure of the improvised repairs happened when the ship was close to dangerous rocks (the Chicken Rocks off the South of the Isle of Man and then the Mull of Galloway point). Adding to this bad luck were the gale winds which developed and the extreme high tide that wild and stormy night.

The Camlough's good luck on the night was that the SS Moyella happened by, saw their distress, and was able to tow the Camlough away from the Mull of Galloway (where otherwise no crew would have been likely to survive a wreck) and into Luce Bay, where the ship was stranded in the exceptional high tide. Also the Camlough's crew were exceptionally lucky in the bravery of the crew of the Portpatrick life boat.


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## Duncan112

Complete guesswork here but bearing failure, eccentric strap failure, are two possibilities. If you can lay your hands on McBirnies Marine Steam Engines third edition or earlier there are detailed descriptions of how to do this and what might cause it.


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## Nswstar2

Thanks, Duncan!


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## BillH

CAMLOUGH (1920 - 1932)
O.N. 145411. 540g. 205n. 620d. 166.9 x 26.6 x 9.9 feet.
T.3-cyl. (14", 24" & 40" x 30 ") engine made by the shipbuilder. 89 RHP.
1919: Ordered as LAOISSIDE from Wm. Simons & Company Ltd., Renfrew (Yard No. 646), by John Kelly Ltd, on behalf of the Irish Packing Company, (E. L. Rees manager), London, Drogheda and Dublin. 
10.1920: Contract sold by J. H. Pim F.C.A., receiver in management to John Kelly Ltd., (Samuel Kelly, manager), Belfast. 
10.12.1920: Launched as CAMLOUGH. 
12.1920: Completed. 
26.11.1923: Wm. Clint appointed as manager. 
1.1932: Whilst on a voyage from Belfast to Birkenhead with general cargo was disabled and taken in tow. 
14.1.1932: Broke from tow and wrecked near Monreith, Wigtownshire.


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## Nswstar2

Thanks for this, Bill. 

These details look as if they are taken from the Clyde Maritime forum, with good information and details about the order for the ship.

There is one discrepancy when compared with the details in CANMORE do***entation of the wrecksite, where Camlough is described as being 'in ballast'.

I tend to believe that she wasn't carrying a cargo on that day, because the Chief Engineer was quoted in the newspaper directly after the incident as saying they were 'bound light for Birkenhead, where we were going to load a cargo of coal for Cork.' This certainly sounds as if they were not loaded with cargo when the incident happened. 

The CANMORE listing at https://canmore.org.uk/site/124084/camlough-monreith-bay-luce-bay-solway-firth is also interesting because it links their account to two other wreck references on the CANMORE site. These are the small steam salvage vessels, SS Ethel and SS Omo - each of which came to grief on the wrecksite in their turn during course of Camlough's salvage operations.


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## BillH

Nswstar2 said:


> Thanks for this, Bill.
> 
> These details look as if they are taken from the Clyde Maritime forum, with good information and details about the order for the ship.
> 
> There is one discrepancy when compared with the details in CANMORE do***entation of the wrecksite, where Camlough is described as being 'in ballast'.
> 
> I tend to believe that she wasn't carrying a cargo on that day, because the Chief Engineer was quoted in the newspaper directly after the incident as saying they were 'bound light for Birkenhead, where we were going to load a cargo of coal for Cork.' This certainly sounds as if they were not loaded with cargo when the incident happened.
> 
> The CANMORE listing at https://canmore.org.uk/site/124084/camlough-monreith-bay-luce-bay-solway-firth is also interesting because it links their account to two other wreck references on the CANMORE site. These are the small steam salvage vessels, SS Ethel and SS Omo - each of which came to grief on the wrecksite in their turn during course of Camlough's salvage operations.


The details, some gleaned from old Kelly do***ents, came from my own records as recorded in my 2009 published book "Kelly's Navy" and posted on Clyde Maritime and also with permission reproduced on the Clydebuilt, shipbuilding database


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## Nswstar2

*More about SS Camlough in Ballast or carrying General Cargo when Wrecked*

Bill, it's good to 'meet' you on this forum.

I've been chasing down <all> the written references to this ship that I can find - and among other places, my search took me to the extensive 'Kelly's Coal Boats' thread on the Belfast Forum, where I located a photo of the Camlough in service with Kelly's.

I knew that a book or books had been written fairly recently about this fascinating company and the very active trade in coal for Ireland, with coasters crossing the sea so near to where I live now. But I'd yet to track the title(s) down. Thank you for the details of 'Kelly's Navy' (as I type this title, I also keep holding in my mind one of the descriptions by the dockers who unloaded the very heavily-laden coal ships of them being 'Kelly's Submarines' - but that's another issue!)

As to whether or not the Camlough was carrying 'general cargo' when she was stranded/wrecked on 14 January 1932, I have found one original source and two secondary sources about this in addition to the material from the Clyde Maritime website, which I now understand came from your records.

* The original source was from the words of the Chief Engineer of the Camlough, Harry Thompson, as quoted in the Belfast New Letter article of 16th January 1932, when five of the seven crew had arrived back in Belfast after the wreck. I have the full scan in in five parts, which I've already attached to a previous thread about the Camlough on this site, but attach the relevant section again here. His words that they were 'bound light for Birkenhead where they were going to load a cargo of coal' certainly imply that they were not carrying cargo on this outward trip, where the engine trouble occurred.

* A secondary source is the book 'Galloway Shipwrecks' by Peter C. Miller. As Miller lists the Belfast News Letter as one of his sources, and also the John Kelly, Ltd. 'Fleet History', I suspect that he may have been drawing on this article of 16th January 1932 when he tells the dramatic story as: ''The SS Camlough left Birkenhead the previous day en route to Birkenhead to take on cargo'.

* The other secondary source I have already quoted above as saying that the Camlough was 'in ballast'. This is the CANMORE record of historical sites (in this case sites of known shipwrecks). SS Camlough ID on CANMORE s 124084 (Site Number NX34SE 8004). 

CANMORE is the only secondary reference I have found which provides links and information to the two small salvage steamships also being lost at the site during the process of cutting up the Camlough for salvage. And rather than merely describing the Camlough as being cut up for salvage in situ it (accurately) reports: 'This vessel was evidently at least partially salvaged follwing her stranding'.

I am assembling a photo record of the SS Camlough and as much information about her as I can, with a view to putting together both an archive and also a talk about the Camlough. Initially I am planning to offer an early version of this talk in the village of Monreith, where I hope to gather still further information, photos and anecdotes about the wreck (including very likely some evidence of various bits of salvage by local residents during 1932). For example I've already heard that one family in the village had a nice pair of sturdy new gateposts at the time, made from wood taken from the wrecked ship. 

It appears that many months - perhaps as much as a year - went by before the ship was sold to a Mr Gray of Belfast and the official salvaging process began on the beach, where the stranded ship was high and dry at each low tide.


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## BillH

Salvage vessels used by Samuel Gray on CAMLOUGH; two of which were wrecked during the operation, so potentially remains of these also buried

CHERISH wooden salvage vessel.
O.N. 128554. 91g. 32n. 86.3 x 19.7 x 9.6 feet.
C.2-cyl. engine by F. W. Carver, Great Yarmouth.
1910: Completed as the fishing vessel YOUNG HENRY, by Beeching Brothers Ltd., Great Yarmouth (Yard No. ) for Richard Sutton, Great Yarmouth. 
29.12.1913: Sold to Joseph Buchan, Peterhead. 
7.1.1920: Sold to David M Hopeman, Elgin. 
27.8.1925: Sold to John Wood, Portknockie, Perth, by mortgagees in possession, the North Of Scotland Bank Ltd. 
10.10.1925: Renamed CHERISH. 
30.3.1932: Sold to Francis Gallagher, Mullaghados Scotch, Kincas****h, Donegal, Eire. 
8.6.1933: Sold to Samuel Gray, Belfast, for employment with the barge ETHEL (97g./1899) salvaging scrap metal cargo from the wreck of CAMLOUGH (540g/1920 – wrecked 14.1.1932) at Monreith Bay. Following the loss of ETHEL q.v. scrap salvage abandoned until better weather and vessel returned to Belfast. 
18.1.1934: Arrived at McCausland’s Jetty, Belfast, for demolition by owners. 
21.6.1934: Sold to Kelly’s Barges Ltd, (Arthur E. Kelly, manager), Liverpool. 
10.5.1938: Sold to Steam Barge Carrying Company Ltd., (same manager), Liverpool. 
25.3.1943: Sold to Wadsworth Lighterage & Coaling Company Ltd., (Harold V. Williamson, manager), Liverpool. 
5.8.1949: Register closed following demolition of vessel.


ETHEL 
O.N. 110597. 97g. 60n. 73.1 x 18.6 x 7.5
13RHP engine.
1899: Built at Rotterdam.
1900: Registered at Liverpool by William Gossage & Sons Ltd., (William Winwood Gossage, manager), Widnes.
6.1933: Sold to Samuel Gray, Belfast. (sale apparently not recorded). 
13.11.1933 Wrecked whilst salvaging scrap metal cargo from the wreck of CAMLOUGH (540g/1920 – wrecked 14.1.1932) at Monreith Bay. 


EILEEN Steam barge
O.N. 124074 121g. 80n. 76.3 x 18.9 x 9.65 feet.
C.2-cyl. (10” & 21” x 12”) engine No. 55, made by the shipbuilder. 18 NHP. 123 IHP.
25.10.1906: Keel laid by W. J. Yarwood Ltd, Northwich (Yard No. 92) for William Gossage & Sons Ltd., (William Winwood Gossage, manager), Widnes. 
4.5.1907: Launched. 
26.6.1907: Registered at Liverpool. 
10.7.1907: Completed. 
31.4.1932: Sold to Lever Brothers, (Port Sunlight) Ltd., (Ralph E. Huffam, manager), Bromborough, Cheshire. 
3.4.1934: Sold to Samuel Gray, Belfast as a replacement for ETHEL q.v. and for a period was employed salvaging scrap metal cargo from the wreck of CAMLOUGH (540g/1920 – wrecked 14.1.1932) at Monreith Bay, until the loss of OMO q.v. concluded that operation. 
25.2.1935: Dragged her anchor in a north easterly storm in Belfast Lough and was driven ashore at Wilson’s Point. 
13.4.1935: Refloated and beached in St. Helens Bay and subsequent to being declared a CTL was part-demolished in situ by her owners before being taken to Whiteabbey Beach c4.1936 for completion of the work by Cohen, Sons & Company Ltd.


OMO steam barge
O.N. 131340 56g. 36n. 71.2 x 15.25 x 5.5 feet.
C.2-cyl. (7” & 17” x 9”) engine No. 86, made by the shipbuilder. 11.2 NHP. 50 IHP.
13.3.1910: Keel laid by W. J. Yarwood Ltd, Northwich (Yard No. 148) for Lever Bros., (James McDowell, manager), Port Sunlight, Cheshire. 
25.8.1910: Launched. 
12.10.1910: Completed. 
12.10.1910: Registered at Liverpool.
8.1934: Sold to Samuel Gray, Belfast (sale apparently not recorded), to supplement EILEEN q.v. 
6.9.1934: Wrecked whilst salvaging scrap metal cargo from the wreck of CAMLOUGH (540g/1920 – wrecked 14.1.1932) at Monreith Bay. 
29.1.1935: Register closed – per Receiver of wrecks, Stranraer.


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## BillH

Nswstar2 said:


> Well spotted! That makes complete sense. THANK YOU!
> 
> 
> The Camlough's good luck on the night was that the SS Moyella happened by, saw their distress, and was able to tow the Camlough away from the Mull of Galloway (where otherwise no crew would have been likely to survive a wreck) and into Luce Bay, where the ship was stranded in the exceptional high tide. Also the Camlough's crew were exceptionally lucky in the bravery of the crew of the Portpatrick life boat.


Are we sure of the name MOYELLA? I can find no trace of that name either in Lloyd's Register or Mercantile Navy Lists (the latter British only)

However there was a MOYALLON owned at the time within the Kelly Group. Could it have been her?

MOYALLON 
O.N. 148147. 257g. 95n. 124.5 x 22.2 x 8.8 feet.
Post 1935: 282g. 115n. 300d. 136.7 x 22.2 x 8.8 feet.
T.3-cyl. (9½", 15½" & 26" x 18") engine made by the shipbuilder. 33 RHP. 10 Kts.
7.7.1926: Launched by the Ailsa Shipbuilding Company Ltd., Troon (Yard No. 399), for R. & D. A. Duncan & Company Ltd., (Wm. Clint, manager, Kelly Group), Belfast. 
12.1926: Completed. 
1935: Lengthened. 
1950: Transferred to John Kelly Ltd., (same manager). 
1952: Renamed BALLYADAM, (J. G. Christie appointed as manager). 
1955: Douglas Watson appointed as manager. 
1955: Sold to the British Iron & Steel Corporation and allocated to the West of Scotland Shipbreaking Company Ltd. for demolition at Troon


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## Nswstar2

*SS Camlough - Salvage Operations - Difficulties on the Beach at Monreith*

Wonderful! THANK YOU very much for those details of the four salvage vessels that took part in work on the Camlough. Having found basic details for SS Ethel and SS Omo, both of which came to grief during Camlough salvage operations over 1933/34, I guessed there would have been other vessels participating in the work, but had not discovered how to find this information.

This is helping to build up a picture for me of the salvage operations.

The conditions on the beach at Monreith for the salvage operation must have been very awkward to manage.

There would have been access by horse and cart down Mill Lane from the centre of the village, and then across the Mill Stream outlet onto the sands. The site where SS Camlough was lying with the front two thirds of the ship stranded up on volcanic rocks and the last third of her stern on sand is just North of the burn outlet.

Frustratingly, I know that there were photos taken of the salvage going on - for example, an acquaintance has described one of a wagon & horses standing at the site which his father lent to someone who never returned it. I'm hoping that other photos may materialise as I make contact with other people from the village who had family living there in the 1930s.

While the locals might have used a horse and cart to do a bit of unofficial salvage from the stranded ship, the only economical way to get heavy, cut-up salvage from the Camlough away would have been by sea.

I've been trying to envision how any salvage boats could get close enough to be able to lift and load cut-up salvage from the Camlough. If the beach was in a similar condition to what I see these days, the only solution I could see would be for shallow-draft ships to manoeuver in over the flat sands into position close to the stranded Camlough, hold position there and 'take the ground' at low tide, where they would be able to use their crane to load the cut-free items of equipment and the cut-up ship's plates and structures. 

The subsequent lifting away of salvage vessels while heavily loaded as the tide came back in would have been a tricky operation.

However, from the angle of the surviving stern structures of the Camlough, it seems that salvage vessels would only be able to get close enough for a clear lift by working at the stern end of the stranded Camlough - trying to reach the forward section of the wreck would have put the salvage vessels in peril from the jagged volcanic rock. 

There is a large area of jumbled and heavily corroded wreckage located further in towards land just South and East of the wrecked Camlough stern section. This is now partly covered by sea-tumbled rock, and like all this site, only partly visible from day-to-day due to the movement of shifting sands. My suspicion is that this area of corroded metal will have been part of the wreckage of the salvage vessels - which (at least in the case of the SS Omo) would not have been removed in the same way as most of the Camlough was. In this area, there's also a small, bashed-in keg, and some other wood which is half sunken into a patch of the corroded metal wreckage. (photo)

I have traced some surviving wreckage immediately North of the surviving Camlough Stern structures which appears to have been consistent with low-down plates (heavily corroded) from Camlough (in a direct, continuing line, but now lying under sea-worn rocks). And following a line to the North up into loose boulders and also protruding volcanic *****, I've spotted a very few pieces of cut-up scrap, which would be consistent with pieces of scrap from where the bow of the stranded Camlough would have lain. (photo - scrap w/rivets)

I've mapped the area of various wreckage 'finds' against a photo taken of the site, standing further out on the flat sands with my back to the sea. (see photo)

It's all part of the unfolding story - and I'm finding it fascinating to piece things together.


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## Nswstar2

*SS Moyella? or Moyallon?*

I could find no trace of a SS Moyella, either, Bill (with less knowse and fewer resources than you clearly have to hand).

MOYALLAN is an interesting possibility. However the level of detail in the newspaper story is such that it seems unlikely that the rescuing ship was one of Kelly's ships.

Both the 'Belfast News Letter' account of the time and 'Galloway Shipwrecks' refer to 'Moyella' (the newspaper even had the name in a sub-heading). and the newspaper account says she was of the Limerick Steamship Company.

Clearly the rescuing ship had a radio as well (as while Camlough had raised a distress flag, it was the vessel that came upon her which sent the S.O.S. which was picked up by Portpatrick and Donaghadee lifeboat stations).

So I suspect 'Moyella' is still a mystery - though quite possibly mis-spelled (that was a good thought, Bill).









BillH said:


> Are we sure of the name MOYELLA? I can find no trace of that name either in Lloyd's Register or Mercantile Navy Lists (the latter British only)
> 
> However there was a MOYALLON owned at the time within the Kelly Group. Could it have been her?
> 
> MOYALLON
> O.N. 148147. 257g. 95n. 124.5 x 22.2 x 8.8 feet.
> Post 1935: 282g. 115n. 300d. 136.7 x 22.2 x 8.8 feet.
> T.3-cyl. (9½", 15½" & 26" x 18") engine made by the shipbuilder. 33 RHP. 10 Kts.
> 7.7.1926: Launched by the Ailsa Shipbuilding Company Ltd., Troon (Yard No. 399), for R. & D. A. Duncan & Company Ltd., (Wm. Clint, manager, Kelly Group), Belfast.
> 12.1926: Completed.
> 1935: Lengthened.
> 1950: Transferred to John Kelly Ltd., (same manager).
> 1952: Renamed BALLYADAM, (J. G. Christie appointed as manager).
> 1955: Douglas Watson appointed as manager.
> 1955: Sold to the British Iron & Steel Corporation and allocated to the West of Scotland Shipbreaking Company Ltd. for demolition at Troon


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## BillH

With mention of Limerick Steamship Co a google search reveals a vessel named MOYALLA rather than MOYELLA built at Dundee in 1927.

Hopefully the link will work

http://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.ph...lag=&disposal=&lost=&ref=50671&vessel=MOYALLA


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## Nswstar2

Great! The link works just fine.

As I had assumed, the ship attempting to take Camlough in tow was a bit longer than Camlough. 

That's a wonderfully clear photo accompanying the details - showing the engine-in-the-middle configuration for larger coasters. Though built seven years later than Camlough, it's still an open bridge, I see.

Nice to have this puzzling detail tied up.


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## Nswstar2

*Moyalla concluded...*

I found an interesting read as a final footnote on the the SS Moyalla.

After assisting in towing the SS Camlough away from the dire threat of wrecking at the Mull of Galloway to a safer place to come ashore (so all crew survived the stranding/wreck), she made it safely through WWII, only to come to grief on rocks herself (but with none of the crew injured) in peacetime, exactly a year before I was born, as it happens. 

Salvage operations on the Moyalla made Irish maritime history as the first example of the new SCUBA technology. The article is a good read at: http://lugnad.ie/moyalla/


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## Nswstar2

Bill, as a follow-up on this thread, I've been meaning to report how very much I have enjoyed my copy of your book 'Kelly's Navy'. I find this to be both an excellent reference book and a very good read (and I appreciate how rare an art it is to achieve <both> of these things). 

You've done a superb job of 'telling the story' of Kelly's operation, putting events into the context of the times. The details of all the individual vessels are comprehensive. But I also very much appreciate the three different first-hand accounts which you append at the end of the book.

I've continued to come back and re-read different sections for the book as my exploration of all the events surrounding the SS Camlough continues to widen and my appreciation of different aspects of the subject matter deepens.

It's a great book! Superb!


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## doncontrols

If you are trying to envisage what it was compared with what is there, now, this was a similar comparison for Pasages shipwreck in 1931
http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/286453/title/pasagesfd119/cat/523
http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/284928/title/wreck-of-the-passages/cat/523


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## Nswstar2

*Before and After (the wreck) photos*

WOW! That's a wonderful pair of photos! It looks as if quite a lot of her was left in situ - whereas by comparison SS Camlough was largely cut up for salvage, with none of her machinery left in place.

It's stunning to see engine is still standing proud like this! 

Since I last posted on this thread, I've recently received a scan of a photo which must have been taken shortly after the SS Camlough was stranded at high tide. For comparison, I also attach a photo from February when the footprint of what remains of SS Camlough stern from boiler room back to stub of screw shaft) was pretty fully exposed. She's partly re-covered in sand now.


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## doncontrols

Glad you found a photo of the vessel you can compare to, it makes it much easier to envisage. We have other wreks, in a similar state to yours, but Pasages is great because it remains so visible.


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## Nswstar2

I felt as if my dreams had come true when I opened that photo in my e-mail in-tray. 

I'd been spending so much time building up a mental picture of SS Camlough, but (like many people, I suspect) I still couldn't really grasp the <scale> of the ship properly from printed details and had even begun to doubt whether this footprint in the sands might have been of one of the two smaller salvage vessels which met their end on that beach during the salvage process. 

The photos I had were a fairly blurred front-on view from the bow of Camlough afloat and not heavily-laden (yes, I could get some idea of her scale from the human silhouettes in the photo) and several low-res shots of a beautiful scale model of the ship made the year she was launched (which gave an idea of the curve and line of her stern hull).

But this new shot of her stranded in exactly the place where I've been do***enting the surviving stern was very much as if she had 'grown' upwards from the footprint for me - wonderful!

She looks to be stranded fairly on an even keel, but there is even a suggestion of the slight list to port and down at the stern end which shows in the wreckage of that stern section. I'm guessing that as they cut the ship up on the beach and appear to have worked their way back to the stern she might have sunk down a bit more in the process (as the bow section, which had been resting on a rock outcrop was removed and if the stern was on softer sand).


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