More information : Method of Fix: PHOT
Horizontal Datum: OGB
Vertical Datum: LAT
Orientation: NWSE
17-FEB-1964 Stranded wreck.
08-OCT-1991 Now shown as stranded wreck, orientated NW/SE, in 51 42 30.0N, 002 29 48.0E. Apparently a large scour has formed to SE of wreck.
(1)
A large vessel, measuring approximately 124m long, is stranded on Saniger Sands to the east of Lydney Harbour. It has been recorded on aerial photographs and it's position and basic form has also been mapped.
(2)
The mapped position and orientation matches that recorded in UK Hydrographic Office record 12595 (3), and helps to identify the vessel as the RAMSES II, which is shown in two photographs (4) (5) dated to 1951. The photographs show the vessel in the same position in which she has been mapped by Source 2, Lydney harbour can clearly be identified in Source 4 and confirms that the position of the ship in the photograph is the same as mapped from Aerial photographs.
The UK Hydrographic Office presently chart her as UNKNOWN, in position 51°42.53N, 002°29.88W [WGS 84] in a general depth of 2m, and give her orientation as 135°. (3)
`Occasionally the wreck can [still] be seen above the mud at low water' (6), as shown in the photograph of p65 of Source 7.
Documentary evidence for the vessel:
Stranded on the Saniger sand when she broke tow from the two tugs that were to guide her into the harbour. Despite attempts to steer her away from the sandbanks, she stranded half way between Ludney harbour and Sharpness. She had been carrying 7000 tons of maize, from Odessa to Sharpness, and having stranded on the sand she broke her back on the following day , and can be seen in that condition in Source 5 which dates to May 1951. 6000 tons of maize were recovered from the vessel between 23rd March when she grounded, and 28th September 1951, and Intermittent salvage work was carried out on the wreck over the next few years, but it was not until 1960 that her remains were `reduced to the required level'. (7) (8) (9)
Source 7 shows several photographs of the RAMSES II aground, both in 1951 and more recently around the year 2000; and of the operation to remove her cargo from the sinking wreck.
Built: 1924 (10) (11)
Where built: Stockton (10) (11)
Builder: Ropner Shipbuilding and Repairing Company (10) (11)
Official No: 139232 (12)
LBD: 118.9 x 16.9m (11); 390 x 55.5ft (9)
Tonnage: 4845 (7) (10) (11); Source 7 also gives her tonnage as 4934.
Propulsion: 3-cylinder triple expansion steam engine. (7) (9)
Machinery: By John Dickinson and Sons, Sunderland. (9)
Ownership detail:
1924, Sources 9 and 12 state that she was built as the BRIDGEPOOL by/for Ropner and Company, West Hartlepool. (12) (9)
1946, Sold to Ford Steam Ship Company, Hull (William Brown, Atkinson and Company), and re-named WANSFORD (12) (10) (9); Source 7 states that she was built as the WANSFORD, but this is though to be an error.
1950, Sold to A and R Klat, Alexandria and re-named RAMSES II (7) (10) (12) (9)
Sources 9 and 13 show photograph of the vessel as the BRIDGEPOOL.
The wreck as mapped by Source 2 measures just over 140m in length, while the vessel as built was just less than 119m long, and it is thought that the discrepancy is the result of dispersal work in the 1950s. (14)
Date of loss qualifier: Actual date of loss
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