City of Bristol

Last Updated on Thursday, 20 May 2010 16:17

1840 – The City of Bristol was a 210 ton paddle steamer.  Homeward bound from Waterford to Bristol, the ship encountered an horrendous storm and was driven towards the land.   In darkness the Captain tried to head for shelter inside Worms Head but the vessel was blown in to the beach.  Turned broadside to the shore by the pounding seas, the steamer broke apart just after midnight, spilling its contents of twenty-nine crew, seven passengers including two women and a child, fifteen cattle and one hundred and eighty pigs into the raging tide. Of its crew and passengers, only two made it ashore alive - the ship's carpenter and a cattleman (who only managed to save himself by clinging on to the tail of one of the few cattle to struggle on to the beach).   The remains of the ship are still visible at very low tides just north of Diles Lake but are never fully exposed. (Ref. 007)