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Description
The CAROLINA or CAROLINE was one of the total losses resulting from the Royal Charter Gale, 25-26 October 1859.
The vessel is reported to have gone to pieces at Porthgain 'carrying away the small pier or quay, lately built'. The crew of 13 were all saved.
Other reports suggest a French vessel was wrecked in the same place with a crew, 7 in number, being saved. Damage to the pier is also noted in this incidence.
In the chaos caused to communication networks by the storm, it it quite likely that these conflicting reports relate to the same wrecking occurrence.
Soon after the gale, the following advert appeared in local Pembrokeshire papers:
'On Monday, the 7th day of November 1859, at eleven o'clock, am, at Porthgain, in the parish Llanrhian, for ready money only. The whole of the materials of the wreck of the Danish barque CAROLINA of Copenhagen, S C Ibsen, Commander, burthen 550 tons. Wrecked at Porthgain on the 26th instant, consisting of the whole of the oak and other timber, constituting the hull of that splendid ship, masts, yards, sails, cordage, blocks, cables and anchors, copper, metal and iron, boats, and all the tackle, apparel and furniture, saved from the wreck, as they now lie, in and about the creek of Porthgain, aforesaid. An early attendance is requested as the whole will be sold, without reserve, in one day. John Harries, Receiver of Wreck, Newport, Oct 28, 1859'.
From this notice, it would seem that the destruction of the CAROLINE was total, with much of the wreckage strewn all around the inlet and harbour.
Sources include:
Pembrokeshire Herald 11 November 1859, Welsh Newspapers Online
Potter's Electric News, 2 November 1859, pg2, Welsh Newspapers Online,
http://papuraunewyddcymru.llgc.org.uk/en/page/view/310014
What industry or export commodity is Porthgain famously associated with?
How does the role of the modern day Receiver of Wreck differ from that of John Harries, Receiver of Wreck of Newport in 1859?
https://www.gov.uk/wreck-and-salvage-law
https://www.gov.uk/report-wreck-material
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