The Vendome (Wreck)

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The Vendome, a six-year-old 480 ton steamer belonging to the Dynevor Colliery Company of Wales, was 155ft long with a beam of 22ft, and drew only 13ft, writes Kendall McDonald.
While this shallow draught may have been an advantage during Vendome's regular runs with coal to small French ports, it certainly didn't save her from the high winds from the south-west and the pitch black of the night of 4 December, 1888.
At five that morning, returning in ballast to Neath from Ramsay, Isle of Man, where she had delivered a cargo of coal, the Vendomeran onto a rock off Strumble Head. As she was taking water in through her hull and was clearly finished, Captain William Parry of St David's ordered his crew of 11 to their two small boats. With great difficulty they managed to launch safely.
At daybreak, when they could see where they were, they made for Fishguard Harbour. But first they saw the fate of their ship.
Wind-pushed waves rocked the steamer back and forth until she slipped off the rocks into deep water and drifted only a short way before going down.
It was not the first time Vendome had sunk. Three years earlier, she had gone down after a collision with another ship near a French port, and stayed under water for two years before being raised and made seaworthy once again.
This time she would not be raised. Surprisingly, Captain Parry had his master's certificate suspended for only three months.
The Adventurous Divers Club of Swansea found the wreck some years ago. Members recovered the inscribed ship's bell and mounting, which was sold at public auction for more than£500 in May 2000.