Hms Barking (Z181)

Barking was one of the Bar-class heavy-lift boom-defence vessels built during the Second World War. Lobnitz and Company at Renfrew launched her in 1941. Her work included boom handling, cable laying, buoy work and salvage support. After service at Freetown and later reserve, she was sold on 6 March 1964 for breaking at Briton Ferry.

During the tow to the breakers the towline failed in a south-east Force 6 wind. Barking had no crew aboard to regain control. At high water, about 9.15am on 14 March, she came ashore beneath St Ann's Head coastguard station. Falling water left the hull pierced on rocks, and refloating attempts did not work.

There was nobody aboard and there were no deaths. Barking was already a disposed naval vessel, not an active ship carrying a wartime crew. The event was a failed tow and grounding.

The vessel stayed on the shore for a decade, broke her back and was partly dismantled from 1974. Heavy salvage removed much of the structure, but winch and deck fittings, pieces of hull and buried metal remain. OpenStreetMap record n6765092739 marks the same site a few metres away.

Barking links wartime harbour defence with the post-war breaking trade of South Wales. Its visible shore remains made it part of local memory even though nobody was killed. Recording the two map entries as one casualty also prevents a duplicate from becoming a false second shipwreck.