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What is recorded here

The Liberty ship Samtampa was driven ashore at Sker Point in a gale on 23 April 1947 after engine trouble and the breaking of an anchor chain. All 39 aboard died, as did the eight volunteers of the Mumbles lifeboat sent to help them: 47 deaths in total. The disaster remains one of the defining modern wreck stories of the south Wales coast.

The vessel and voyage

Built in the United States during the Second World War as Peleg Wadsworth, Samtampa was a Liberty cargo ship of about 7,200 tons. On 23 April 1947 she was travelling in ballast from Middlesbrough to Newport when engine trouble forced her to anchor in Swansea Bay for repairs.

How it was lost

In violent weather the starboard anchor chain broke at about 4.40 p.m. The powerless ship was driven east and struck Sker Point by about 5 p.m. She broke first into two and then three parts, becoming a total wreck within roughly two hours.

Deaths and survival

All 39 people aboard Samtampa died. The Mumbles lifeboat Edward, Prince of Wales launched under coxswain William Gammon, but it too was overwhelmed and all eight lifeboat volunteers died. The combined death toll was 47.

What remains

Aerial photographs recorded the wreck soon after the disaster, but sea action and later clearance dispersed it. Material still associated with the loss area should be understood as the broken remains of a ship destroyed against the shore, not an intact hull.

Why it mattered

The disaster joined the loss of a large merchant crew with the complete loss of a lifeboat crew trying to save them. It became a lasting part of Welsh coastal memory and a stark example of the risks accepted by volunteer lifeboat crews.

Sources for this account

Sources checked 2026-08-15.

From the Coflein (National Monuments Record of Wales) record 274190

Places near here

Photo credits

Alan Hughes, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
eswales, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Jonathan Billinger, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Gareth James, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Stephen McKay, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Mick Lobb, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Colin Prosser, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Alan Hughes, Wikimedia Commons

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