HMS Conway wreck picture

The dark shadows to the right of the abandoned Conwy,Nile are the "Platters". The white water close to the South Cardinal mark" Swellie Rock" is best left to port,pureley for comfort of motion and steering. Ideally pass as close as possible to the Swellie rock Cardinal on your starboard side. As you pass under Menai Bridge there is a red lateral mark on the mainland shore,line this up with the swellie mark as a transit , this clears you of the "Platters" Then aim "strait"! towards your white water bit as mentioned as you close on this area use the gable end of the house ahead as your safe line past the Rock when the Rock is astern over to port keep about 25 yds off the mainland bank and pass under the centre of the arch of the approaching Brittania Bridge simps innit! Thats the only colour picture of the wrecked Conway i,ve ever seen. It,s a cracker . I have a series of black and white shots taken the day after the She ran aground displayed on the wall of my Cafe in Port Dinorwic Marina. I would love a copy of your shot to enlarge and display alongside them. Please pm me if poss . Just driven along the side of the Straits flat as a pancake, tide slack, not a cloud in the sky should be out there not pratting about on the forum. Oh well off to work now. Oh if any forumite is planning a passage through the Straits at any time pm me first tell me when and I,ll pass on my local knowledge its a bit less frightening than the Pilot books!
 
Fabulous shot Steve, you may have a money shot there, I too have never seen a colour shot of her.

How far did she slip back into the water before she went down, I was always under the impression she was mid river as such.

Has anyone been through at low water, I know it is possible but as a non local am not confident to take chances like that?
 
Hey Woofy your right there Steve could have a money picture on his hands. The Conway pictures I have on the walls of the cafe really interest people. Regarding Her "sinking" She actually didn,t go down as such but ran aground roughly where the picture shows after hitting the "Platters" as the two tugs could not keep Her clear as She veered to starboard when the force of the flood caught her bow. Yes you can go through at low water .It,s an incredible sail through at LWSP but you do need to go through at that state of water with a local for the first time then after that its no problem. The biggest problem with yachts and displacement motor boats is the tide flow up to 8kts time that right and your ok. I think Caernarfon bar is more hairy the sand shifts and it gets rough! The sticky out bits in the Swellies stay in the same place they definateley don,t move cos I hit em all at least once! As I say it doesent really get that rough in the Swellie area of the Straits. Give me a shout if you want to go through at low water!
 
Re: Winchester? Goggle agrees.

Actually the rumour locally is the tug skippers got bladdered the previous evening set off late with thick heads henceforth stuffing Her on the rocks. Truth in the rumour? Who Knows? During a 20 year learning curve I,ve bounced off most bits in the Menai Straits strangeley always when sober. When negociating said waters after some inner lubrication, "never hit a thing Sir"Not suggesting we all go afloat tipsy but makes you think dunnit!
 
Was taken through once at low water slack.. At the time I did not know enough about the whole thing to understand the significance. There is a view that low water slack is easier cause you can see the bits that you might hit ??

Any views on this view ??
 
yeah when someone mentioned possible money I thought i'd better do that quick. Hopefully those that have downloaded it won't be going in to mass production!! The copy i have is a much higher resolution than the one I posted though. I've asked around and none of the local historians have ever seen a colour picture of this so it looks like I may be sitting on something a bit special.

Now I've got to figure out what to do for the best.
 
Try contacting Dive Magazine or Ships Monthly.

Did you scan it yourself?

There has to be interest out there. I was offered $750 for a photo that was hosted of my dog with a big staffy grin, an American magazine wanted it for a cover shot, unfortunately is was taken on an early casio digi cam and was only good enough for Internet use.

I would try and sell the shot you have and later maybe donate it to the Imperial War museum possibly. Some things should be available for all, once you have taken a few coins of course. It will always remain your copyright even hung on a wall of a museum, or marina café.

Your family must have been quite well off to be shooting colour at that time. My Granddad on my mums side was a keen shutterbug and I remember stacking all sorts of old photographs when we helped my Nan move in the early eighties, I don't know where they have gone now. There were some (very few) colour shots, but I was too young to know if they had any interest.
 
Thought it was a "C" for "cockup" on it- in any events an interesting photo.

Am not clear after Woofy's question and Kawasaki's reply if she disappeared into the depths or was broken up to remove her. Anyone able to comment?

John
 
Yes go through at low water slack if you,ve previously been at the reccomended high water time. You will see lots of the hazards to be avoided and be more relaxed the next time. One good tip is to view the Swellies from The Bridge at 6/7 am /pm this time of year cos its light and spring low waters are about this time.This is the vantage point that "The Picture" was taken from.Also the most important part that the almanacs overlook is combining the way through, the tides and the opening times of the pubs at each end .Now thats Seamanship!
 
A mate of mine down the road is a keen slide photographer and he has a dedicated slide scanner so he scanned them for me. There were a lot of black smudges and marks like some kind of fungus so I've used photoshop to clean it up.

I also have a colour photo of the St Seriol taking on passenger at menai bridge which looks really good as well. Maybe there'll be a market for them around the local gift and art shops. I'll have to recoup some of the money my grandad spent!!
 
apparantly she caught fire during salvage operations in 1956 and was burnt down to the waterlevel. Some people say you can still see some of the ribs on spring lows.
 
Re: Winchester? Goggle agrees.

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well b#%#r me

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Yes She did catch fire when being broken up .Some of the iron bits where being cut up by oxy and a sparky bit ignighted a wooden bit and She went on fire. Local folkelore says there are still some parts of Her in the surounding woods to be found that where squirrled away to be "rescued at a later date"But most of these rumours have been told to me with a Long John Silver accent Ah Jim Lad! However She definateley didn,t sink but unfortunateley ran aground and whent on fire and that was Her sad end.
 
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