Bajansailor
Well-Known Member
Some of you are probably familiar with the tale of Sam Lord - he was an infamous pirate who according to legend would hang lanterns in the coconut trees on the beach and cliff tops where he lived on the south east coast of Barbados - sailing vessels approaching Barbados at night would think that the lights were those of Bridgetown and head towards them, only to find themselves piling up on the barrier reef that extends a fair ways offshore.
It is a popular story, although I am a bit dubious as to how true it is - however Sam did build a very splendid castle for himself, so maybe his wrecking business was profitable.
Samuel Hall Lord - Wikipedia
The local folk group The Merrymen even wrote a song about him -
The reefs off the east and south east coast here do extend a fair ways offshore though, and they can be very deceptive - a yacht ran aground at night on the reef off Sam Lord's Castle in the first ARC Rally in 1986, and the crew literally had to swim ashore when the yacht started to break up.
The participants in the next ARC the following year were all warned about these reefs - and another yacht piled up on Sam Lord's reef again in 1987 despite these warnings, and despite the powerful East Point (aka Ragged Point) Lighthouse still working, and most ARC boats then already had basic sat navs.
Here is an account of how the square rigged tall ship 'Countess of Ripon' ran aground on Sam's reef in 1866 -
The Wreck of the SV Countess of Ripon
Fast forward now to June last year, and the offshore support / guard ship Christina Debora was abandoned off St Helena after suffering a complete failure of her main engine gearbox clutch. It was reported on in the St Helena Times here -
South Atlantic Ordeal: MV Christina Debora Crew Rescued After Weeks Adrift - St Helena Online
Marinetraffic last heard from her a year ago, when she was in Cape Town -
MarineTraffic: Global Ship Tracking Intelligence | AIS Marine Traffic
She appears to be a former North Sea trawler in a previous life?
Six months later, the MRCC in Martinique were posting bulletins about Christina, noting that she was heading our way, and they were asking for ships seeing her to report her position to them...........
The local dive shop Barbados Blue (Home ) were on a dive trip off the east coast a couple of months ago, and they saw Christina approaching Sam Lord's reef - they posted this video on their Facebook page, and it even shows when she hit the reef.
3.3K views · 406 reactions | Not sure all details. While diving east point today Chad saw…. this is happening now. Barbados is getting a new ship wreck off Sam Lords Beach/ Wyhdam. Drifting with no power. No one to rescue, we think. You can see when she hits the reef that claimed sooooo many schooners over centuries. #barbados @shipwrecks @eco_dive_grenada @hiltonbarbadosresort @wyndhamgrandbarbados @paditravel @paditv @divefestbarbados | Barbados Blue
Ooops. Their dive boat would not really have been capable of holding her off the reef, and they only saw her literally just before she ran aground, so there was no time to call for assistance.
One of our harbour tugs tried to pull her off the reef a few days later, but I heard on the grapevine that the tow rope broke, and they retreated back to the harbour, and no further attempts were subsequently made to pull her off.
Here are a couple of photos of her that were posted on FB soon after she piled up on the reef.
In the first photo you can see her on the reef in the far distance, with Harrismith beach in the foreground.
This photo below was taken with a drone on the 20th February, and it shows that she has made significant progress across the reef already.
This photo was taken a week later. I am surprised to see that modern day Sam Lord pirates have not yet been to visit the wreck to plunder her, although the winds were fairly strong and the seas pretty rough up until then.
In contrast, one of the Barbados Coastguard vessels (a 65' patrol vessel built by Halmatics in Havant) ran up on the Worlds End Reef in the Tobago Cays in the Grenadines one night in the early 80's, and within a couple of days the local salvors had stripped her clean - they apparently even got the engines out of her.
I love this photo of Christina (also found on Facebook)
And here is a photo taken on the 26th March - she is now aground on a sand bar inside the reef, and I have a feeling that this will be her final resting place now. Around this time there were reports that her diesel tanks were leaking, as there was a strong smell of diesel downwind - she probably also still has a considerable amount of lube oil in a tank or two, and this will have a much more dramatic effect when it eventually escapes.
Sam Lord's Castle used to be a relatively small hotel - it went through various owners, and then a few years ago I think it was bought out by the Wyndham Hotel Group, and it is now a huge resort.
Sam's old castle suffered a fire about 15 years ago, and only the shell of it remains (off to the left of the banner photo in the link below) - I don't think there is even a photo of it on the Wyndham webpage.
All-Inclusive Beach Resort in Barbados | Sam Lord’s Castle
It is a popular story, although I am a bit dubious as to how true it is - however Sam did build a very splendid castle for himself, so maybe his wrecking business was profitable.
Samuel Hall Lord - Wikipedia
The local folk group The Merrymen even wrote a song about him -
The reefs off the east and south east coast here do extend a fair ways offshore though, and they can be very deceptive - a yacht ran aground at night on the reef off Sam Lord's Castle in the first ARC Rally in 1986, and the crew literally had to swim ashore when the yacht started to break up.
The participants in the next ARC the following year were all warned about these reefs - and another yacht piled up on Sam Lord's reef again in 1987 despite these warnings, and despite the powerful East Point (aka Ragged Point) Lighthouse still working, and most ARC boats then already had basic sat navs.
Here is an account of how the square rigged tall ship 'Countess of Ripon' ran aground on Sam's reef in 1866 -
The Wreck of the SV Countess of Ripon
Fast forward now to June last year, and the offshore support / guard ship Christina Debora was abandoned off St Helena after suffering a complete failure of her main engine gearbox clutch. It was reported on in the St Helena Times here -
South Atlantic Ordeal: MV Christina Debora Crew Rescued After Weeks Adrift - St Helena Online
Marinetraffic last heard from her a year ago, when she was in Cape Town -
MarineTraffic: Global Ship Tracking Intelligence | AIS Marine Traffic
She appears to be a former North Sea trawler in a previous life?
Six months later, the MRCC in Martinique were posting bulletins about Christina, noting that she was heading our way, and they were asking for ships seeing her to report her position to them...........
The local dive shop Barbados Blue (Home ) were on a dive trip off the east coast a couple of months ago, and they saw Christina approaching Sam Lord's reef - they posted this video on their Facebook page, and it even shows when she hit the reef.
3.3K views · 406 reactions | Not sure all details. While diving east point today Chad saw…. this is happening now. Barbados is getting a new ship wreck off Sam Lords Beach/ Wyhdam. Drifting with no power. No one to rescue, we think. You can see when she hits the reef that claimed sooooo many schooners over centuries. #barbados @shipwrecks @eco_dive_grenada @hiltonbarbadosresort @wyndhamgrandbarbados @paditravel @paditv @divefestbarbados | Barbados Blue
Ooops. Their dive boat would not really have been capable of holding her off the reef, and they only saw her literally just before she ran aground, so there was no time to call for assistance.
One of our harbour tugs tried to pull her off the reef a few days later, but I heard on the grapevine that the tow rope broke, and they retreated back to the harbour, and no further attempts were subsequently made to pull her off.
Here are a couple of photos of her that were posted on FB soon after she piled up on the reef.
In the first photo you can see her on the reef in the far distance, with Harrismith beach in the foreground.
This photo below was taken with a drone on the 20th February, and it shows that she has made significant progress across the reef already.
This photo was taken a week later. I am surprised to see that modern day Sam Lord pirates have not yet been to visit the wreck to plunder her, although the winds were fairly strong and the seas pretty rough up until then.
In contrast, one of the Barbados Coastguard vessels (a 65' patrol vessel built by Halmatics in Havant) ran up on the Worlds End Reef in the Tobago Cays in the Grenadines one night in the early 80's, and within a couple of days the local salvors had stripped her clean - they apparently even got the engines out of her.
I love this photo of Christina (also found on Facebook)
And here is a photo taken on the 26th March - she is now aground on a sand bar inside the reef, and I have a feeling that this will be her final resting place now. Around this time there were reports that her diesel tanks were leaking, as there was a strong smell of diesel downwind - she probably also still has a considerable amount of lube oil in a tank or two, and this will have a much more dramatic effect when it eventually escapes.
Sam Lord's Castle used to be a relatively small hotel - it went through various owners, and then a few years ago I think it was bought out by the Wyndham Hotel Group, and it is now a huge resort.
Sam's old castle suffered a fire about 15 years ago, and only the shell of it remains (off to the left of the banner photo in the link below) - I don't think there is even a photo of it on the Wyndham webpage.
All-Inclusive Beach Resort in Barbados | Sam Lord’s Castle
Take the name off her side and add the Gallows and big working lights, and still with that turtle back shelter deck she could be straight out of number 1 Fish Dock Grimsby, in days of old.
