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St Mary's Isle
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St Mary's Isle
St Mary's Isle (also known as Conister Rock or the Tower of Refuge, Manx: Kione y Sker or Creg Voirrey) is a partially submerged reef in Douglas Bay on the Isle of Man. Prior to 1832 the rock was the property of the Quane family until John Quane, Attorney General of the Isle of Man, presented the rock to Sir William Hillary, in his capacity as President of the Isle of Man District of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution to build the Tower of Refuge. Since then the custody of St Mary's Isle has been held by each president of the local lifeboat association.
The reef is not far from the ferry terminal. Its eastern part, the Conister Shoals, had to be blasted away when a new harbour breakwater was built in the early 1980s. The rocks are only fully submerged at spring high tides; they can be accessed very briefly on foot at low spring tides.
Conister is a corruption of the Manx Kione y sker meaning the 'head of the reef'.
On Friday 19 November 1830, under the command of Lieutenant John Tudor R.N., the packet steamer St George arrived in Douglas from Liverpool with mail and passengers. The St George belonged to the Saint George Steam Packet Company of Liverpool and at that time was engaged in competition with the newly established Isle of Man Steam Packet Company.
Once her passengers and mail were unloaded, the St George proceeded to take her anchorage in the vicinity of Conister Rock using the fixed chain cable which had been secured for the task. The night was stormy, with strong gusts of wind from the southwest which increased in ferocity as the wind backed to the southeast on the morning of November 20. At 05:00hrs the chain cable holding the St George began to give way and she began to drive in between the Pollock and Conister rocks.
Steam had been kept up during the night, with the crew at their stations, but the force of the sea together with the ship's proximity to the Conister Rock meant she struck the rock before any attempt to back her out could prove successful. The St George struck the rock violently, immediately filled and settled down forward, with her head to the land and lying almost broadside to the most rugged part of the rock.
Lieutenant Tudor immediately ordered distress signals to be made as well as the foremast to be cut away with a view to forming a raft so as that when the dawn came they might be rescued by boats from the lee side of the vessel, but this was found to be impractical. From his home at the Fort Anne, Sir William Hillary observed the disaster taking place and immediately made for the pier in order to initiate a rescue. Together with Lt Robinson (RN), William Corlett (agent for the St George Steamship Company), Issac Vondy his coxswain, and a volunteer crew of 14 Sir William set out to render assistance.
On approaching the St George the lifeboat's anchor was let go to the windward, and by veering down upon the wreck an attempt was made to take off the people from the weather quarter, but the surf would not enable this to be carried out. The lifeboat was then backed between the St George and the rocks, and despite warnings from Lt Tudor of the dangers this would present to the lifeboat, the crew of the lifeboat persevered and were initially successful. The lifeboat had now got into a situation where the rolling sea was causing it to become swamped and began to sustain damage with the rudder being disabled and six out of the ten oars either broken or lost. Coupled to this, Sir William, Corlett and two boatmen had been washed overboard.
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St Mary's Isle
St Mary's Isle (also known as Conister Rock or the Tower of Refuge, Manx: Kione y Sker or Creg Voirrey) is a partially submerged reef in Douglas Bay on the Isle of Man. Prior to 1832 the rock was the property of the Quane family until John Quane, Attorney General of the Isle of Man, presented the rock to Sir William Hillary, in his capacity as President of the Isle of Man District of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution to build the Tower of Refuge. Since then the custody of St Mary's Isle has been held by each president of the local lifeboat association.
The reef is not far from the ferry terminal. Its eastern part, the Conister Shoals, had to be blasted away when a new harbour breakwater was built in the early 1980s. The rocks are only fully submerged at spring high tides; they can be accessed very briefly on foot at low spring tides.
Conister is a corruption of the Manx Kione y sker meaning the 'head of the reef'.
On Friday 19 November 1830, under the command of Lieutenant John Tudor R.N., the packet steamer St George arrived in Douglas from Liverpool with mail and passengers. The St George belonged to the Saint George Steam Packet Company of Liverpool and at that time was engaged in competition with the newly established Isle of Man Steam Packet Company.
Once her passengers and mail were unloaded, the St George proceeded to take her anchorage in the vicinity of Conister Rock using the fixed chain cable which had been secured for the task. The night was stormy, with strong gusts of wind from the southwest which increased in ferocity as the wind backed to the southeast on the morning of November 20. At 05:00hrs the chain cable holding the St George began to give way and she began to drive in between the Pollock and Conister rocks.
Steam had been kept up during the night, with the crew at their stations, but the force of the sea together with the ship's proximity to the Conister Rock meant she struck the rock before any attempt to back her out could prove successful. The St George struck the rock violently, immediately filled and settled down forward, with her head to the land and lying almost broadside to the most rugged part of the rock.
Lieutenant Tudor immediately ordered distress signals to be made as well as the foremast to be cut away with a view to forming a raft so as that when the dawn came they might be rescued by boats from the lee side of the vessel, but this was found to be impractical. From his home at the Fort Anne, Sir William Hillary observed the disaster taking place and immediately made for the pier in order to initiate a rescue. Together with Lt Robinson (RN), William Corlett (agent for the St George Steamship Company), Issac Vondy his coxswain, and a volunteer crew of 14 Sir William set out to render assistance.
On approaching the St George the lifeboat's anchor was let go to the windward, and by veering down upon the wreck an attempt was made to take off the people from the weather quarter, but the surf would not enable this to be carried out. The lifeboat was then backed between the St George and the rocks, and despite warnings from Lt Tudor of the dangers this would present to the lifeboat, the crew of the lifeboat persevered and were initially successful. The lifeboat had now got into a situation where the rolling sea was causing it to become swamped and began to sustain damage with the rudder being disabled and six out of the ten oars either broken or lost. Coupled to this, Sir William, Corlett and two boatmen had been washed overboard.
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