11 Beaches with easily accessible shipwrecks

There are somewhere in the region of 44,000 shipwrecks dotted around the British coast. The majority of these have been broken up beyond recognition by the waves or are underwater some way off the coast. But this still leaves plenty of wrecks around the UK coastline that can be accessed without even getting your feet wet (if you time it right!).

From the rugged Cornish coast to the remote shores of the Orkney Islands, shipwreck sites can provide a fascinating glimpse into maritime history. Ranging from ancient wooden vessels to modern steel ships, each wreck has its own story and secrets.

This list includes some of the best shipwrecks to visit if you aren't planning on going diving. All provide a glimpse into the past in stunning settings and can make for an intriuging day at the beach.

Hunstanton, Norfolk

The Sheraton

^{Photo: Mr ATM}

Clearly visible at low tide, below the cliffs at the northern end of Hunstanton beach, is the wreck of the steam trawler Sheraton. The remains of the boat still form a clear outline of the sizeable hull with metal ribs rising out of the sand.

The boat was launched in 1907 and worked as a trawler in the stormy waters of the North Sea. When war broke out with Germany in 1914 the Sheraton was but to work on anti-submarine duty.

The Sheraton went back into military service in the Second World War when she was equipped with a six pounder gun and used as a patrol vessel.

Having survived active duty in two world wars the Sheraton had the undignified fate of being painted bright yellow and destined to be used as target practice. But the boat escaped this fate, breaking her moorings off the Norfolk coast during a storm in 1947. The Sheraton came to rest on the sands of Hunstanton and has remained there ever since.

Bulverhythe, Hastings, Sussex

The Amsterdam

^{Photo: Mal B}

Bulverhythe beach, just west of Hastings, is the resting place of the ill-fated Amsterdam. Built in 1748 for the Dutch East India Company, the ship had a bad run of luck from the start.

The Amsterdam's maiden voyage was intended to carry supplies out to Dutch colonies in what is modern day Indonesia, and return laden with goods purchased in Asia. Two attempts were made to sail in the winter of 1748 but were hampered by adverse weather.

It doesn't appear to have been third time lucky as within two weeks 50 of the crew had died of yellow fever, there had been a mutiny and the ship was still in the English Channel. Things only got worse when a storm hit and the ship was washed up on Bulverhythe beach.

Most of the crew are said to have survived and the cargo was salvaged but the ship soon sunk into the muddy sand.

It was only in 1969 that the wreck was re-discovered during a low spring tide. Recognised as the best-preserved East India Company ship ever found the wreck has been extensively excavated. Said to be two-thirds complete, there are actually several decks buried below the sand.

Today it is possible to visit the wreck on a big enough spring low tide. It is an impressive site with the timber clearly mapping out the shape of this historic vessel.

Rhossili, South Wales

Helvetia

^{Photo: Gareth Lovering}

If you were going to choose a picturesque backdrop to wreck your ship on, you could do a lot worse than the sands of Rhossili Bay on the Gower Peninsula.

The Norwegian barque Helvetia was sailing with a cargo of timber when it met its fate on a stormy night in November 1887. Bound for the port of Swansea, the ship almost made it. However, while attempting to shelter from the storm the Helvatia was driven ashore at Rhossili. 

The crew all safely made it ashore but the ship was left stranded on the beach where it has remained ever since. The wreck has slowly decayed over the decades, under the relentless assault of the elements, but the wooden ribs are still visible today, protruding from the sands like the skeleton of a great beast.

The wreck of the Helvetia is clearly visible from mid to low tide. It is only the front section of the bow that remains. How much of the wreck is revealed depends on the shifting sands, but the wreck always makes for a poignant image.

Saltwick Bay, Yorkshire

Admiral Von Tromp and MV Creteblock

^{Photo: Cass Castagnoli}

Saltwick Bay, located near Whitby, is one of the lesser-known gems of the North Yorkshire coast. A sandy beach set at the bottom of steep cliffs, the bay is also home to some striking rock formations. Saltwick is a place of moods and can be both beautiful and eerie - in fact some even say it is haunted.

The bay has been the final resting place for several ships, the best-known of which were the SS Rohilla and the Admiral Von Tromp.

The SS Rohilla, a British hospital ship, tragically struck Saltwick Nab in October 1914 amidst a fierce storm. She had been bound for Dunkirk during World War I, carrying 229 people. Despite the perilous conditions that night, the local lifeboat crews heroically rescued 144 survivors over a period of three days.

The last remains of the Rohilla still lie close to shore, and during low tide, parts of the wreck are visible, offering a haunting glimpse into this maritime tragedy.

In a more mysterious vein, the fishing trawler Admiral Von Tromp was wrecked under unclear circumstances in 1976. To this day nobody knows why the vessel veered off course and ran onto the rocks at Saltwick Bay. On the night it happened the local lifeboat crew could only watch as the crew struggled in the wheelhouse.

The accident resulted in the loss of two lives, adding a somber note to the already eerie landscape. A photographer's favourite, the wreck lies partially submerged in front of Black Nab, its structure exposed during low tide.

Brancaster, Norfolk

SS Vina

^{Photo: Martin Pettitt}

Despite the sad profile the rusting hull of the SS Vina cuts, there was no tragedy on Brancaster beach.

Built in 1894 the Vina was a steam powered coaster which carried cargo to and from the Baltic. However, in 1940 the ship's working life came to an abrupt end when she was requisitioned by the navy as part of the war effort. Her role was as a blockade ship to protect the port at Great Yarmouth. Filled with concrete and explosives the Vina would have been sunk in the event of an invasion.

This didn't happen and in 1944 the ship was given another role. Towed around the coast and anchored off Brancaster she was to be used as target practice for the RAF. After being peppered with shells the ship broke her moorings during a storm and washed up on a sandbank, where she remains to this day. 

Over the years the wreck of the SS Vina has slowly disintegrated and sunk further into the sand. At some point she was cut into three. That said the shipwreck still continues to fascinate and is clearly visible at low tide.

While it is possible to walk out to the Vina on spring low tides it is largely discouraged as people have been trapped by the rapid tide while attempting to reach the wreck. 

Booby's Bay, Cornwall

SV Carl

^{Photo: Anthony Parkes}

Despite being well known for the huge number of shipwrecks around its coast, Cornwall actually has very few easily accessible wrecks you can visit. Some are under deep water, but most have just been obliterated by the power of the Atlantic Ocean.

Perhaps the most complete and easy to reach wrecks on the Cornish coast is that of the German ship, the SV Carl. Built in Cumbria in 1893 the steel-hulled, three-masted sailing ship was registered in Hamburg. When World War I broke out, the SV Carl was in Cardiff docks, whereupon she was promptly impounded.

In 1917 it was decided to scrap the Carl in London. As she was being towed along the North Cornish coast the ship broke her lines and was washed onto an offshore reef. An attempt was made to refloat the ship and she was successfully pulled off the reef only for the lines to break again.

The Carl ended up being washed onto the shore at Booby's Bay near Padstow. Eventually all hope of salvaging the ship were abandoned as she broke up and was forgotten.

The wreck of the Carl remained buried under the sands of the Cornish beach for nearly 100 years until the vicious storms of 2014 striped away over a metre of sand. This revealed the impressive 60ft metal skeleton of the hull, most of which hadn't been seen in a lifetime.

Inganess Bay, Orkney

Juniata

^{Photo: Andrew Curtis}

The Orkney Islands, off the northern tip of Scotland, are home to some beautiful sandy beaches. Among these is Inganess Bay. Although nothing special by Orkney standards the beach does have one defining feature - the wreck of the SS Juniata. The rusting hull of this old ship lies less than 100 metres off the shore.

The Juniata wasn't always called this. Built in 1918 she was named the Sprucol and was used to transport oil along the North Sea coast. Barely out of the shipyard and only a few months away from the end of World War I disaster struck. The Sprucol was torpedoed by a German U boat and hit mid ship.

But this has nothing to do with why the Juniata lies rusting away in Inganess Bay. Despite extensive damage from the torpedo the ship didn't sink and limped back to port where she was fully repaired.

In 1920 the ship was sold to Anglo American Oil and this is when she was renamed the Juniata. For 20 years she gave good service but with her condition deteriorating and the outbreak of World War II the ship was requisitioned by the Royal Navy to be used as block(ade) ship in Scapa Flow.

Loaded up with concrete and scuttled at the entrance of the natural harbour in 1940 you might think this would be the end of the Juniata's journey. But it wasn't. 

In 1949 the ship was refloated so she could be towed for scrapping. However, it was found that here condition was so bad that she was beached at Inganess. Some in situ scrapping was tried but the stern section remains where it was left, rising out of the water as a monument to this ship that refused to be sunk.

Margam Sands, South Wales

SS Amazon

^{Photo: Gareth James}

The four-masted barque, SS Amazon, set sail from Port Talbot on the morning of the 1st September 1908. Bound for the far side of South America with 2,000 tons of coal she didn't get far.

When the ship left port the wind was little more than a breeze but by the time she was out of Swansea Bay it had turned into a gale. Hoping to wait out the storm the crew set anchor off Mumbles Head and waited overnight.

Early the next morning the storm showed now sign of letting up and the seas were mountainous. At was at this point that the ship was hit by a huge wave causing the anchor chain to snap and setting the ship adrift. Driven by the howling winds and huge ground swell the Amazon was pushed onto Margam Sands.

Despite running aground barely off the shoreline the sea was raging around the ship making it impossible for the crew to get off. It is said thousands of people gathered on the beach, but could only watch as the ship's crew climbed the rigging to stay out of the waves.

One by one the masts broke until finally there were none to cling on to. Out of 28 men aboard only eight survived.

Today the remains of the SS Amazon can easily be reached by foot on the low tide.

Berrow, Somerset

SS Nornen

^{Photo: Colgill}

On the night of March 2nd, 1897, a mighty storm battered the south west coast. Blowing down the Bristol Channel, a number of ships were caught out by the ferocity of the winds.

SS Nornen was a Norwegian ship which was sailing from Bristol to Georgia, in the USA, carrying a cargo of turpentine and resin. The three-masted barque was barely a day out of port when the storm struck. The captain decided to turn around and head back to port but couldn't outrun the storm.

In an attempt to shelter from the storm the Nornen set anchor in the lee of Lundy Island off the North Devon coast. However, the ship broke anchor and with her sails in tatters was at the mercy of the elements.

Eventually the Nornen was driven onto the beach at Berrow in Somerset and the crew all rescued by the Burnham lifeboat. It wasn't long before the wreck began to break up and salvage became impossible.

The broken timbers rising out of the low-tide sands are all that remain of the SS Nornen. Out of all the shipwrecks in this article it could be said they are the most photogenic. If you do decide to take a closer look, be aware that some of the sand further out is dangerously soft and it is not impossible that one might become stuck in it.

Goswick, Northumberland

SS Werner Kunstmann & others

^{Photo: Walter Baxter}

The expansive sands of Goswick beach lie just a stone's throw south of the Scottish border. Over the years a number of ships have been driven onto the ever-moving sandbars by northerly winds blowing down the North Sea.

The remains of a few of these are still visible as timber or iron rising out of the sand, although their names are largely forgotten. 

The biggest and best documented of these wrecks is the SS Werner Kunstmann, a 2,500 ton steam powered cargo ship registered in Germany. It is often said that she went down just before the outbreak of World War I in 1914 whilst loaded with iron destined for the munitions factories of the Fatherland.

This was not the case. In fact the ship went down in 1913 and was sailing to Newcastle, unloaded. One part of the story that seems to be widely agreed on is that all seventeen crew on board were rescued by the Holy Island lifeboat.

The wreck is only visible on the lowest of tides but the rusting iron hull makes for quite and impressive sight.

Among the other wrecks you might come across on Goswick beach are the wooden ribs of the schooner Sea Belle and the iron boiler of a paddle steamer which went down in the 1880s.

Cefn Sidan, South Wales

Various wrecks

^{Photo: Gareth James}

It is said that there are the remains of over 300 ships buried in the sands of Cefn Sidan. Since records began in 1668 more than 180 have been recorded and countless lives lost.

One of the best-known wrecks is that of the La Jeune Emma which went down in 1828. This is the wreck in the photo and one of the most easily accessible on Cefn Sidan. The French ship was carrying a cargo of rum, sugar and coffee from Martinique to Le Havre when the captain made a terrible navigational error.

In thick fog the sailing brig ended up miles off course in the Bristol Channel rather than near the French coast. Mistaking the light on Lundy Island for that on Ushuant the ship ran on to the sandbar in heavy seas.

Of the 19 on board 13 were lost. One of those was twelve year old Adeline Coquelin, the niece by marriage of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Whilst many of these ships met their fate by being blown onto the treacherous sandbars there are more sinister stories. Back in the 17th and 18th century a group known as the Gwyr y Bwelli Bach - People of the Little Hatchets. 

They were known for looting shipwrecks and carrying specially made hatchets with a claw on one side, for prizing open casks, and a blade on the other. This, it is said was used for removing rings from fingers the quick way, among other things.