Maritime record MWX4895 - Sandal

On fire in Portland Harbour on the 19th March 1908, the Sandal eventually sailed on the 28th. (1)

The Sandal very nearly became a major disaster, on the 19th March 1903. She was a few miles east of Weymouth when a fire broke out in her engine room. This then spread to her cargo of esparto grass. The fire in her engine room was soon brought under control , however it proved impossible to put out the fire in her hold, so she was towed, still on fire, into Portland Harbour. Here trained firemen finally managed to extinguish the blaze. Remarkably she suffered little serious damage and was quickly repaired, only nine days after the fire she was able to sail again under her own power.(3)

The building date for this vessel is an estimate based on an average age at wrecking of twenty years. This average is derived from those vessels wrecked on the Dorset coast whose age at wrecking is known.

Salvaged

<1> Le Pard, G, 1995-2003, Dorset Coast Forum Maritime Archaeological Database (Digital archive). SWX8707.

<2> Boddy, M, 1975b, Dorset Shipwrecks part 2 (Article in serial). SWX7302.

<3> Le Pard, G F, 2005, Shipwrecks of the Dorset Coast (Monograph). SDO9637.

Record last edited

May 6 2004 10:39AM