HMS Conway School Ship Origins Of HMS Conway From Mersey To

In the mid 19th century, the demand for a reliable standard of naval officers had grown to the point where ship owners decided to set up an organisation to train, and indeed educate, them properly: the Mercantile Marine Service Associations (MMSA).

One of the first sites chosen for a school ship was Liverpool, in 1857. The ship they chose to accommodate the school, to be provided by the Admiralty and moored in the Sloyne, off Rock Ferry on the River Mersey, was one named HMS Conway. There were to be several HMS Conways over the years, the name being transferred to the new ship each time it was replaced, but the one that housed the school for most of its life was lent by the Royal Navy to the Mercantile Marine Service Association in 1875. This was a small two-decker 92-gun wooden frigate, 205 feet long, 54 feet deep, weighing 4,375 tons and originally equipped with ten 8 inch guns and eighty-two 30-pounders. Launched in 1839, she was entirely made of wood, with a copper bottom to protect the hull below the waterline. Previously known as HMS Nile, she had survived all sorts of adventures around the world, notably in the Crimea and allegedly in the American Civil War, before settling down to what should have been a dignified retirement. In 1876 she was renamed HMS Conway and moved to Liverpool.

The ship, already nearly a century old, was refitted in the dry dock at Birkenhead between 1936 and 1938. She was fitted with a new figurehead representing Horatio Nelson, which was ceremonially unveiled by the then Poet Laureate John Masefield, himself an old "Conway" (1891–1893). (A short newsreel clip of this event can be downloaded from the British Pathé website: search for "Conway".)

2 From Mersey to Menai

In 1941, with air raids on the Liverpool docks in full swing, Conway had already survived several near misses, and it was decided to move the ship from the Mersey to BangorBangor is the name of several places: In the United Kingdom: Bangor, Northern Ireland Bangor, Wales Bangor-Is-Y-Coed, Wales (also known as Bangor-on-Dee) In Australia: Bangor, Australia, a suburb of Sydney In Canada: Bangor, Prince Edward Island Bangor, N in North WalesNorth Wales is the northernmost region of Wales, bordered to the south by Mid Wales. It contains Snowdonia and Anglesey. The area is covered in mountains and valleys and this in combination with the close proximity to the sea have ensured that along with. This being wartime there was no official announcement of the move and local residents were startled one evening to see a picturesque Nelson-era battleship, a "wooden wall", coming up the Menai Straits. She was moored near the pier in Bangor and became something of a local tourist attraction.

At the end of the 1940s there was a surge in demand for merchant navy cadets. The ship was did not have space for more cadets so the the ship's Captain Superintendant, Captain Goddard, started looking for space ashore with playing fields and a shore establishment. He picked on Plas Newydd , the stately home of the Marquis of Anglesey, a large part of which had been vacated by the US Intelligence Corps at the end of the War. This site seemed ideal, except that the seabed provided very poor anchorage. He therefore sank four five-ton anchors there, quite an operation in itself. Only one problem remained: could the ship be got there in one piece? She would need to be towed by tugs through through a stretch of water between Anglesey and the mainland, known locally as the "Swellies" (or "Swillies"). This area, bounded by the two Menai bridges (the Menai Suspension BridgeThe Menai Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales. Prior to the bridge's completion in 1826 the island had no connection to the mainland, and all movement to and from Anglesey was by ferry. However and the Britannia BridgeBritannia Bridge is a bridge across the Menai Strait between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales, originally made of wrought iron rectangular box section spans, and now a two-tier steel box girder and arch bridge. The opening of the Menai Sus), is notorious for underwater shoals and dangerous, complex tidal currents. Goddard was proud of his experience as a hydrographical surveyor, and having studied the problem, believed it was possible.

After a false start the day before, the ship was successfully moved on 14 April 1949, in spite of what seems to have been a great risk. Conway was the largest ship ever to have passed through the Swellies. Her draft was 22 feet aft and the clearances were minute, not just underwater but overhead too: just three feet under the Menai Bridge, which is 100 feet above high water. "I was glad when it was accomplished," Goddard wrote. "It created a lot of interest amongst the North Wales seafaring fraternity, who had declared the undertaking to be a foolish one." Sadly, history would yet prove them right.

3 Loss of the ship

By 1953 another refit was due, involving replacing the central heating system and renewing the copper sheathing under the hull. This could not be done locally so the ship would have to be taken back to dry dock in Birkenhead, passing back through the Swellies once more.

On 14 April 1953 the operation took place. The new Captain Superintendant, Captain Hewitt RD RNR was in command, with two local pilots and one from Liverpool, as well as a number of cadets who had volunteered to help. There were two tugs (the Dongarth and the Minegarth), one to pull from the front while the other steadied the rear. The timing of the operation was critical. Even at high tide there are still tidal flows in the Swellies that continue for some time; the crucial period of "slack water" is very brief and there is no room for error. As it happened an "unexpectedly strong" current (according to the official report [1]) was encountered as the ship passed between the two bridges, and the front tug found itself unable to make headway. It was decided to bring the rear tug up to the front to help, leaving the rear of the ship out of control. As well as leaving the ship much less controllable, this lost much valuable time, a serious problem when the possible "window" during which the passage was possible was already so small.

Sure enough, the stern of the ship started to swing back and forth and she she ran aground on some flat rocks known as the Platters, below the Menai Bridge. All attempts to pull her off the rocks failed and when the tide went out, the Conway "broke her back". Firmly wedged on the rocks but no longer supported by water under the stern -- the heaviest part -- the ship simply snapped under her own weight. At first it was hoped that she could be floated off again at the next high tide, but when inspectors were sent in to assess the damage it was clear she would never sail again. [2]

From some angles she looked almost sound, but from others one could clearly see the distortion of the line of the hull. The interior inspection showed that the huge main timbers had been shattered, leaving some decks crushed to only four feet high. The forces involved are hard to picture.

The contents of the ship were salvaged but she was written off as a total loss and disowned by the Admiralty, who decided it was up to the local authorities to dispose of the wreck. So the Conway simply stayed where she was, slumped over the rocks, a picturesque but tragic sight.

4 Fire

The ship lay forlornly on the banks of the Strait for many few years but was a hazard to shipping. The Caernavon Harbour Board eventually decided they would have to assume repsonsibility for her removal. A team was sent in to dismantle the ship. During the process, on 30 Oct 1956, she somehow caught fire and burned to the water-line. The last vestiges of the Conway are still visible at low tide.

5 Reasons for the loss

There was great controversy over the loss of the ship. Some claimed that the advice of local pilots had been ignored, or that a ship the size of the Conway should never have been taken through such a narrow and dangerous passage in the first place. Perhaps the full truth will never be known, but certainly it would seem true that two tugs were not enough to keep control of such a large unpowered vessel in the grip of such powerful and unpredictable tidal currents.

6 Last years of the school

The school was first rehoused in tents loaned by the Army. These were was quickly replaced by a hutted camp in the grounds of Plas Newydd where it stayed for ten years. All traces of the huts have now gone but modern day visitors to Plas Newydd still use the school's cafeteria. Then new premises were built for it in the grounds of Plas Newydd on the south coast of Anglesey, and thus HMS Conway spent its last twenty years on dry land as what is known as a "stone frigate". The school closed in 19741974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). Events January-February January 5 Dungeons & Dragons officially released. February 4 Patricia Hearst, the 19 year old granddaughter of publisher William Randolph Hearst, is kidnapped.

7 Famous old "Conways"

Cadets over the years included:

Captain Matthew WebbCaptain Matthew Webb ( 19 January 1848 24 July 1883) was the first person to swim the English Channel without the use of artificial aids. On 25 August 1875 he swam from Dover to Calais in less than 22 hours. He was born at Dawley in Shropshire, one of 12 (Conway 1860–62), the first man to swim the Channel from England to France
John MasefieldJohn Edward Masefield ( 1 June 1878- 12 May 1967), was a British poet and writer, and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1930 until his death in 1967. He is remembered as the author of a children's classic novel The Box of Delights and a great deal (1891–94), Poet Laureate 1930-–1967
Lionel "Buster" Crabb (1922–24), the Royal Navy frogman who disappeared in mysterious circumstances while on a diving mission near a Soviet warship in 1956
Iain Duncan Smith (1968–72), leader of the Conservative Party 2001–2003
Sir Clive Woodward (1969–74), rugby union player and England coach

8 See also

Ships called HMS Conway

9 External links

hmsconway.org -- a comprehensive account of the life and loss of the ship, with many pictures and personal accounts
Diagram showing the Conways last voyage

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1 Origins of HMS Conway