About
On a stormy Wednesday evening in 1931, the Passages was returning from a successful trip fishing herring in the North of Ireland. The ship approached in Isle of Man in pitch darkness and gale-force winds.
Suddenly it came to a full stop; in the confusion and chaos the captain had run aground into the soft sand of Jurby Beach. Rescue flares were shot up, and the rescue party actually had to descend down the nearby headland to reach the crew. Thankfully, all 13 men were saved.
The Passages remains where it ran aground to this day, minus the cargo of herring, which had to be dumped overboard. The general outline of the vessel can still be seen at low tide, and the engine sticks up prominently, though most of the hull plating has gone. The Passages wreck has even been described as a good on-land example of what an underwater shipwreck looks like.
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Know Before You Go
This is only accessible at low tide, so be sure to check the times before you go. Take the Sartfield Road off the main A10 road, park by the water treatment area and walk south along the beach for about 600m.
Published
May 23, 2018
