Shipwrecks along the Wild Atlantic Way

There is some fascinating shipwreck history along Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way, with hundreds of ships having fallen victim to the Atlantic’s wild elements. Looking out across the untamed waters, its natural beauty reeling you in, it’s not hard to imagine how a ship could find itself fighting for survival and then lost to the powers of the sea.

Lost to the Sea

Malin Head in Donegal has three British battleships lying in its waters, The HMS Transylvania, HMS Audacious and SS Empire Heritage, the wreck of this ship is only 70m deep and is popular with deep sea diving enthusiasts. SV Arethusa lies off the coast of Mayo, and SS Gairsoppa lies off the coast of Galway. At 3000ft, it rests deeper than the Titanic and fascinatingly, this ship’s cargo of silver was recovered in 2012, making it the deepest, largest precious metal recovery in history! The San Marcos de Portugale lies off the coast of Clare and the RMS Lusitania’s off the Cork coast. 1,198 lives were lost on the Lusitania and like the tragic story of the Titanic; there weren’t enough lifeboats for all those on board. The victims are buried in a mass grave in the Old Church Cemetery in Cobh.

Returned to land

There are three visible shipwrecks along the Wild Atlantic Way route and should be made part of your West of Ireland adventure. You will find the MV Plassy’s remains on the beach of Inis Oirr, the smallest of the three Aran Islands in Galway. The Spanish ship MR Ranga was wrecked on its maiden voyage in 1982, after losing power in a storm, off the coast of County Kerry. Part of the wreck was removed to facilitate the filming of Tom Cruise’s film, “Far & Away”, but the bow of the ship remains on the Dingle Peninsula and is well worth a visit. Staying in Kerry, you’ll be able to view the Sunbeam schooner on Rossbeigh Beach. The boat went down in 1903, but washed up onto the beach in 2014 and has since become a local attraction.

B&B accommodation along the Wild Atlantic Way

Donegal B&Bs | Sligo B&Bs | Mayo B&Bs | Galway B&Bs | Clare B&Bs | Limerick B&Bs | Kerry B&Bs | Cork B&Bs

Posted: 12 Oct 2016 by Claire Regan | with 0 comments

Tags: Wild Atlantic Way