The substantial remains of the vessel can be seen in the mud on the eastern bank of the river above the New Cut bridge. The vessel has opened down the centre and collapsed outwards. One side (port?) is still substantially intact and upright. The other side has settled onto the contours of the steep downward slope of the channel bed.

Event and Historical Information:
The LADY QUIRK was built as the RAYMOND by the merchant John Lefurgey at Summerside, Prince Edward Island, in 1876. Technical and configurations specifications at that time were given as 199gt; 104ft 8in length x 24ft 3in breadth x 12ft 9in depth; 2 masts, rigged as a brigantine, 1 deck, partly fixed with iron bolts. Much of the vessel's service life can be traced in its port of registry entries (Aberystwyth 1877; Swansea 1878-1884; Aberystwyth 1885-1895; Faversham 1896-1915; Fowey 1915-1928; and finally Douglas, Isle of Man, 1929-1947). The vessel was transferred from Canada to the Port of Aberystwyth in 1877 on its sale to D Evans. Subsequent owners include F Evans 1884-1877; Evan Davies of New Quay, Cardiganshire, 1878-1893; T R Dadd of Whitstable 1894-1913; Joiner Brothers of Whitstable 1913-1915; J Murdoch of Poole, Dorset, 1915-1927; and Edward M Tumilty of Dovercourt, Essex 1927-1929. In 1929, on sale to Charles J Quirk of Gordon Square, London, the vessel's name was changed to LADY QUIRK. The Quirk Nautical School had been founded at Salcombe some 10 years earlier and appears to have moved to Pevensey, to Poole and then to Gravesend. The Quirk family (owner given as Mrs Annie Quirk 1933-1934) offered to train boys who wanted to join the Merchant Navy. On 31 October 1929, the vessel went onshore on Bembridge Ledges, Isle of Wight, but got off on the next tide. The Quirk Nautical College closed in the 1930s, probably when the vessel was sold in 1934 to F W Somerfield (and others owners). It was then used by the Battersea-Chelsea Sea Cadet Corps until 1937. In 1938, it was sold to Francis A Turnnidge of Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, and returned to trade. Its final owner, taking over in 1947, was F J Reid. The vessel was being used in the West Country china clay trade when the cost of further repair finally proved uneconomic - after bringing a cargo of china clay into Swansea in 1947, the LADY QUIRK was found to be leaking and 'laid up' in the New Cut.

Sources include:
A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of the Swansea Region, Association for Industrial Archaeology, 2nd Edition, 1989
Memorial University of New Foundland, 1998, Ships and Seafarers of Atlantic Canada CD ROM

WWW Resources:
http://www.bruzelius.info/Nautica/Ships/Squarerigged_Schoolships.html
http://www.swanseadocks.co.uk/River%20Tawe.htm
http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=21290 - DRAMA OF THE SEA WITH A "HAPPY ENDING"
http://www.pbase.com/pgalena/robin_craig&page=40

RCAHMW, October 2011.