This record comprises a documentary reference to a shipping casualty which has been assigned to the maritime named location OFF BARDSEY pending more information which may allow a more precise location for the loss to be assigned.

Event and Historical Information:
The SALLAGH was a steel-hulled steamship built A Jeffrey & Co at Alloa in 1916. Technical and configuration specifications are given as 131.7ft length, 23.1ft main breadth, 9.6ft depth in hold; 1 deck, 2 masts, ketch rigged, round stern, clencher built, three bulkheads, 2 water ballast tanks 43 tons; quarterdeck 46ft, boat deck 9ft, forecastle 26ft; screw propulsion powered by a single cylindrical steam boiler (working pressure 135lbs) linked to a compound engine (cylinders 16in and 35in, length of stroke 24in); official number 136357. The ship was registered as a new vessel on the Port of Belfast Shipping Register on 29 May 1916 with the owners being Charles Mackean and William John Reid Harbinson of Larne (32 shares each). The ship's nominated manager was William Harbinson. On 10 February 1917, the SALLAGH was carrying coal from Lydney to Larne when it was captured by a UC 65 off Bardsey. The submarine fired on the ship from the surface and the crew began to abandon the ship. A few shots struck whilst the lifeboats were being manned. The Chief Engineer, William McKay, was killed and another two crew members were injured. The ship was struck with shell twice after abandonment and then sunk by scuttling charges. The remaining crew were picked up by the GREENLAND (see NPRN 274836) at 4.15pm and landed at Holyhead. William Mckay is commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial to the Mercantile Marine. The ship's registry entry was closed on 14 February 1917 with the annotation - 'Sunk off Bardsey by shellfire and bombs from German Submarine'. The UC 65 was under the command of Kapitanleutnant Otto Steinbrinck. Before being torpedoed by HM Sub C15 in the November of the same year, the submarine undertook 11 patrols and sunk 105 ships including the destroyer TARTAR and the hospital ship GLENART CASTLE (162 people were killed).

Sources include:

ADM137/3979 Home Waters Ships Attacked February 7 - 12 1917, The National Archives, Kew
Appropriation Books, Official Numbers 136351 - 136400 (136357)
Chief Engineer William McKay, Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Y Drafod, 16 February 1917, p.4
Gater, D, 1992, Historic Shipwrecks of Wales, p.130
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Lloyd's Register Casualty Returns, 1 January - 31 March 1917, p.12 (i)
Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping, 1 July 1915 - 30 June 1916, number 115 in S
Mercantile Navy List, 1920, p.523
Port of Belfast Shipping Register 1911-1918,CUS/1/6/1/12, 8 in 1916.
U-Boat Project: Commemorating the War at Sea

Maritime Officer, RCAHMW, February 2019.

This record was enhanced in 2020 with funding from Lloyd's Register Foundation as part of the project ‘Making the Link: Lloyd's Register and the National Monuments Record of Wales’. Visit Lloyd’s Register Foundation Heritage and Education Centre for more resources.