Maritime record MWX2411 - 19th Century Hulk, Lady of Avenel (Island, Virgo), Poole

The remains of a British brigantine, 1939, scuttled and then blown/dispersed up in 1979. The wrecked remains of this vessel are visible on Aerial photographs of Holes Bay taken in 1947.

The ribs and keel of this once famous vessel are just visible at low water, between the navigable channels in Holes Bay. Named after the heroine of Scotts novel The Abbot, she was built as a schooner, and in her early years was engaged in the illegal slave trade. Later she ran the Azores fruit trade, and then Newfoundland cod. About 1880 she fell over in dry dock, and in being repaired was rigged as a brigantine. During the Great War she carried Welsh coal, then an expedition to Spitzbergen, and for a while served as a boys training ship in Falmouth harbour. When Captain Dowman bought the Cutty Sark, he sold the Lady of Avanel in 1924. Her new owner named her Island, and sent her off on another Arctic expedition. Renamed Virgo, then back to her old name, she was scuttled in Poole after 65 years service. Royal Marines blew the wreck up in 1979, but her figurehead is preserved in Germany, her compass binnacle being in Poole Maritime Museum.

Year Built: 1874
Date of Loss Qualifier: R <2>

22-APR-1980 50 43 22N, 01 59 39W. <1>

Additional sources cited in United Kingdom Shipwreck Index. <3>

The wrecked remains of this vessel are visible on aerial photographs of Holes Bay taken in 1947 <5>. This site was digitally plotted during the South West Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey (Dorset).

<1> United Kingdom Hydrographic Office, 1992, Hydrographic Office wreck index (Index). SWX4837.

<2> Larn, Richard, 1992, United Kingdom shipwreck index, Extracted 23 November 1992 (Index). SWX5030.

<3> Larn, R, and Larn, B, 1995, Shipwreck index of the British Isles, volume 1 : Isles of Scilly, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset Section 6, Dorset (AJ) Vol 1, 9-10 (Monograph). SWX4541.

<4> Le Pard, G, 1995-2003, Dorset Coast Forum Maritime Archaeological Database, Shipwreck 142 (Digital archive). SWX8707.

<5> Royal Air Force, 17-JAN-1947, RAF/CPE/UK/1934 PART IV 2041 (Aerial Photograph). SDO12915.

<6> National Record of the Historic Environment, 904678 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Apr 12 2023 1:30PM