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Moelfre, Isle Of Anglesey LL72, UK is a shore accessible salt water dive site, located at Moelfre, Isle Of Anglesey LL, Isle Of Anglesey, Anglesey LL72, United Kingdom. The average visibility is 11-15ft/3-5m.

Moelfre, Isle Of Anglesey LL72, UK

Moelfre beach is a pretty shingle bay and seaside resort. Holidaymakers
come to enjoy a day by the seaside. Boating and sailing are popular here
and the ’Seawatch’ displays the fascinating maritime and marine
history. Watersports enthusiasts are well catered for with scuba
diving, sea kayaking and sailing.

Good Easy shore dive

The Royal Charter was a steam clipper built and launched in
1855. Steam clippers were a new type of ship in the mid 1800s – iron
hulls, with the lines and sails of a traditional wooden clipper, but
also equipped with an auxiliary steam engine which could be used when
suitable wind was not available. The Royal Charter was mainly
used as a passenger ship between Liverpool and Australia, a trip she
could make in under 60 days. She was capable of carrying 600 passengers,
with a crew exceeding 100.

In October 1859, the Royal Charter was returning to
Liverpool from Melbourne. Aboard were over 370 passengers and a crew of
112. Among the passengers were many gold miners, who were carrying large
amounts of gold on their persons, as well as a large consignment of
gold carried as cargo. On the night of October 26 the ship was caught in
a storm later to be known as the “Royal Charter Gale”. Over 200 ships were lost to this storm. The Royal Charter
attempted to anchor offshore of Porth Alerth to ride out the gale, but
hurricane force winds caused the anchor chains to snap. Despite cutting
the masts and use of the auxiliary engine, the ship was pushed into a
sandbar near shore in the early morning hours. Several hours later the
rising tide and gale force winds drove her on to the rocks at a point
just north of Moelfre on the north coast of Angelsey. The Royal Charter was
rapidly battered to pieces by the rocks. One crew member, Maltese born
Guzi Ruggier also known as Joseph Rogers, was able to swim to shore with
a line. 39 passengers and crew (all men) were able to be rescued. Over
450 others died, many lost at sea.

Monuments to the lives lost on the Royal Charter can be
found on the cliffs above her final resting place and in a local
cemetery, where the bodies that washed ashore over the next several
weeks were buried. It is said that large quantities of gold were thrown
up on the beach at Porth Alerth, with many local families becoming
wealthy overnight as a result of the tragedy. Many pieces of wreckage of
the ship can still be found at the base of the rocks at Moelfre,
visible at low tide and to scuba divers.

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