Diving the Frederick (or more commonly: The Musket Wreck)

This little known American schooner (sailing ship) of 149 tons was, in some journals, reported missing early in 1832, but there is also some evidence to suggest that it floundered on the rocks ¾ mile East of St. David’s Head on 21st February 1833. The ship was on rout to West Africa having left Liverpool with a cargo of muskets and other small arms, and items used to trade with African nationals. Because of the route and the cargo, The Frederick may have been a slave ship taking a human cargo of slaves to Jamaca and then a cargo of sugar back to Liverpool. The Slavery trade was made illegal for British captains in 1807- hence the use of an American ship.

There is not much evidence of a shipwreck left on this site apart from its cargo; there is however, a large lump of material, which was partly covered by metal strips resembling swords, but in reality they were merely strips of iron. The wreck’s commonly adopted name: “The Musket Wreck” comes from divers having previously recovered whole flintlocks and musket parts. The items illustrated below were recovered by Allan Jefferey during the summer of 1988. The muskets can be identified as ‘Brown Bess’ muskets commonly used by both foot soldiers and marine soldiers (marines) during the Napoleonic wars. Other items shown are various gun parts including trigger guards and ram-rod ferrules. Clay pipes, handles for cut-throat razors and various blue and yellow beads.

The wreck, as described above lies at a depth of 22m at the top end of a gully that gradually slopes down to a depth of 26m where it flattens out. The gully itself is full of life and if you look very carefully (a torch will be handy) at about 24/26m you can still find small trading beads, clay pipe parts, musket parts (ram rod ferrules and trigger guards), flints and some pottery that the seabed gives up from time to time. The visibility here can be quite good; up 8m on a good day, but it’s often dark hence investing in a torch will be most rewarding – the yellow and blue beads will show prominently under torch light. The wreck can be dived at any time; it lies just outside, sheltered by the small bay, the main tidal stream. The back eddies can prove to be useful in clearing away any sediment churned by diving activities maintaining good visibility throughout the dive. Be warned that divers can easily get ‘carried away’ in their search for artefacts that time can slip away and at 26/7m (depending upon the state of the tide) running into unplanned deco is often an unwelcome experience.

Amongst the boulders you will find numerous fan worms and common sea urchins, whilst the sandy bottom is covered with brittle stars and dahlia anemones.

Getting to the site (use the same coordinates as for the Nimrod – 51:54:36N, 05:17:54W), the wreck is merely 50/60 metres further west. Using your depth/echo sounder to good effect, i.e. find the gully, drop a shot and if this lies in some sand – bingo! You’ve found it. Launching from Porthgain is easy, particularly on a neap tide. The wreck site is approximately 5Km in a South Westerly direction, look out for the sledges (3 groups of rocks that show at half tide) the first of which can be found just outside Aberiddy bay, otherwise it’s a clear run down.