The wreck of the Clan MacMaster
30th September 2023 marks 100 years since the Clan MacMaster was wrecked in Calf Sound.
In some of the worst fog ever experienced by the crew, the cargo ship Clan MacMaster was on her way from Glasgow to East Asia, via Liverpool. She was carrying a real mix of general goods – coal, cotton, whisky, beer, motor cars, sewing machines…and, fortunately as it turned out, lifeboats. Travelling through the Sound, she grounded on Thousla Rock. The officers and crew, 80 in number, set off distress signals and took to the lifeboats, all safely landing on the Calf of Man. They were quickly rescued and carried on their journey to Liverpool via the Isle of Man Steam Packet.
The S.S. ‘Clan MacMaster’ ashore at the Sound. Image ref: PG/6967/14
Great interest was taken in the fate of the cargo as it floated around in the sea. Officially, some sewing machines and one piano were landed in Peel. Unofficially, it is said that most of the homes in the south of the Island mysteriously acquired new sewing machines that autumn! Salvage of the remaining cargo was postponed until spring and the last of her cargo was finally unloaded in June 1824, almost nine months after she ran aground. As for the 128 metre-long steamship herself, her remains still lie on the seabed in the Sound.
Singer Sewing machine from ship Clan MacMaster. Object ref: 2005-0072
Blog Archive
- Edward VII’s Coronation Day in the Isle of Man (9 August 1902)
- Victoria’s Coronation Day in the Isle of Man (28 June 1838)
- Second World War Internment Museum Collections
- First World War Internment Museum Collections
- Rushen Camp: Second World War Internment on the Isle of Man
- Hutchinson, Onchan & Peveril Camps: Second World War Internment on the Isle of Man
- Douglas Promenade: Second World War Internment on the Isle of Man
- Mooragh Camp: Second World War Internment on the Isle of Man
- Sculpture collection newly released to iMuseum
- Fishing Folklore: how to stay safe & how to be lucky at sea
- News from the gaol registers project: remembering the men and women who served time in Castle Rushen
- Explore Mann at War: stories of Manx men, women and children in conflict
- We Will Remember Them: Isle of Man Great War Roll of Honour (1914-1918)
- Dr Dave Burnett explores Manx National Heritage geology collection
- Unlocking stories from the Archives: The Transvaal Manx Association
- Login to newspapers online: step-by-step guidance
- ‘Round Mounds’ Investigation Reveals Rare Bronze Age Object