The SS South Coaster

SS South Coaster; a wartime Cardiff coaler

On 13th December 1943, to avoid the Uboats, the SS South Coaster hugged the coastline a bit too close. Here she still sits, on Pole Sands; a reminder of the wartime Christmas when coal was plentiful in Starcross :-)

Here's the story of the boat from Peter Mitchell, on the website about diving and wrecks around the world;  Submerged - She was built in Holland, and called Ooostvoome. Later she was rechristened Cwea, and then Martin, and finally, she became the SS South Coaster. On that fateful December day, she was chartered by the admiralty to carry coal from the Yorkshire coalfields to Exmouth.

• In the 1990s, The Wren Trust   came to Starcross Primary School The children recreated, with music, the moment the SS South Coaster ran aground. As well as playing their own string, brass, percussion and woodwind instruments, the children played lots more drums, and bashed a steel cylinder (hanging from a music stand, bottom left of the first photo) with a steel stick, to make ENORMOUS clanging noises - just like the noises the boat would have made as she grounded. Ropes and the gym equipment came into play to set the scene for a terrific performance. Here's photos of the rehearsals.

SS Southcoaster rehearsal Starcross School Wren Trust 1990s

 Great fun. History brought to life.