Qualla: PS Rothsay Castle

PS Rothsay Castle: Introduction

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Traveler100, CC BY-SA 3.0. They were going on a day trip. A hundred and fifty people, men and women and children, boarded the paddle steamer Rothsay Castle at Liverpool on the morning of 17 August 1831, dressed for a summer excursion along the North Wales coast to Beaumaris. By the early hours of the next morning, a hundred and thirty of them were dead. The captain was drunk. The pumps did not work. The single lifeboat had a hole in the bottom and no oars. Bodies washed up along the shores of Anglesey and the Welsh mainland for days afterwards. The inquest jury at Beaumaris struggled to disguise its indignation at the conduct of those who could place such a vessel on this station.

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Image: Traveler100 | CC BY-SA 3.0

PS Rothsay Castle: The People Aboard

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Frederick Whymper, Public domain. The Rothsay Castle's passenger list survives only in fragments and in the memories preserved by the survivors and the bereaved. They were the kind of people who could afford a day's outing and the steamer fare, but most were not wealthy. Tradesmen taking their families. Servants ...

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Image: Frederick Whymper | Public domain

PS Rothsay Castle: The Captain

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Frederick Whymper, Public domain. The vessel was supposed to leave Liverpool at ten in the morning. She left around noon, delayed by rough weather and a late passenger. By the time she cleared the Mersey estuary the wind had hardened to a strong NNW gale and the sea was building. One of the passengers went forwar...

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Image: Frederick Whymper | Public domain

PS Rothsay Castle: The Wreck

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Robinson, John Henry, 1796-1871, artist. Templeton, J. S., fl. 1830, engraver., Public domain. At around one in the morning of 18 August, the Rothsay Castle struck Dutchman Bank on the Lavan Sands at the eastern end of the Menai Strait. The hull held briefly. Then she broke up. The funnel collapsed and swept Atkinson and both his mates into the water, where they drowned. S...

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Image: Robinson, John Henry, 1796-1871, artist. Templeton, J. S., fl. 1830, engraver. | Public domain

PS Rothsay Castle: The Inquest, and the Names

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Frederick Whymper, Public domain. The bodies came ashore over a wide area. Some were buried where they were found, some at Llanfaes, some carried home by relatives. The inquest convened at Beaumaris and questioned the survivors, the rescuers, and the agents of the steamer's owners. The jury's verdict was unforgiv...

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Image: Frederick Whymper | Public domain

PS Rothsay Castle: What the Disaster Built

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Frederick Whymper, Public domain. Public outrage was enormous. Newspapers in Liverpool and Manchester carried survivor accounts for weeks. Parliament debated marine safety. Two things came directly from the disaster on the Anglesey shore. In 1832 a permanent lifeboat was placed at Penmon Point, the eastern tip of...

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Image: Frederick Whymper | Public domain