Stage 1 is only accessible for a couple of hours either side of low water, depending on the height of the tide. We recommend the lovely walk along the kilometre or so of the beautiful expanse of sandy beach from Ramsey pier. If you prefer you could walk the shorter distance around the rocks from Port e Vullen at low tide or down the path from Ballure Promenade where there is parking available.
So, fancy a drink?
This story involves a Fleetwood trawler running aground on the rocks on the Isle of Man. But it’s a story with a difference which must have caused a lot of “pub talk” at the time.
It all happened in June 1927 when the ship went to shelter in Ramsey Bay. A report at the time stated that the Cevic put into the Isle of Man for shelter when the weather became “boisterous”.
The skipper, Dick Collinson, and 3 officers decided to go ashore in Ramsey, no doubt to visit a local hostelry or two. They were rowed ashore in the ship’s lifeboat. The little craft was then returned to the Cevic and moored under the stern of the trawler but later it began to fill with water and a crewman climbed in and started to bail out. However it must have become untethered and as the little boat drifted away, the 6 remaining crewmen decided to rescue their shipmate.
Cevic’s crew, with their officers ashore, got up steam and gave chase in the Cevic. But they got too close inshore and ran aground south of Ramsey. Meanwhile the small boat and its occupant had been carried ashore to safety.
The crew put up a flare and the Ramsey lifeboat was launched. But they experienced considerable difficulties getting alongside the Cevic, on several occasions narrowly escaping being smashed to pieces through being driven against the trawler in the mountainous seas.
The 6 crew were eventually rescued and Cevic drifted onto rocks and became a total wreck.
Carrying out the gallant rescue was the crew of the Ramsey Lifeboat, Matthew Simpson, a sailing – pulling boat. It was her first service since arriving at the RNLI station in February. A short report of this rescue service is recorded in the book Ramsey Lifeboats 1829 – 1991 by W.N.Seybold.
Aboard the Cevic for her last voyage were skipper Dick Collinson, mate J Bywater, bosun E Salthouse, deckhands J Kitchin and J Harrison, apprentices T Whiteside and W Holden, cook P Corrigan, chief engineer J Hobbs, second engineer J Dicks and fireman J Simms.
Luckily no one was hurt but the trawler Cevic was a total wreck and part of her rusted hull can still be seen at low tide.
Many thanks to Fleetwood Motor Trawlers for permission to share this story.
To find the cache, stand on the beach by the wreck, by the side furthest from the town of Ramsey. You should see a straight edge of metal with rivet holes, in the places indicated in the photo below. Only count the complete round holes, but include any filled with pebbles.
Count the SMALL holes within the red box and this number is AB.
Count the SMALL holes within the yellow box and this number is CD.
The cache can be found at N54 18.(A+B+C)(B+D-C)(Dx2) W004 22.(D-A)(A+C)(B+D-A)
If you'd like to place a cache in this series, you are most welcome. There are just a couple of points to note:
1. Email den sure kalkun about your cache before you publish it. He will allocate a number to you.
2. Then let him know when it's published, and he'll add it to the bookmark list.
3. The island must be an actual island. Places with the name "Island" or "Isle" that aren't actually islands are not allowed. Any island is ok: sea, river, lake. It doesn't have to be a named island.
4. Only one "Island Treasures" cache per island. Sorry if your favourite island is already taken :)
5. You can place any type of cache in this series (Earth caches are particularly encouraged!) but the final container, if there is one, must be on the island.