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Ship Aground On Westward Ho! Sands - 22nd March 1951

22.3.1951 Ship Aground at WHo
22.3.1951 Ship Aground at WHo1
 

Crowd Watch Efforts To Free Her

In thick fog late on Friday night the 318 ton motor vessel, Goldfaun, registered in London, went ashore on Westward Ho! beach about one mile north-east of Westward Ho! slipway.
Owned by Messrs E J and W Goldsmith Ltd of London, the Goldfaun was bound from Garston to Bideford with a cargo of household coal.
On Saturday, on instructions from Capt J H Hobbs, harbour master of Appledore and agent for the Company, two motor-barges put out from Appledore in an attempt to get the Goldfaun off, but owing to rough seas and shallow water they were unable to get close in.
During Saturday night the mate and the first engineer, who had been taken ill, were brought ashore through the surf in the ship's lifeboat. They were taken to Appeldore Sailor's Rest after medical treatment.
Preparations to receive the men were made in response to lamp Morse signals. Westward Ho! Life-Saving Apparatus crew, with coastguards, fired a line aboard the Goldfaun, which lowered a ship's lifeboat.
Station Officer J Matthews and coastguard men T Kelly and G Tarr went into the surf to meet the boat, and carried the men and their kit ashore. The line was left aboard as a precaution.
On Sunday, DUKWs from the Combined Operation Centre, Fremington, took a kedge anchor out to sea, but efforts to winch the Goldfaun off failed.
Throughout the weekend there was a steady stream of onlookers to the Burrows and Pebbleridge to see the stranded vessel. She has been under constant Coastguard observation.
The Golfaun suffered considerable pounding from heavy seas during Saturday night, and fractured water pipes flooded the crew's quarters. By Sunday night, however the weather moderated and only a light wind was blowing. At low tide on Sunday evening a Bideford Gazette reporter went aboard the Goldfaun as she lay on the sand. A ship's boat was alongside and a rope ladder led to the deck. Groping through the night shadows, the crew were found bright and cheery in their warm and brightly lit galley.

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