Shipwrecks

Gower has a long and storied history with it's coast. One key part of this history has been seafaring.

Like so many other coastal areas, Gower was notorious for smuggling because of it's vast area of coast and land and low density population. This aided the activity as it was less likely for these people to get caught and even allowed them to carry it out during daylight.

Throughout time, many ships have sailed in and around Gowers coast and tragically some of these ships came under difficulties and were either driven ashore or sunk due to the harsh conditions of the sea.

These fallen vessels now litter the sea bed (and beaches) around Gower and offer us the realisation of not only the temperament of the sea, but how life was back then.

Back then, these seafarers had to rely on landmarks and vague directions to navigate to their destinations. They also could not foresee weather conditions that are so important when sailing the sea. It is understandable that these wreckings occurred.

Now adays, ships do no get into difficulties like the ones back then as technology affords us to predict weather conditions and plan routes.

This section of the web site aims to explore the many shipwrecks that lie in and around Swansea and the Gower Peninsula.

Please see below for a map and list of already documented shipwrecks on GowerUK.com.