#OnThisDay 17 August 1816, the paddle steamer the Rothsay Castle left Liverpool harbour

She was a paddle steamer built in 1816 for service on the River Clyde, and was later transferred to Liverpool, where she was used for day trips along the coast of North Wales.

At around midday on 17 August 1831, she left Liverpool carrying 150 passengers. She had been intended to leave at 10 am but was delayed by the weather and the late arrival of a passenger.

On leaving the Mersey estuary, she encountered a strong NNW wind and a rough sea.

One of the passengers went to see the captain, a Captain Atkinson, to ask him to return to port, but he found Atkinson drunk and unwilling to turn back. By 10 pm the ship had still only reached the Great Orme and the ship was found to have two feet of water in the stokehold

The pumps didn't work, there was no bucket for bailing, and the single lifeboat had a hole in it oars. At around 1 am on 18 August the ship ran aground on Dutchman Bank and after a while broke up, the captain and the two mates being swept to their death when the funnel collapsed.

Twenty three passengers were rescued in the morning, but 130 lost their lives

Bodies were washed up over a wide area of Anglesey and the Welsh mainland . One victim, Alice Tarrey, is buried on the Great Orme. Her two year old son John is buried at Glan Conwy

An inquest was held at Beaumaris and the jury concluded: "had the Rothsay Castle been a seaworthy vessel and properly manned, this awful calamity might have been averted...

They therefore cannot disguise their indignation at the conduct of those who could place such a vessel on this station ...
As a result of this man-made disaster, a lifeboat was established at Penmon in 1832 and Trwyn Du Lighthouse built there in 1837