Even though the young student had little need to describe the lost ship no more than a ‘total wreck’, there’s always a ‘story’.
Commonly addressed by her last Christian name, Stella, Susan was actually the young woman’s first name; her second was Caroline after her mother......
Thirteen years prior to Stella’s happy occasion, the coasting motor vessel Cameo ran up onto the Arklow Bank, and although she stranded hard on the Bank, she was not abandoned until three days later.....
Stella and Vivien were of that legendary Arklow maritime name, Tyrrell; daughters of Henry Edward Tyrrell, captain of the coasting motor vessel, Tyrronall. The coaster had been the WW2 prize, Heimat, when she was seized by Britain and renamed, Empire Contamar when Jim Tyrrell bought her as an abandoned wreck in 1947....
Ships’ names have never been bestowed willy-nilly. Obscure to many, ship’s names quite often hold some deep meaning. As with many of the Arklow ships’ their names have comprised of segments from the famous shipping names that have resided in Arklow, those who have been members of the earlier entities of Arklow Shipping; the Tyrrell, Kearon and Hall, giving birth to the evenly comprised, Tyrronall...........
The following evening, the 12th, the lifeboat was re called to rescue the captain and his men from the Cameo, which by that time, had begun to break and take in water. The Lady Kylsant, set out in the dark at about 9.30 and battled a strong SW wind to reach the sinking ship. Successful in their mission this time, the Cameo’s crew were returned to Wicklow and lodged in the Bridge Tavern, a hostelry that remains alongside the bridge on the quays, still tempting sailors and tourists.....
The captain, George Forbes Esson (61), and the the first officer, George Howard Robinson (A familiar name in the sailing ships of Littlehampton.), were found to be ‘seriously at fault’, due to ‘poor navigation’, and their tickets were suspended for six months.....
The Cameo continued commercial coastal trading, often in convoy and under aerial protection to and from various UK coastal ports before being drawn back directly into conveying war material and some ‘Special Service’ voyages, almost entirely in UK waters. Towards the end of the war she extended voyages further into German ports before resuming to peacetime coastal trading around the UK....
There was no trouble re locating her remains, but we had forgotten the time of the ‘sweet spot’ - slack water. Or as it has been more colourfully described, ‘The Dead of Neaps’.