FOR THE THIRD TIME — THE SWANSEA TUG “WASP” SUNK AGAIN

South Wales Daily Post

The South Wales Daily Post of July 1916 carried sombre tidings for the harbour community: the Swansea tug Wasp, long familiar to the men of the docks, had once more met disaster. In the early light of Tuesday morning, between the steadfast piers that guard the entrance to the bay, the little vessel was struck amidships by a passing steamer and badly holed, sinking swiftly beneath the tide.

The crew, seasoned by years of coastal labour, escaped by clambering aboard the very steamer that had dealt the blow. Their survival brought relief, yet the newspaper’s tone was unmistakably mournful, for this was the third sinking in the Wasp’s troubled history.

The Post reminded its readers of the darkest chapter: the first loss, some seventeen years earlier off Mumbles Head, when the tug went down with all hands, a tragedy still spoken of with quiet reverence along Swansea’s waterfront. The second sinking, though less grievous, had left the vessel battered and in need of extensive repair.

Now, in July 1916, the paper reported that once the tide receded, workmen descended upon the stricken hull, patching her wounds and preparing her for yet another resurrection. Thus the Wasp—stubborn, service‑worn, and strangely fated—was expected to rise again, continuing her peculiar cycle of peril, salvage, and return.