City of Osaka

23 September 1930     57 22.576N 01 52.872W     8 in 12 metres

Built: 1922 by W. Gray & Co Ltd, West Hartlepool, Sunderland, Yard no 945

Construction:  steel, 6,614 grt, length 433.1 ft (132m), beam 57.4 ft (17.5m), draught 30.2 ft (9.2m)

Propulsion:  steam turbine, 1 shaft, 2 screw, 3 boiler 737 NHP, machinery by Central Marine Eng Works, W. Hartlepool.

Registered:  Liverpool, UK

Originally built as the Colorado for the Ellerman Line of Liverpool she was renamed as City of Osaka in 1927.

She was carrying a cargo of timber from Newcastle to New York but encountered thick fog on the night of 22nd September 1930 and ran aground at Sturdy Point about one mile south of Whinnyfold around 4am the following morning.  Most of the crew managed to climb the nearby cliffs to safety,  the remaining six crew were taken off by Peterhead lifeboat.

The wreck was partially salvaged but now lies widely dispersed in 12m and intermingled with the wreck of the Nymphaea which ran aground at the same point in 1914.  Her boilers can be seen together with plates and beams, some of the wreckage is 2-3m high.

contemporary newsreel videos