From the coast path between Bideford and Appledore, you can see the remains of four wooden vessels. Some are just a few pieces of wood sticking out of the mud, and what is visible varies as the tide and currents move the sediment about. Others, with the hull and superstructure still present, were clearly once ships. Hulks are vessels that have been abandoned, with no known ownership or value, but even with no monetary value, they still have a story to tell. 

The schooner M. A. James is one of those ships whose skeletal remains are visible at low tide from the coast path. The M. A. James was built near Porthmadog, North Wales, in 1900 and for the first nineteen years of her working life carried slates from North Wales to Hamburg. Why Hamburg? In 1842 a disastrous fire destroyed a large part of the city and civic buildings. At that time Hamburg was the second largest city in Europe and money was found to re-build. The proviso was that combustible materials were to be reduced to a minimum and slates from Blaenau Ffestiniog were ideal for re-roofing.

It is 1,300 miles from Porthmadog to Hamburg, and M. A. James made her fastest voyage in four and a half days with an average speed of 11.6 mph. This record time was dependent upon the fair winds she had going south to the Scillies and again when turning east up the English Channel. After delivering slates, the ships would sail to Cadiz, on the southern tip of Spain, where they loaded salt, which was transported across the North Atlantic to Newfoundland. 

After nineteen years in the slate trade, M. A. James had five years at Plymouth before she was purchased by Captain William Slade of Appledore in 1924. She continued in the coastal trade around England, Ireland and Wales and was fitted with an engine. After being requisitioned for war service in 1940 she was finally scrapped. So, now it’s just her ribs visible poking up out of the Torridge mud. 

Bideford and River Torridge Heritage Harbour has started a project to identify all the hulks in the river and tell their stories. A Masters’ Student, from University of Western England, is working on this as a research project. We will be producing a map of the river showing where the hulks are positioned and tell their stories in words and images on our website.