Volume One - Into the Victorian Age - Some newspaper reports from the 1870's

The foregoing reported meeting heralded the commencement of the extension railway to Penarth Town but it was still a few years more before "communication between Penarth and Cardiff" was finally functional; whilst back at sea, the losses to shipping continued unabated:

• April 1874 - Loss of the Arthur, of Aberdeen, from Cardiff - "The Arthur, a vessel 911 tons register, under the command of Capt. Logan, laden with coals for Quebec, which sailed from Penarth Dock, on the 6th April, with a crew of 20, all told, was towed to Nash, where the tug left her. She proceeded without anything amiss until Sunday night, the 13th instant, when it began blowing very hard from S.W. The gale increased considerably, and at 2 a.m. on Monday the wind came to N.W., the gale increasing until 10 a.m. On that day the boatswain, John Pedersen, was blown from the top-sail yard, fell backwards upon the jiboom-gays, and thence into the sea. He was kept floating between two waters, and any effort to get near him would have been futile, as the sea was running mountains high.

About 6 p.m. an attempt was made to run the vessel. At about 11 p.m. the mainmast gave way, and the vessel was labouring very hard all night. All hands were kept at the pump, and the water increased in the hold fast. On Tuesday morning, a ship was spied to windward bearing down upon her, and signals of distress were hoisted. the vessel came alongside, and proved to be the Otago, of Glasgow, from New Zealand to London. She remained near her until about 3 p.m., when the crew of the sinking vessel abandoned her, in lat. 48.30, N., long. 10.30, W., and boarded the Otago (10ft. of water being then in the hold of Arthur), where they remained until Thursday morning, when they were taken on board a Plymouth pilot-boat, and landed at Dartmouth." Cardiff Times [019] 25th April 1874.

• June 1874 - The Dreadful Accident at Penarth - Inquest on the Bodies of the Two Men Killed - "An inquest was held on Wednesday at the Police-station, Penarth, before Mr. E. B. Reece, deputy coroner, on the bodies of two men, named George Brown and Eli Elliott, two seaman belonging to the steamship Thomas. of New York, and now lying in the Penarth Dock, who had met with their deaths by jumping from the parapet of a bridge on the Penarth Railway to the roadway beneath. It appeared from the evidence that both deceased were seamen, belonging to the same vessel, and on Monday evening they went on shore about eight o'clock to attend some place in Grangetown, and they appeared to have been returning back to their vessel about 12 o'clock.