above : The s.s. Orianda, the ill-fated vessel sunk in the collision. - Cardiff Times [019] [361] 23rd February 1907.

left : The pilot-cutter Britannia in the Barry Dock Basin. - Cardiff Times [019] [361] 23rd February 1907.

'Orianda' - Built E. Morgan & Company in 1879 for R. & J. Evans & Company, being of 1,501 gross register tons. She was 256.0 ft. long x 32.3 ft. breath x 22.3 ft. depth and had compound engines producing 114 n.h.p.

The British cargo ship 'Orianda' sank after a collision with the swedish steamship 'Heliopolis' in the Bristol Channel at 1 a.m. on February 17th, 1907, while on a voyage from Penarth to Spezia carrying a cargo of coal. Fourteen of her crew were drowned, three survivors were picked up by the Barry pilot cutter. [799]

The Evening Express [135] [361] account of the disaster of 18th February 1907, continues with more eye-witness accounts. A few months later a badly decomposed body was washed ashore on Sully Island and it was suspected that it originated from the s.s. Orianda : -

Body Washed Ashore at Sully - Mr. E. B. Reece conducted an inquest at Swanbridge Farm, Sully, on Tuesday, on the body of an unknown man (believed to be one of victims of the Orianda disaster), which was found on the rocks at Sully Island on Friday night.

Henry Coombes, who described himself as caretaker of Sully Island, said he saw the body lying on the rocks on the east side of the island on friday evening. It was nude, headless, the arms were missing below the elbows, and the legs below the knees. About fifteen yards away he found the head and some bones, apparently the arms and legs.

Police-constable Ernest Wingrove, of Cadoxton Moors, who removed the body to an outhouse on the Spinney Grounds, said it was in a very advanced state of decomposition, identification being out of the question. The jury returned a verdict of "Found drowned". - Weekly Mail [067] [361] 18th May 1907.