Saltwick Bay is a north-east facing
bay
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...
approximately to the east of
Whitby
Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is on the Yorkshire Coast at the mouth of the River Esk, North Yorkshire, River Esk and has a maritime, mineral and tourist economy.
From the Middle Ages, Whitby ...
, on the east coast of
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...
, England.
The bay contains the Saltwick Nab
alum
An alum () is a type of chemical compound, usually a hydrated double salt, double sulfate salt (chemistry), salt of aluminium with the general chemical formula, formula , such that is a valence (chemistry), monovalent cation such as potassium ...
quarries, listed under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.
The bay is part of the
Saltwick Formation and known for its collections of fossils. The ''
SS Rohilla''
hospital ship
A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating healthcare, medical treatment facility or hospital. Most are operated by the military forces (mostly navy, navies) of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or ...
sank in the bay in 1914, and the
fishing trawler
A fishing trawler is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. Trawls are fishing nets tha ...
''Admiral Van Tromp'' was shipwrecked there in 1976. The bay is accessible through Whitby Holiday Park.
History
alum
An alum () is a type of chemical compound, usually a hydrated double salt, double sulfate salt (chemistry), salt of aluminium with the general chemical formula, formula , such that is a valence (chemistry), monovalent cation such as potassium ...
was quarried at Saltwick Bay, with the first recorded quarrying being by Sir Hugh Chomley, who lived at
Whitby Abbey
Whitby Abbey was a 7th-century Christian monastery that later became a Benedictine abbey. The abbey church was situated overlooking the North Sea on the East Cliff above Whitby in North Yorkshire, England, a centre of the medieval Northumbrian ...
, in the 17th century.
The alum quarries were built on
promontories
A promontory is a raised mass of landform, land that projects into a Upland and lowland, lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosion, e ...
and were in length and in depth. The quarries eventually closed in 1791.
There is also evidence of a medieval harbour at Saltwick Bay, and in the 18th century, Saltwick Bay and
Whitby
Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is on the Yorkshire Coast at the mouth of the River Esk, North Yorkshire, River Esk and has a maritime, mineral and tourist economy.
From the Middle Ages, Whitby ...
Harbour had a triangular
shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of Clay mineral, clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., Kaolinite, kaolin, aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4) and tiny f ...
reef.
Quarrying led to the discovery of fossils, and the bay is now known as being a location for fossils from the
Lower Jurassic period.
Fossils commonly found at Saltwick Bay include the ''
Dactylioceras'' and ''
Hildoceras'', as well as fossilised plant remains. ''Cuspiteuthis tubularis'' fossils can be found near the Black Nab, an island in the bay.
In around 1764, a horse skeleton was found about underground in the alum mines at Saltwick Bay,
and in 1824, an almost complete skeleton of the extinct
teleosaurid ''
Steneosaurus bollensis'' was discovered at the bay. The skeleton is now displayed at the
Whitby Museum.
Skeleta of ''
Steneosaurus brevior'', another crocodile, have been found at the bay.
Other skeleta found at Saltwick Bay have included an
ichthyosaur
Ichthyosauria is an order of large extinct marine reptiles sometimes referred to as "ichthyosaurs", although the term is also used for wider clades in which the order resides.
Ichthyosaurians thrived during much of the Mesozoic era; based on fo ...
and a
plesiosaur
The Plesiosauria or plesiosaurs are an Order (biology), order or clade of extinct Mesozoic marine reptiles, belonging to the Sauropterygia.
Plesiosaurs first appeared in the latest Triassic Period (geology), Period, possibly in the Rhaetian st ...
,
(''
Sthenarosaurus'')
In 1914, the
hospital ship
A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating healthcare, medical treatment facility or hospital. Most are operated by the military forces (mostly navy, navies) of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or ...
''
SS Rohilla'' sank near Saltwick Nab in the bay; 146 of the 229 on board, including Captain Neilson and all the nurses, as well as ''
Titanic
RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers a ...
'' survivor Mary Kezia Roberts, survived.
The conditions made rescue extremely difficult, but
lifeboats from Whitby, Upgang (near Whitby),
Redcar
Redcar is a seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast in the Redcar and Cleveland unitary authority. It is in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England, and is located east of Middlesbrough.
The Teesside built-up area's Redcar subdiv ...
,
Tynemouth
Tynemouth () is a coastal town in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, in Tyne and Wear, England. It is located on the north side of the mouth of the River Tyne, England, River Tyne, hence its name. It is east-northeast of Newcastle up ...
and
Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to:
People
* Scarborough (surname)
* Earl of Scarbrough
Places Australia
* Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth
* Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong
* Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...
attempted to close on the wreck.
In 1917, the ''SS Brentwood'', which was owned by
William Cory and Son Ltd, was sunk in Saltwick Bay by German mines.
During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the bay was used as a gun point. In 1976, the trawler ''Admiral Van Tromp'' was wrecked in the bay, and two people on board died; the remains of the trawler are still visible in the bay.
References
External links
{{Coord, 54.48465, -0.58567, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title
Bays of North Yorkshire
Whitby