Volume One - Into the Victorian Age - Some newspaper reports from the 1880's

It is alleged that her engines did not work, but however that may be, she did not stir an inch. The tug-boat Thomas Joliffe, being close behind, was obliged, in order to avoid colliding with the Avon, to continue her progress forward, and she, consequently ran in between the dock wall and the port quarter of the Alaska, bumping the steamer up against the wall on the opposite side.

Thus far not much damage was caused, and the mishap might have been rectified, but unfortunately, the Avon had considerable way on her and struck the Thomas Joliffe in the stern, causing the tub-boat to act as a wedge. A terrific crash was the result, as the tug-boat was irresistibly driven forward. The starboard plates of the Alaska for a considerable length were smashed in by the side of the dock wall, and her lower plates on the port side near her engines were also smashed. The bulwarks and sides of the Thomas Joliffe were badly damaged, and as the tide was still rising, and there was a stiff breeze from the south-south-west, the two vessels were inextricably locked together, each fresh impact and consequent yielding of timbers and planks only rendering the affair less remediable.

When the alarm was given several tug-boats from Cardiff hastened to the scene, and whilst two of them towed the Avon to a safe anchorage in the Roads, the others tried to pull the Thomas Joliffe out of the lock. But she was so firmly wedged in that, notwithstanding the utmost efforts of the half-dozen powerful tugs, she remained firm, and not the slightest alteration could be made in the position of the two vessels.

When the tide subsided, they settled down to the bottom of the lock, every movement causing fresh damage, and there they remained during the afternoon, the cynosure of thousands of spectators, who were attracted to the spot by the news of the disaster. Mr. James Edwards, manager of the Penarth Dock, Mr. Henry Fisher, engineer for the Taff Vale Railway Company, and several other gentlemen interested in the occurrence, visited the dock ; but nothing could be done at the moment beyond making preparations for getting the vessels clear at the next tide.

The Thomas Jolliffe was ballasted down, and water also let into her so as to keep her immovable when the tide rose, the anticipation being that the Alaska would clear her and gradually be enabled to enter the basin. The bulwarks and other projecting portions of the Thomas Joliffe were cut away for this purpose, and the timbers which line the top of the dock wall on the starboard side of the Alaska were also hewn away to permit her to rise easily without being jammed over her port side, as was the case when the collision took place. When one representative left the Penarth Dock last night, about ten o'clock, there was every probability that the plan adopted would be successful.