Volume Nine - Pre-Victorian to the present day - even more aspects - Cefn-y-Wrâch . . .

The Mayor, who was present, adhered for some time to his view, that the furrows were the result of chain marks as they followed the undulations of the surface, and had they been caused by a rigid substance like the keel of a vessel, the furrow would have been deeper on the higher grounds. Mr Moore, who is a thoroughly practical man, was convinced that the marks were "keel marks," and no vessel could have dragged on the ground the distance indicated by some of the marks without being much strained. At one part of the channel through the Wrach the silting had cleared the channel to turn on one side, and then a promontory from the other side caused the channel to turn almost at right angles in the other direction. With a long ship he thought it was almost impossible to turn her head with the rapidity that was necessary to keep the channel, and the keel must pass over some of the points. It was also stated to be a matter of frequent occurrence that in piloting a vessel out twenty others are met coming in, and then the danger is increased twenty-fold. Mr Plimsoll remarked that if the authorities of Cardiff desired to protect themselves from invasion, no more effective method could be resorted to than allowing the silted banks to remain as they are at present.' - South Wales Daily News - [136] [325] - 23rd March 1878.

• 26th March 1878 - The Cefn-y-Wrach - Important Meeting of Pilots - 'Yesterday afternoon a large meeting of the Cardiff pilots was held at the Pilotage Office at the Docks, to receive and deal with certain correspondence on the subject of the Cefn-y-Wrach shoal. The Chairman opened proceedings by stating that he had to reply to letters from Mr Plimsoll and Mr Roger Moore of Bristol . . .

He was perfectly satisfied from what he had seen and heard among the pilots that they had taken the subject of the obstruction caused by the Cefn-y-Wrach seriously to heart, and were fully determined to direct all the energies at their command towards its removal.

On Saturday he received a telegram from Mr Plimsoll, M.P., saying : - "I strongly recommend your taking down to the shoal a photographer today, and let him take two or three photographs of it, one showing both channels, and showing also the mark of the vessels' keel on the shoal."