Post by Administrator on Jul 8, 2017 21:03:20 GMT
THE `CATO`
Remember men of the coastal trade, especially the Cato’s crew,
Seamen fine of a Bristol line they earned the credit due,
A special breed of men, they sailed the short sea routes,
Without a Navy escort or anything that shoots.
Hardy blokes and able, intrepid to the core,
Regardless of the perils lurking in the war,
Steaming home from Dublin, the Cato struck a mine,
Planted there a week before by U-Boat 29.
Straight away she blew up and sank there in the tide,
- Of fifteen men aboard - only two survived.
She’ d come to grief off Nash Point, during that foul day,
Her cargo holds with Irish stout began to break away.
Many barrels of freight - (of four hundred tons in all)
Beached along the coast from Cardiff to Porthcawl.
She was known as the `Guinness Wreck` by locals on the shore,
And provided drinking sessions - according to folklore.
Perhaps the crew of the Cato did not die in vain,
By telling of this story, we remember them again,
They could not help the `Guinness Wreck` -
It was a German flaw ……..
The cargo was delivered - but through a Welshman’s door !!
J.S.Earl June 2015
