Riverdance Shipwreck

On 31st January 2008 a container ferry ran aground on the beach at Anchorsholme near Cleveleys. On the morning of 1 February, the people of Cleveleys, Anchorsholme and Blackpool woke with a new attraction on their beach – the Riverdance Shipwreck.

Please note: all of the photos on this page are the copyright of www.VisitCleveleys.info. Except the header image (Maritime and Coastguard Agency) and one credited to Martin Goldsack.

It was the latest in a long line of ships to have wrecked over the centuries on the Fylde Coast. The ferry sat there on the sands as the tide went out that day.

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How the Riverdance Ferry ran aground

Having set sail from Ireland, the Riverdance Ferry sailed into stormy conditions on it’s route to Heysham, and ‘broadsided’ by a huge wave. During the exceptional storm, winds blew up to 80mph. The waves made the cargo shift and the ferry list. It started to run aground at Anchorsholme, where northern Blackpool meets Cleveleys.

The RNLI, helicopter and rescue services all mobilised, into weather which they later described as some of the worst they’d ever seen. But thankfully everyone on board was safely lifted from the ship by 4am. And amazingly for the conditions – with no loss of life. The ferry was to remain on the beach for months.

Sited at about low water point, Riverdance was completely out of the water and surrounded by sand at low tide. As it was so big it was completely visible in the water when the tide came in. At this point it was at a slight angle, and all the trailers and freight on its top deck were clearly visible from shore.

Riverdance Shipwreck – a Tourist Attraction

The Riverdance shipwreck was an overnight tourist sensation, and that year Cleveleys had its busiest winter ever.

Reported all over the news and TV, people flocked here from all over to see the ship on the beach. Roads around Cleveleys became instantly gridlocked. The police had no choice but to close the streets near to the seafront as they were completely impassable with traffic. The promenade and side streets were solid with parked cars. The shops in the town centre did a roaring trade, in the best winter season they’ve ever had.

A whopping 100,000 people are estimated to have visited the spectacle between February and April that year!

Jetsam from the Riverdance Shipwreck

The bad weather continued for a while after Riverdance beached. The trailers on the back of the roll-on, roll-off ferry started to spill their contents into the sea and onto the beach.

Did you know? Jetsam is unwanted material or goods thrown overboard from a ship – and later washes ashore. (Although these were things which fell off a wreck, not thrown overboard deliberately!)

The first thing that came off were McVities chocolate digestives. People were finding soggy, salty packets of biscuits all over the beach. They washed northwards of the ship to arrive on the strandline with the next tides.

Then came long planks of wood washed up on Rossall Beach, followed by pieces of upholstery foam and mattresses. Then big blue barrels.

Disposable plastic cups followed in their hundreds. They scattered and blew everywhere because they were so light, even landing in the fields at Rossall School. Odd ones continued to appear for years afterwards. It was fascinating waiting to see what would come next!

Local folklore had it that bottles of scotch whisky washed up along the beach. Maybe that was just a modern local legend in the making!

What to do with the Riverdance Shipwreck

150 tonnes of fuel were on board the ferry when it landed. Thankfully it was successfully drained off, or could have caused some nasty pollution.

But engineers and ship salvagers now faced a dilemma. What to do with the ferry? How would they remove it from its new berth on our beach?

A team from Smith International started the process of righting the ship, with the intention of towing it away. They’d expected to do this during February half term, just a few weeks later. Unfortunately, sightseers and people trying to get dangerously close to the wreck hampered the operation.

Then more stormy weather caused the trailers to fall off and the boat to shift position. It’s a good job there were no sightseers standing underneath it when the containers and cargo actually fell off!

Attempts were made to stabilise and right the ship so it could be floated away – but this caused it to move and sink into the sand. With fabulous bad luck it had also landed on the main sewage outfall pipe. These complications meant it couldn’t be towed off the beach and consequently had to be dismantled on site. But before that could happen, the remaining cargo had to be removed.

Unloading Riverdance

Salvaging a Ship

With the promenade closed, Princes Way became a scrap yard, while crews worked on dismantling the ferry. The first job was to remove any remaining contents and the last of the fuel. Then, painstakingly, salvage experts cut the boat into pieces.

Rigs and cranes worked on the beach with the tides, often into the night. Day after day, one lorry after another hauled away great sections of the dismantled ship. The salvage went on for much longer than expected. But finally, in October 2008, the boat was down to beach level.

From beginning to end, the demolition process was interesting to visitors and locals alike. People continued visiting from locations far and wide and many thousands of photos were taken. The ones on this page are just a few from the Visit Fylde Coast archive.

Riverdance Shipwreck Enquiry

Obviously Riverdance was the hot topic of discussion for some months after it wrecked. Thanks go to reader Jonathan who sent in the link to the full maritime report on the incident.

He added “It’s some years since I read it and it took quite a few evenings, but it’s very interesting… a real catalogue of errors and lack of maintenance. From my understanding, if the on-board equipment been properly maintained (in particular heeling tank valves) and the ship operated in accordance with procedure, the incident might not have happened.”

Sewage Pipe Repair Works

Unfortunately, and with yet more bad luck, Riverdance had landed on the United Utilities sewage outfall pipe at Anchorsholme. The weight of the ferry damaged the pipe – consequently a section of it had to be replaced. So back came the rigs, boats and yet more workmen.

A cofferdam was first built over the pipe. First, overlapping steel sheets were driven into the seabed, creating a box-like chamber. Pumping out the sea water creates a dry working area, so that workmen can operate as they wish.

This is the new pipe (below), stored on the promenade while it awaited replacement. A mighty big section of pipe it was too!

In the next photo you can see the impact of the shipwreck on the old piece of pipe which the new piece replaced.

Now, years later, there’s nothing to see on the beach at Anchorsholme of where the ship wrecked on that night in 2008. Except the photos in albums and on the internet.

In 2017/18, United Utilities installed a brand new, much longer outfall pipe, making this one redundant. It’s part of their works at Anchorsholme Park to improve bathing waters.

Old and New Wrecks Together

Quite near to where Riverdance landed you can still see the remains of another old wreck. That’s the Abana which wrecked in 1894. You can usually see it at low tide, with its wooden ribs sticking up out of the sand.

There were many photos of the two shipwrecks next to each other. One from the modern age and one from the past. The next photo is by Martin Goldsack.

Riverdance is now part of local history, celebrated in the ‘History and Mystery’ walking tour. There’s a map on the wall in Cleveleys bus station and you can pick up a free leaflet from the Care for Cleveleys Shop. Explore these shipwreck sites along with many other landmarks from over the years.

Shipwreck Memorial

The Shipwreck Memorial, unveiled in the summer of 2012, remembers all the ships wrecked on the Fylde Coast over the centuries.

Of course Riverdance appears on here. As you stand to read the long list of names you face in the exact direction to remember the ghosts of two ships – the Abana and the Riverdance. Depending on the conditions you’ll probably be able to see the wreck of the Abana through the hole in the Shipwreck Memorial.

But that’s not it for wrecks at Cleveleys! Turn around and look northwards towards Fleetwood. That’s where, back in 1981, the shingly Rossall Beach caught the Holland XXIV dredger as it ran aground.

Would you like your own Riverdance?

This Seaside Emporium print is available in a variety of sizes and frame options from the Care for Cleveleys Shop. All profits from sales are reinvested into improving Cleveleys.

This video talks through the sequence of events, with the help of a collectors pack which was previously available from Seaside Emporium –

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