FT266

For much of the 19th century, a 16km stretch of the rocky Durham coastline between the rivers Wear and Tyne was notorious as a graveyard for shipping. From the 1860s, more than 160 vessels were wrecked after running aground on submerged rocks between Marsden and the village of Whitburn, just a mile from the shore.

The hazardous reputation of Whitburn Steel, as the rocks are known, worsened during the Industrial Revolution. Bulk cargos such as coal and iron ore were more easily moved by sea than rail and the demands of heavy industry in Tyneside led to a dramatic increase in coastal shipping.