Roker, Pelican

The Pelican was a steel flat-barge. 30m long and 12m beam. She was fitted with a compressor, crane and moon-pool for drilling-through. She is believed to have been on charter to M. Devlin of the Tyne Towage Co. The vessel was under tow with a cargo of steel pipes and drilling equipment when she foundered in bad weather in 1998-1999 and was lost south of the rifle-range buoy off Whitburn and two miles ENE of Roker pier lighthouse. The wreck lies at a general depth of 25m, upside down with the crane sticking out on one side. Grid reference conversion made 14.11.09 with http://www.nearby.org.uk/coord-ll-cgi with WGS84 Lat/Lon. N 54 56 25 W 001 18 20