Stand looking out to sea at Porthcawl or Ogmore and you may catch a glimpse of a rocky island about three kilometres in the distance.

That small mass of land, with waves lapping at its jagged and uneven shore, is Tusker Rock.

Despite measuring less than 500m across, over the centuries the island has claimed a number of ships in the Bristol Channel.

You can still see their twisted metal corpses littering the rock.

Some have been there for centuries - their rusted hulls now almost part of the island.

The name Tusker has no Welsh link - it is in fact Viking.

It takes its name from Tuska, a Danish Viking who lived in (and terrorised) the Vale of Glamorgan.

It is perhaps fitting that the island, which is such a scourge of ships along the coast, should be named after a people synonymous with danger coming from the sea.

These incredible pictures of the wrecks on the rock were taken by Eurion Brown from LookAbout360:

How these incredible scenes were pictured

Photographer Eurion Brown managed to capture the scenes on Tusk, by doing what many seamen have failed to, he successfully negotiating the rock on boat (or kayak to be exact).

And in fact he and his friends annually paddle out to the island to celebrate new year.

He said: "My friends and I go out to the rock every New Years Day and have a fry up.

"We call it the Tusker Rock Cafe. It is becoming a running joke between us all.


"I have always been a bit obsessed with kayaking and will often take my 360 degree camera."

"The large barrel shaped one is the first thing that emerges from the water as you come up to low tide."

Eurion is now training to be a secondary school teacher.

The tragic history of the island

One of the vessels which became a victim of Tusker was called the Malleny.

A Portuguese iron ship bound for Rio with a cargo of Welsh coal.

It was tragically lost along with her 20 crew around October 14, 1886, when she collided with the rock.

Due to poor weather the captain decided to shelter in Swansea Bay.

However, as she sailed in heavy seas across the bay her rudder was lost and she drifted towards the coast.


It is said that the bodies of the seamen were washed up on the shore at Southerndown, Marcross and St. Donats.

Tusker Rock
The 30 foot long motor cruiser The Alcedo Atthis that ran aground on the Tusker Rock in 2015

One member of the crew did escape.

Edwin Waters was the ship's carpenter but he had disembarked in Amsterdam, unbeknown to his family.

When he arrived home he found all his relatives wearing black and mourning him.

The name plate of the Malleny was washed up at Westward Ho! in Devon.

You can not see the ship on the island now.

It was there until 1979 when it was blown up by the military.

Four years before the Malleny disaster, on March 29, 1882 the French steamer Liban also sank but fortunately eight of the crew were saved by the Porthcawl Lifeboat.

Despite their efforts three of the crew did die in the waves.

Take a 360 degree tour of Tusker

Despite its deadly history the rock has often been thwarted by locals.

In November 1847 the three mast ship Henry of Liverpool was bound for Cardiff when it hit the rock.

The vessel was breaking up when two people known as William and Jane from Barnstaple spotted them.

They raised the alarm and were able to save 18 of her crew, though an apprentice was lost.

The rock is at its most perilous when there is poor visibility.

In December 1870 there was very think fog when the Cardiff ship Dasher started to break up after hitting the rock.

Reports suggest that because of the weather the wreck was not sighted.

Luckily the pilot and his two assistants used the wreckage to build a raft which kept them alive until they were picked up by the Porthcawl lifeboat Good Deliverance.

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