Sker Point is a headland in

Bridgend County Borough Bridgend County Borough () is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. The county borough has a total population of 139,200 people, and contains the town of Bridgend, after which it is named. Its members of the Senedd are Sarah Murphy ...

on the

South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...

coast between

Port Talbot Port Talbot (, ) is a town and community (Wales), community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately from Swansea. The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which d ...

and

Porthcawl Porthcawl () is a town and community in the Bridgend County Borough of Wales. It is located on the south coast, west of Cardiff and south-east of Swansea. Historically part of Glamorgan and situated on a low limestone headland on the South ...

. It marks the south end of Kenfig Sands. The placename ''Sker'' is of

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

origin, and means

skerry A skerry ( ) is a small rocky island, or islet, usually too small for human habitation. It may simply be a rocky reef. A skerry can also be called a low stack (geology), sea stack. A skerry may have vegetative life such as moss and small, ...

. On April 23, 1947, the '' Samtampa'', a

liberty ship Liberty ships were a ship class, class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Although British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost cons ...

, was wrecked at Sker Point. Her crew of 39 perished and all eight volunteer crewmen of the

Mumbles Mumbles () is a headland sited on the western edge of Swansea Bay on the southern coast of Wales. Toponym Mumbles has been noted for its place names considered unusual, unusual place name. The headland is thought by some to have been named by ...

RNLI The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest of the lifeboat services operating around the coasts of the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. Founded in 1824 ...

lifeboat were lost while attempting to rescue them. There is a memorial plaque set into the rocks of Sker Point.Kenfig.org.uk Local History resource
Accessed 28 October 2013 ''Sker Point'' is also the title of a song by the Welsh heavy metal band Triaxis.

References

External links

Report of the shipwreck
* {{coord, 51.50226, N, 3.75045, W, region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(SS786796), display=title Headlands of Bridgend County Borough