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Bob's Cave
Bob's Cave, under Mumbles Lighthouse and Fort, including the WW2 Searchlight Emplacements.
Bob's Cave, under Mumbles Lighthouse and Fort, including the WW2 Searchlight Emplacements.
BOB'S CAVE.
Beneath the Lighthouse Rock, looking out to sea, is a grand old cave, similar to those in the cliffs below Pennard, but now completely washed out by every succeeding tide. Sure-footed folk may easily reach it, but if they would explore its ultimate tortuous depth, they should provide themselves with a light, and be prepared for a scramble over some large slippery boulders. Tradition has woven a web of romance about the name of a certain Bob, a bold buccaneer. who is said to have hidden his plunder and himself in this cavern. But surely the cruellest pursuers were more merciful than the sea, when it gets a poor human being into such a scape-less corner as this.
But who Bob was is surrounded in controversy.
Was he indeed a bold Buccaneer?
Another story is that Bob was a member of Mumbles Lifeboat crew who sheltered in the cave after a tragic rescue attempt.
Despite claims to the contrary
there was NO Bob Jenkins in the crew that night.
Kate Jones, the co-author of the published book on The Mumbles Lifeboat Station, has documented the story of the 1883 Lifeboat disaster and named those who entered Bob's Cave,
In her article READY PUNCH and the 1883 Lifeboat Disaster by Kate Jones.
An extract is below . .
The Mumbles Lifeboat Station book
“As he was swept towards the Middle Island Coxswain Jenkins heard above the roar of the storm his son, John, cry ‘It is all over with us father, my head is cut open.’ The badly injured coxswain managed to pull John ashore but he was dead. He could only hope that the rest of the crew, including his three other sons and his daughter Sarah’s husband, William Macnamara, were safe.
Looking across the Outer Sound he witnessed John Thomas and William Rosser being hauled ashore by two of Abraham Ace’s daughters and one of artillerymen stationed at the island’s fort. Out of the coxswain’s sight his sons George and Jenkin, despite their severe injuries, managed to swim into Bob’s Cave below the lighthouse. Here they were found a few hours later by Abraham Ace.”
Bob's Cave under Mumbles Lighthouse and Fort Photo: c.1910 - National Library of Wales
A closer glimpse at Bob's Cave.
Photo: January 2005, by John Powell.
A more detailed extract from, is continued below . . .
A more detailed extract from, is continued below . . .
When he saw that the lifeboat had been righted he managed to scramble aboard where he found William Rosser, Coxswain Jenkins and his eldest son John. Together they managed to pull aboard William Macnamara, who was in a bad way. Then the lifeboat capsized again. A Cambrian newspaper reporter described villagers on the hill being ‘in an anguish of despair, tearing their hair and the grass on the ground’ as they saw the Wolverhampton driven towards the Outer Sound, capsizing and righting until all her crew were swept overboard and she eventually disappeared from view. Once in the calmer waters of Swansea Bay she was taken in tow by a tug – the two sailors rescued from the barque were still aboard her.
As he was swept towards the Middle Island Coxswain Jenkins heard above the roar of the storm his son, John, cry, ‘It is all over with us father, my head is cut open.’ The badly injured coxswain managed to pull John ashore but he was dead. He could only hope that the rest of the crew, including his three other sons and his daughter Sarah’s husband, William Macnamara, were safe.
Looking across the Outer Sound he witnessed John Thomas and William Rosser being hauled ashore by two of Abraham Ace’s daughters and one of artillerymen stationed at the island’s fort. Out of the coxswain’s sight his sons George and Jenkin, despite their severe injuries, managed to swim into Bob’s Cave below the lighthouse. Here they were found a few hours later by Abraham Ace.
At low tide the remaining crew of Admiral Prinz Adalbert scrambled onto the island. Peter Rahlberg, the vessel’s carpenter, had drowned when the lifeboat capsized and his body along with those of John and William Jenkins was brought ashore that afternoon. William Macnamara’s remains were washed up 2 weeks later, but William Rosser’s body was never found.
Mumbles had lost four gallant men, including two of the coxswain’s sons and his son-in-law. There were now four widows and 19 fatherless children. Every man in the lifeboat crew was someone’s husband, father, son, grandson, nephew or cousin, and known to everyone in the village. Mumbles was stunned.
The terrible storm of that weekend resulted in the loss of several ships, four of them off the South Wales coast, with huge loss of life. There was much for local newspapers like the Cambrian and Western Mail to report. But the disaster that befell the Mumbles lifeboat and her crew had an additional aspect –
the saving of two men’s lives by the bravery of two young women who became national heroines.
Jessie Ace and Margaret Wright, photograph by Henry Chapman 1883, OHA Archive
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