The Nova Scotia Brig, Mary Jones, bound from Pugwash to Liverpool, lost its bearings in poor visibility on 14th December, 1849. There was believed to have been some argument amongst its crew as to the ship’s true whereabouts when the Captain wrongly identified Bardsey Island. But the Captain’s bearings stood and the Mary Jones fate was sealed when it began its misguided journey along the treacherous Gower coastline.
The ship hit the rocks near Knave Bank and, with little hope of saving the Mary Jones in the heavy sea, most of the crew abandoned ship. Seaman Thomas Pollas, however, was not as lucky as his fellow crewmen as he had become entangled in the rigging when the Mary Jones’ mast had crashed onto the deck during the ship’s collision with the rocks. His body was discovered a few days later at Salthouse Mere.
A few scant remains of the Mary Jones are still said to exist at Knave Bank.