A NEW exhibition at Llandudno Museum will celebrate the life of a shipwreck on the town’s West Shore.

The Flying Foam was a schooner built in 1861 that travelled around the UK coast delivering goods.

But one of her journeys in North Wales, on January 21, 1936, she battled against a raging storm, from which she did not recover.

The shipwreck is now buried under sand.

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Debbie Wareham, from archaeology and cultural heritage social enterprise Ships’ Timbers, is curating the exhibition in the community space at the museum.

Since 1936, the low lying timbers which remain of the wreck have been visible during low tide times, which make for a popular site for shipwreck enthusiasts to see.

It was a similar interest which brought Debbie to want to find out more about the wreck when she first found out about the Flying Foam back in 2013.

Debbie said: “It was amazing to see the timbers of the Flying Foam at low tide at West Shore, which at different times of the year were the home to a large variety of marine species.

“I just wanted to find out more about the vessel. Now, 11 years later, I am fortunate to be able to curate an exhibition about the Flying Foam for people to see.”

In 2014, Ships’ Timbers went on to adopt the Flying Foam shipwreck under the Nautical Archaeology Adopt a Wreck scheme.

Debbie organised events for people to learn how to survey coastal archaeology, as well as delivering walks and talks to the site and indoor lectures.

She added: “An important part of the work on the Flying Foam shipwreck has been the monitoring of the vessel over the last 10 years. The results have been very surprising.

“Back in 2014, the timbers of the wreck were very visible at low tide times, but now in 2024, all that can be seen at low tide are the remains of the windlass.

“Although the amount of sand covering the Flying Foam would change through the year, the timbers were generally always visible to some degree.

“But in 2020, I noticed that there had been a significant change at the wreck site, and the amount of sand covering the Flying Foam had increased more than usual.

“Now in 2024, only the windlass is visible, with the timbers completely buried.

“Following an enquiry to the Conwy harbour master’s office, I was told that there had been a significant movement of sand from Llanfairfechan/Penmaenmawr to West Shore.

“It was very unusual, and difficult to say why this has happened, and if this is a permanent change at West Shore.

“If it is permanent, it is sad to think that we will not see the timbers of the Flying Foam as we used to see them before.”

The artists who attended Debbie’s art/archaeology course in 2022 were able to capture the wreck site in their paintings before the last of the Flying Foam disappeared.

These paintings, as well as the photographs and information from the monitoring work, are on display in the exhibition.

One of the course participants has written a poem about the Flying Foam, which is now on display, too.

The exhibition is on the third floor of the museum. It is free to visit, and will take about one hour to read it all.

It is on at the museum now, until August 31.