The Yorkshire Beach Where You Can Visit Shipwrecks And Walk in Dinosaurs’ Footsteps

The Yorkshire coastline is littered with history. You don’t need to walk along the beach for long before you come across something of significance, whether it is pillboxes from the war or, more recently, dinosaur fossils and such. One thing of significance you may have come across before is the debris of a concrete ship, MV Creteblock shipwreck, that sits between Whitby and Saltwick Bay.

You can visit this hidden gem, that’s just a short 10-minute drive from Whitby. Just south of Whitby is Saltwick Bay, it’s a bit harder than the rest to get to but the reward is the area’s fossils. Fossil hunters can find ammonites and belemnites along with Whitby Jet on the beaches. We love visiting to search for fossils and also see the interesting shipwrecks.

The ship in question, MV Creteblock, is the wreck of a concrete ship built as part of an initiative in the First World War in West Sussex when metal and other materials were in short supply. The military vessel was a feat of engineering but never saw active service.

The ship was purchased by Smiths Dock, in Teeside, where it was used as a harbour tug. It was then taken to Whitby in the 1930s, where it sat until 1947 when the decision was made to sink the ship by what is known as scuttling – where you sink a ship deliberately.

Whilst towing the MV Creteblock out to the North Sea, it hit Whitby Scar in shallow water, and the vessel broke up. To clear the ship, they blew up the ship with dynamite, which is what you can now find along the stretch of beach.

At low tide, the Mv Creteblock shipwreck appears, and you can see it from the top of the cliffs along with the Cleveland Way or pottering along the beach.

Check out this video of the wreckage below of MV Creteblock in all its glory:

Read More: 6 Places To Go Fossil Hunting Along The Famous Yorkshire Dinosaur Coast

[Featured image: Aft section of the MV Creteblock
cc-by-sa/2.0 – © Steve Partridge – geograph.org.uk/p/974516