The "Turkestan" would have been a square sail-ship similar to the image.
This is a shortened version of a report by Fanny and Ethel Holland Thomas - the daughters of Captain Lewis Holland Thomas from Caerffynnon, Talsarnau - from the book "The Caerffynnon Story" written by Heulwen Isambard Owen and Hedydd Isambard Owen published in 1973.
For those who know the Talsarnau area, most of the village is located at the bottom of a steep hill. The main street and many other buildings including the school, the community centre etc. are very slightly above sea level and in order to protect the area, a tidal embankment was built as a defence in the nineteenth century.
On Thursday the 7th of August 1862 one of Rees Jones' ferry boats was returning from Porthmadog to Harlech with nine passengers and two half barrels of porter. The wind had risen quite roughly from the south-west direction but no one thought there was any danger. . . . . .
After many days of moving sand and water.
Apparently there hasn't been so much coming and going down to the glastraeth between Talsarnau and Ynys Gifftan since that time when a whale was found that failed to return to the sea with the tide some time ago. Over this Sunday, October 24th 1986, like that time, a number of Talsarnau residents and others were seen walking down towards Ynys Gifftan and you could feel the intrigue and curiosity in the air - everyone asking and discussing what had appeared from the sand.
Old Ruins of the Area
Competition at the Brontecwyn Chapel Meeting February 5th 1925
The Old Ruins of Llandecwyn and the families that last lived in them (by the late Esther Jones, Caerwych)
