The pilot boat quickly returned alongside.

These 2 photos are of the ship aground, looking aft. Comparing the angle of the ship to the shore in these photos with those of the ship high and dry later in this section the stern seems to have drifted back out into the Strait and away from the bank somewhat as she settled. This would have added further and considerable strain to the hull.

The ship's boats stood off for a while.

At 11.10 am.^[12] they too came alongside and they began to land the ship's papers and records. Cadet John Ellis one of the cadets who remained onboard recalls the unrelenting effort that then ensued: "Almost immediately all hands - officers masters 17 cadets and catering staff began lightening ship to help her lift off at the next high tide and a shuttle service began with No 1 and 2 motor boats and the pinnace carrying equipment from the ship to Menai Pier and then by truck to Plas Newydd. We worked like this until late at night when it became apparent that the ship was hard and fast.

A similar story was told in the September edition of the cadet magazine. "As soon as the ship struck every effort was made to salvage records, memorials and trophies, and our gratitude to those who helped in this work can never be sufficiently expressed. The Cadets and Staff who had returned to the ship for the passage worked until they could hardly stand, and valuable assistance was also given by the Commanding Officer and men of the R-A-S-C- at Menai Bridge, and by the National Fire Service officers and men of the same township, and it was thanks to their help that so much of the portable equipment of the ship was saved." ^[15].

Tentative arrangements were immediately made for an attempt to refloat the ship on the high tide at 9.45 pm. The tugs waiting at Menai Bridge being ordered to stand by again at 8.30 pm. A third tug was ordered from Liverpool to provide additional assistance, but after leaving the Mersey at 2.30 pm the tug (the "Grassgarth") was forced to return to port owing to bad weather. Arrangements were made to despatch another tug, if possible, from Liverpool at midnight.^[5]

Within an hour of grounding the local fire brigade had brought pumps onboard to assist the ship's pumps.^[8]

Captain King recalls that by 11am the ship was beginning to "creak and groan as the strain came on the inadequately supported after end."^[7] By midday the sounds were becoming more and more alarming until early in the afternoon the decks aft began to pancake down into each other.^[7]

At 2pm the sounds of tortured wood and metal were becoming louder and were almost continuous. "One of the 3" steel pillars on the maindeck bent perceptibly and then sheared with a loud report as the deckhead dropped an inch or two."^[7] The decks were curving in a slight gradient towards the stern and some planking was beginning to open. A main beam under the lower beak fractured causing a large bump to appear in the deck.^[8]

From outside no sign of this disastrous collapse was visible which explains why initial newspaper reports (see section 14) continued to say that the ship was to be refloated and repaired. For those more directly involved the truth was clear. "The Writer earlier in the day had made contact at Menai with Capt. Nelson, Nautical Adviser to Mr., Lawrence Holt, and with him boarded the Conway during the afternoon just before Low Water. The outlook then appeared very bad with the after end of the ship sagging downwards from the main mast aft and a continuous sound of wracking, twisting and rending timber, and rushing water below. As the tide fell, the forward end of the ship dried out, but the after end, which was in deep water, fell with the tide and the ship eventually broke her back. She is now a pitiable sight inboard, and though from the bridge she may still appear something like her old self, inside the picture is vastly different, for the beams and planks are broken, stanchions buckled and twisted, and decks which were once over six feet high are now only four feet apart."^[5]

Cadet Ellis was still busy ferrying papers and gear to Menai Bridge pier "I recall while manning one of the boats I took out to the ship Lawrence Holt of Blue Funnel fame who visibly had tears in his eyes as we approached the Conway. With him was the Marquis of Anglesey. On coming alongside the ship the tide was very low so both men in beautiful suits, bowler hats and overcoats had to climb a Jacobs ladder to reach the bottom of the fixed ship's gangway. Later in the day I had changed duty and was loading trucks when they came ashore and Lawrence Holt stopped me and asked if I was a Conway boy. I must admit I thought the question a bit odd as I was in uniform, but he was very upset."^[17]

At around 4pm Captain Hewitt ordered everyone ashore for safety until the tide began to make again after low water.^[8]

At Low Water it was found that the Conway was ashore for three quarters of her length with almost all her port (left) side alongside the West Platters on a bed of sloping rock and gravel. Despite the evident collapses inboard the ship appeared fine from the shore as the many photos taken at this time testify. A large crowd gathered on the shore and banks of the Strait to take photos and view the ship.^[8]

Lawrence Holt with his Nautical Adviser, Captain James Nelson, Mr. Wilson (Alfred Holt's Construction Department), Brian Heathcote (who had just taken over as the Conway Committee's Chairman from Lawrence Holt), Alfred Wilson (General Secretary MMSA and the Conway Committee Honorary Secretary) arrived at the scene again at 5.30pm. They viewed the ship from the beach, where her fore part was then high and. dry, and then adjourned, to await re further inspection an hour before High Water at 8.45 pm.^[5]

Around 7pm 30 or so men and boys returned onboard and began unloading again into half a dozen motor boats, racing against the clock to save as much as possible before high tide.^[8] In the early evening Captain King remembers rescuing a large Russell Flint watercolour of the ship.^[7] In his autobiography he wondered what happened to that painting. It hung in the "Stone Frigate" until paying off in 1974 when it was sold to an OC. It hangs safely and proudly in his dining room to this day.

The tide then began to flood (come back in) again.

Her timbers had opened wide and so as the tide rose the water was rising inside uncontrollably. The ship failed to lift and soon water flooded first through the lowest of the stem ports and then through her after orlop deck ports. ^[8]

At 9pm Captain Hewitt, Lawrence Holt and one other visited the ship again. It was soon clear to them that the ship could not be saved. The order for a third tug was cancelled. Deteriorating conditions onboard Conway having forced the conclusion that further attempts to tow her off would be useless.

The salvage teams continued working into the evening but as darkness fell they were forced to cease work. At 10pm^[8] "We were then ordered back to Plas Newydd for the night. Of course when we got there we were all very hungry and thirsty having had nothing since breakfast at about 6am. However nobody had thought of salvaging food from the ship and all that could be found was some bread and butter and jam but not enough tea, coffee or cocoa to make a full pot, only a small amount of each, so it was all put into the one pot and boiling water poured in. The subsequent brew came out looking something like tomato soup and had a distinctive flavour but we all enjoyed our late night supper. "^[17]

The last few on board then prepared to leave. Capatin Gabby King was the last to leave the ship, he recalls "The fuel supply for the generator was set with enough diesel to ensure that the gangway was cleared and we were all in the last boat before it ran out. With the boat punching into the stream the low hum of the ship's generator died away as the fuel supply was exhausted, the lights flickered, slowly faded to orange, and then went out abruptly. The ship had died."^[7]