The Netley Abbey was an iron screw steamship, built at West Hartlepool in 1878, and was registered at Cardiff, her official No. being 79,383. She was 260 ft long with a gross tonnage of 1,725. She was brigantine rigged and fitted with a 2-cylinder compound engine. On the 4th of August 1899 when en route from Cardiff to Cronstadt carrying a cargo of coal for the Russian Government she collided in fog with HMS Surprise at 04:25. HMS Surprise took the company of 23 men aboard and the Netley Abbey sank at 04:49. Previously the wreck was thought to have been that of the Start or Hartburn. Distance from Weymouth 14 miles
