Title
Highland Fling's salvaged after section at Falmouth, 1907
Subject
The Highland Fling, a large iron steamer of 4,088 tons, went ashore on the Criscan rocks, a little to the west of Cadgwith on January 7th 1907. In going ashore she almost ran down the tug Triton, missing her by less than 200 yards in the fog.
She had left the Thames under the command of Captain Purvis on New Year's Day, bound for Buenos Aires with 3,000 tons of cement. An old vessel, launched in 1890 as the Morsayshire for the Scottish Clan Line, she was sold to the Ducal Line in 1998, when her name was changed to Duke of Portland.
In 1906 she was finally sold to Messrs H W Nelson, who renamed her the Highland Fling. Soon after leaving the Thames, a serious leak developed beneath a boiler and she put in to Falmouth where a diver found a cracked plate. It was decided that she would go into dry-dock at Cardiff, so she sailed again in the thick fog on January 7th and within a very short time of leaving the harbour was hard and fast on the Criscan rocks.
The crew lowered the boats and were about to abandon ship when the Triton appeared out of the fog and assured them they were in no danger. A towing hawser was transferred to the tug, but the steamer refused to budge: even the combined efforts of two more tugs could not refloat her.
On January 8th, lighters arrived from Falmouth and her cement cargo was unloaded, but still the stranded ship could not be moved. The Western Marine Salvage Company then took over the task of salvage and, after the ship's crew had been sent ashore, the remaining cargo was jettisoned along with a number of deck fittings.
That nigh the Highland Fling began to bump and grind as the weather deteriorated. The plates in No.2 hold gave way, the forepart of the ship flooded up to the engine and boiler room bulkhead, and she began to break in two. On January 12th, a final effort to tow her off failed, despite the efforts of four tugs and assistance from the ship's own engines.
The decision was then made to separate the from portion of the ship from the as yet undamaged stern section. Dynamite charges were placed around the hull and within a week the job was so far advanced that only a single charge of explosives was needed to sever the keel plate and divide the Highland Fling into two sections. But the final charge was never fired: an easterly gale blew up during the night of January 19th, the sea parted the last iron plate and the stern portion drifted out to the sea.
By daylight, the tugs Triton and Eagle had managed to secure hawsers to the floating section and after the bulkheads of the engine room had been shored up, they towed the half vessel to Falmouth. With the section becoming steadily deeper in the water and in imminent danger of sinking in Falmouth harbour, it was put on to a sand bank at high tide and lightened by unloading the coal from the bunkers.
That same night, a north-westerly gale reduced the shattered bow section, still on the rocks of Cadgwith, to a pile of twists iron. A great deal of wreckage came ashore, the complete foremast finishing up at Parnvoose.
At the Board of Trade enquiry it was discovered that the deviation card for the ship's compass had been left behind in London when she sailed. It was also established that she was travelling too fast in the fog, and Captain Purvis, held responsible for the loss, had his master's certificate suspended for six months.
The salvaged rear section of the Highland Fling was eventually manoeuvred into dry-dock, but it proved too badly damaged to warrant the fitting of a new bow and was broken up for scrap metal.
Description from Richard Larn and Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks: The South Coast (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1971), p.103-104.
She had left the Thames under the command of Captain Purvis on New Year's Day, bound for Buenos Aires with 3,000 tons of cement. An old vessel, launched in 1890 as the Morsayshire for the Scottish Clan Line, she was sold to the Ducal Line in 1998, when her name was changed to Duke of Portland.
In 1906 she was finally sold to Messrs H W Nelson, who renamed her the Highland Fling. Soon after leaving the Thames, a serious leak developed beneath a boiler and she put in to Falmouth where a diver found a cracked plate. It was decided that she would go into dry-dock at Cardiff, so she sailed again in the thick fog on January 7th and within a very short time of leaving the harbour was hard and fast on the Criscan rocks.
The crew lowered the boats and were about to abandon ship when the Triton appeared out of the fog and assured them they were in no danger. A towing hawser was transferred to the tug, but the steamer refused to budge: even the combined efforts of two more tugs could not refloat her.
On January 8th, lighters arrived from Falmouth and her cement cargo was unloaded, but still the stranded ship could not be moved. The Western Marine Salvage Company then took over the task of salvage and, after the ship's crew had been sent ashore, the remaining cargo was jettisoned along with a number of deck fittings.
That nigh the Highland Fling began to bump and grind as the weather deteriorated. The plates in No.2 hold gave way, the forepart of the ship flooded up to the engine and boiler room bulkhead, and she began to break in two. On January 12th, a final effort to tow her off failed, despite the efforts of four tugs and assistance from the ship's own engines.
The decision was then made to separate the from portion of the ship from the as yet undamaged stern section. Dynamite charges were placed around the hull and within a week the job was so far advanced that only a single charge of explosives was needed to sever the keel plate and divide the Highland Fling into two sections. But the final charge was never fired: an easterly gale blew up during the night of January 19th, the sea parted the last iron plate and the stern portion drifted out to the sea.
By daylight, the tugs Triton and Eagle had managed to secure hawsers to the floating section and after the bulkheads of the engine room had been shored up, they towed the half vessel to Falmouth. With the section becoming steadily deeper in the water and in imminent danger of sinking in Falmouth harbour, it was put on to a sand bank at high tide and lightened by unloading the coal from the bunkers.
That same night, a north-westerly gale reduced the shattered bow section, still on the rocks of Cadgwith, to a pile of twists iron. A great deal of wreckage came ashore, the complete foremast finishing up at Parnvoose.
At the Board of Trade enquiry it was discovered that the deviation card for the ship's compass had been left behind in London when she sailed. It was also established that she was travelling too fast in the fog, and Captain Purvis, held responsible for the loss, had his master's certificate suspended for six months.
The salvaged rear section of the Highland Fling was eventually manoeuvred into dry-dock, but it proved too badly damaged to warrant the fitting of a new bow and was broken up for scrap metal.
Description from Richard Larn and Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks: The South Coast (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1971), p.103-104.
Creator
Gibson
Date
1907
Rights
Morrab library
Format
Print
Identifier
RGN.074
Coverage
Falmouth
Physical Dimensions
8" x 11"