Title
S.S. Cragoswald, Mousehole, April 28 1911
Subject
The Cragoswald of Newcastle was a 2,085-ton Steamer. She had sailed from Barry in the early house of April 28th 1911, bound for Venice with 4,800 tons of coal, but when twelve hours out her chief engineer was taken seriously ill and Captain Albert Crowthers altered course for Mount's Bay to land him.
As the weather was foggy, the captain steered a careful course past the Runnelstone and was almost in the bay when he made a bad mistake. A large black and white check buoy was seen bobbing in the heavy seas and was taken to be that marking Mount Mopus Ledge, between St. Micheals Mount and Porthleven.
They had been confused by the mist and the rain, and a few minutes later, as the Cragoswald passed carefully to port of the buoy, there came a tremendous crash and she shuddered to a stop. Though she was going very slowly, her bows were firmly impaled and for the next four days she hung precariously on the Low Lee while salvage craft, tugs, and divers fussed about her.
Twice the salvors were driven off by rough seas, but on the morning of May 2nd the Cragoswald floated free and was towed to Penzance. Five days later, escorted by tugs, she left Mount's Bay under her own steam for the repair docks at Falmouth.
After seven months she was ashore again, this time in Jury's Cap, Near Dungeness, during the south-west gale which wrecked the barque Saluto in Mount's Bay.
The Cragoswald spent a week on the beach before being reflected and she lasted until April 18 1917, when a German U-Boat Torpedoed her 60 miles west by south of the Bishop Rock.
Description from Richard Larn and Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks: The South West (Newton Abbot: Charles & David, 1971), p.184-185.
As the weather was foggy, the captain steered a careful course past the Runnelstone and was almost in the bay when he made a bad mistake. A large black and white check buoy was seen bobbing in the heavy seas and was taken to be that marking Mount Mopus Ledge, between St. Micheals Mount and Porthleven.
They had been confused by the mist and the rain, and a few minutes later, as the Cragoswald passed carefully to port of the buoy, there came a tremendous crash and she shuddered to a stop. Though she was going very slowly, her bows were firmly impaled and for the next four days she hung precariously on the Low Lee while salvage craft, tugs, and divers fussed about her.
Twice the salvors were driven off by rough seas, but on the morning of May 2nd the Cragoswald floated free and was towed to Penzance. Five days later, escorted by tugs, she left Mount's Bay under her own steam for the repair docks at Falmouth.
After seven months she was ashore again, this time in Jury's Cap, Near Dungeness, during the south-west gale which wrecked the barque Saluto in Mount's Bay.
The Cragoswald spent a week on the beach before being reflected and she lasted until April 18 1917, when a German U-Boat Torpedoed her 60 miles west by south of the Bishop Rock.
Description from Richard Larn and Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks: The South West (Newton Abbot: Charles & David, 1971), p.184-185.
Creator
Gibson
Date
1911-04-29
Rights
Morrab library
Identifier
RGN.094
Coverage
Mousehole
Physical Dimensions
8" x 11"