Storm damage Penzance promenade looking West
The railway viaduct, Chyandour, storm damage. Etching
Penzance Promenade, Great Storm damage. Gibson
Storm damage to Penzance promenade, view from Eastern end
Storm damage Penzance promenade looking East
Great Storm damage to Penzance promenade looking East
Ambulance and Fire Service at the scene with casualty, location unknown
Previous vessel to the current Lifeboat. This boat came after the loss of the Soloman Brown
Fishing Vessel SS45 Castle Wraith ashore at St. Ives
Cromdale, wrecked on Bass Point, Lizard, May 23rd 1913
The Cromdale came ashore at at Bass Point, after a one hundred and twenty-dour day journey from Taltal, Chile with a cargo of Nitrates. She was already a week overdue at Falmouth when, nearing the Lizard, she ran into dense fog on the evening of May 23rd 1913. Her master, Captain Arthur, had earlier been able to check his position with a passing steamer and was not unduly worried until several hours had passed without sight and sound of the Lizard and St. Anthony Lighthouses. Then, at 21:30 pm it was the helmsman and not the look-out who first saw a blurred flash in the murk dead ahead. Seconds later, breakers were seen grounded on the rocks below Bass Point. Badly holed, she settled rapidly by the stern and in less than ten minutes had to be abandoned. The first distress rocket, fired from a boat by the first mate, explored almost in front of the coastguard's lookout and the Lizard and Cadgwith lifeboats were soon afloat and helping in the rescue. Next morning, when the fog lifted, the Cromdael was an awesome spectacle, poop deck under water and bows on the rocks below the high cliffs, every sail set but hanging limply from the yards in the still air. At low water, her crew boarded her and managed to recover some personal belongings and the ship's instruments. The wreck was later put up for auction but, with a ruined cargo, she was of little value apart from her sailing gear and Harris Brothers of Falmouth bought her £41, later reselling her to a third party. A week after she came ashore, the Cromdale broke up in a heavy SSW gale and very little salvage work was ever carried out on the remains. Description from Richard Larn and Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks: The South Coast (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1971), p.131.
The Torrey Canyon aground on the Pollard Rock, Seven Stones Reef off Land's End
At the time this Liberian registered Oil Tanker was the largest shipwreck known and caused an environmental disaster to the Cornish coastline with pollution from it's cargo of crude oil, the effects of which are still felt today
The upturned wreck of the MV Union Star near Tater Dhu
The vessel on it's maiden voyage and the Penlee lifeboat which made a gallant attempt at rescue were lost with all hands on 1982-12-19 after a violent storm
Recovering the Sikorsky helicopter from the sea after the tragedy near the Isles of Scilly
The Sikorsky passenger helicopter crashed into the sea off the isles of Scilly on a routine flight, the picture shows the helicopter on the deck of the recovery vessel
Wreck of a fishing vessel, possibly storm damaged, location unknown
HMS Warspite a WW1 battleship ran aground in Prussia Cove in 1947 on her way to the breakers and was later salvaged at Marazion
The Newlyn fishing vessel Rosebud arriving at Westminster, October 1937
The Rosebud was delivering a petition about the Newlyn house clearances to Westminster. the vessel was later renamed Cynthia-Yvonne
The wreck of the MV Alacrity at Portheras Cove 1963
The MV Alacrity was owned by the Everard Company, she was savaged in situ after becoming a total right off
The wreck of the Union Star, near Tater Dhu
The upturned hull of the Union Star, on the rocks near Tater Dhu, wrecked 19-12-1981 with a loss of all hands, plus the crew of the Penlee lifeboat who perished during the gallant rescue attempt
The wreck of the SS Taycraig, wrecked off Gear Rocks, Penzance, January 27th 1936
The Taycraig was a Cornish owned steamer. She was originally registered in London. On January 27th 1936, she dragged her anchors in a south-west gale and wrapped herself around the tall post-and-cage beacon which marks the Gear Rocks, just off Penzance Promenade. Her crew was rescued by the lifeboat, but the Taycraig, which was in ballast for Newlyn to load road-stone, sank until her funnel and masts stood out of the water and defied all efforts to salvage her. Description from Richard Larn and Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks: The South Coast (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1971), p. 183-184.
Refer Collins Orage binder Wreck Abstract. Also Collins.195A to 195D Also Wrecks 32PG 145 to 150 and Wrecks 4.044