Torrey Canyon grounded on rocks off Land's End. 1968
grounded off the Seven Stones reef. Smoke can be seen from the explosives used to release the oil on board and burn it. Longships Lighthouse in foreground
Simone Marcelle ,Gurnards Head ,Belgian trawler. 1948
All members of the crew were saved except for 15 year old cabin boy
St. Guenole, wrecked at Gribba Point, November 1st 1948
Eleven years passed, and the tragedy of the Vierge Marie was repeated. Again, it was the usual 'wreck weather' for the western cliffs: hazy with heavy ground seas, the aftermath of a hard south-west gale. Shortly after one o'clock in the morning of November 1st 19148, the coastguard on watch at Treen saw the lights of a motor vessel emerge from a fierce squall of rain and head straight for the surf beating upon Pedn-e-Vounder sans. In response to the rapid blink of Aldis Lamp, she turned eastward and vanished round Logan Rock headland. Though she made no signal, either to acknowledge the warning or to ask for help, he called out Treen LSA Company and another coastguard and went down into Penberth Cove. There was no sign of the mysterious ship, but the wind was thick with the stench of fuel oil. Suddenly her saw a young man washing about in the surf and despite almost being swept away, dragged him out and carried him to a nearby cottage. Search parties began to scour the cliffs. A lifejacket marked 'ST GUENOLE-ROUEN' was pickier up on the rocks near the cove, and at dawn a vessel of about 500 tons was found bottom up beneath Gribba point, less then half a mile away. The St Guenole, a steel tar tanker owned by Cie Mar de Transport de Goudron of Rouen, bound in ballast from Nantes to Irvine on Clydside with a crew of twelve, was a total wreck. Twenty-three-year old Andre Fourcin, the sailor saved by the coastguard, was the sole survivor. The St Guenole rusted away beneath the Penberth Cliffs and the memory of the wreck slowly faded. Description from Richard Larn and Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks: The South Coast (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1971), p.211-212.
A parade by Madron & Heamoor Boys Bridgade
Girl Guides and Boy Scouts in fancy dress
Penlee Motor lifeboat practice run in Mounts Bay
Lowestoft Drifter aground off Eastern Green with Penlee Lifeboat. 1930
Penlee Lifeboat helping a Loewstft Drifter aground off Eastern Green ,Penzance.
Steamer The Nile off Godrevy Point. 1854
She was driven off course by strong Gales and struck the Deeper Stones off Godrevy point all 40passengers and crew were lost
Whitby Brig 'New Commercial' rescue off Brissons. 1885
From the Illustrated London News She struck Brissons Cape Cornwall near Land's End
Naval ship H.M.S Montague adrift nr Lundy Island. 1906
She hit Shutter Rock nr Lundy Island in thick fog. The ship was later broken up for scrap.
Struck rocks at Black Head and drifted to Lowland Point, All 17 of the crew were saved by the Coverack Lifeboat but the ship was total loss.
Spanish coaster Mina Cantiquin off Lowland Point 1951
Struck rocks at Black Head and then drifted to Lowland Point. All 17 of the crew were saved by the Coverack Lifeboat but the ship was a total loss.
Hayle boat Mellanear came ashore in thick fog 1929
All crew were saved but the ship broke in two and was total loss
Lyminge ashore near Land's End after thick fog, September 19th 1931.
The Lyminge was a steamer owned by the Messrs of Constants of Cardiff. The vessel wrecked at Gurnards Hedges on September 19th 1931. Description from Richard Larn and Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks: The South Coast (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1971), p.98.