The Liverpool barque, Maipu, was the largest sailing sailing shipped (being 594 tons gross) wrecked in Hell Bay. The Maipu was bound from Inquique, Chile, to Hamburg with a valuable cargo of saltpetre, she went ashore only a few hours prior to River Lune. With a crew of seventeen, the Maipu had called at Cork and was attempting to weather the Isles of Scilly in fog, when captain Thomas Wheeler thought he heard breakers ahead. The second mate went forward to listen, but could not hear nothing for the sound of wind drumming in the foresail. Unsure of his position, the captain ordered the helm to be put up in order to wear ship but the order was never obeyed, for the moment land was sighted ahead, under the lee bow. With helm hard down, spanker haul taut and gaff topsails set, the Maipu started to come about, then struck the rocks a terrific blow and began to sink slowly by the bows. The Maipu which had been launched at Birkenhead in 1865, was declared a total loss and on August 18th, seventeen days after her wreck had been sold to some Brier men for £7, she went to pieces on the beach. Description of wreck, from Richard Larn, Cornish Shipwrecks: The Isles of Scilly (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1971), p.133 and 134.
Bessie, Liverpool Steam Collier, wrecked at Carbis Bay, Novemebr 18th 1893.
Bessie was on passage from Cardiff to Portland with a cargo of coal, when it became caught in a gale on the night of 18 November 1893. Bessie hit the western side of the Hayle Estuary and fortunately floated off and was carried by the wind and tide to the eastern side of the river.[148] Bessie later became high and dry on Hayle Bar and her cargo and rigging were removed in an attempt to refloat her. It was one of five vessels wrecked off St. Ives during the gale. The Times newspaper reported on 20 November 1893, 'Painful and exciting scenes were witnessed in St. Ives Bay, Cornwall, on Saturday, when three steamers which had taken shelter in the bay from the terrific gale were wrecked, and a fourth was also driven ashore... The captains of the Bessie and Vulture ran their steamers ashore, and, amid the cheers of excited spectators, the crews of both were saved by the coastguard and their apparatus.' The Bessie subsequently broke up. Description from National Maritime Museum Online Collections Archive and The Cornishman Newspaper, November 14 1893.
Steamer Suffolk wrecked in fog at Lizard Head, 28 Sept. 1886
S.S. Suffolk, 2,924 t, on passage from Baltimore to London with cattle, flour &c. (Ref: WR iii, 35)
Dandy Alliance and schooner Golden Light driving ashore near Penzance, 7 or 8 Dec. 1886
The ketch Alliance and Schooner Golden light were driven ashore at Chyandour on December 7th 1886. Both were from Penzance. Description from Richard Larn and Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks: The South Coast (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1971), p.178.
Alliance and Golden Light ashore at Penzance, 1886
SS Serica (1888), 1,736 t, wrecked on the 'Serica Rock' off the Garrison, St Mary's, IoS, on passage Cardiff to Port Said 23 or 24 Nov 1893.
The Serica, a fine steel screw, schooner-rigged steamer of 1,736 tons register. Her last voyage began at Cardiff on November 16th 1893, when she sailed for Port Said with a crew of twenty-five and a cargo of coal. Bad weather was encountered the following day when off Hartland Point, and by dawn on the 18th the Serica was in trouble when the storm ripped the tarpaulin covers from off Nos 3 and 4 holds, flooded the main cabin and swept away everything that was moveable abaft the bridge. Her captain, Sydney Smith, had a remarkable escape in that he was washed clean overboard twice, and twice was flung back aboard by the sea. The Serica eventually reached Scilly on the 19th in a very distressed condition with pumps choked, serious damage on deck, and a heavy list. A local Receiver of the Wreck stated that "the only wonder is that the vessel kept afloat." On November 24th, the Serica left St. Marys at low water to continue her voyage, but struck a rock and had to be run ashore 150 yards north-north west of Woolpack Beacon. She was abandoned almost immediately and only minor salvage was ever carried out on the wreck, all work ceasing on January 3rd 1894. The rock the Serica struck was in fact, marked at lying in eight fathoms but was later found to be in less than twenty-four feet. It is doubtful if it was any consolation to her owners, but tat rock was given the name of the ship and today is marked on all charts as the Serica Rock. Description taken from Richard Larn, Cornish Shipwrecks: Isles of Scilly (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1971), p. 106.
SS Rosedale beached on Porthminster Beach, St Ives, November 17th 1893
The 936-ton iron screw steamer Rosedale of London, master Dickson, was in water ballast from Southhampton to Cardiff. The Rosedale was demolished for scrap by J. Laing in 1896. It wallowed past St. Ives pier and went broadside to Porthminster beach. The St. Ives lifeboat was flung ashore while trying to get alongside, and the steamer's sixteen crew were rescued by breeches-buoy. By nightfall on November 17th 1893, the Vulture and the Cintra were just assorted scrap iron, the Bessie was gutted, minus her mainmast and funnel, the Rosedale seemed ready to Capsize. Description from Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks: The North Coast (London: Pan Books LTD, 1970), p.70-71.
Busby, wrecked at Pendeen on June 23nd 1894.
The 2,070-ton Busby was launched in February 1894 at Stockton as a steel screw schooner-rigged steamer for the general Indian trade of Ropner & Co of West Hartlepool. She had made only one Indian voyage when she sailed from Newport on the evening of June 22nd 1894, bound for Bombay, though loaded with 600 tons of coal as an intermediary cargo for Civitavecchia. At 7:30 next evening, off Trevose Head, Captain Sherwood altered course to pass five miles off the Longship rocks, and ordered the patent log to be steamed. Two hours later Godrevy light was sighted three points off the starboard bow. It was fairly clear to seaward, but the sky was heavily overcast, and second officer Brand was unable to get a routine fix on the light because of a sudden bank of thick drizzle. Course was altered again as the Busby passed St Ives, but not until 10 p.m, when visibility was really poor, was speed reduced from nine to four knots, and then to slow ahead. At 11 p.m, Alfred Bowell, the bow lookout, saw a brief flash of light ahead as the weather suddenly improved. Captain Sherwood, believing they were nearing the Longships, ordered full speed, and warned Mr Brand to ready to take soundings. But even as he went aft to get the deep-sea lead, breakers were sighted off the port bow; the Busby was already well inside the Three Stone Oar. Captain Sherwood rang down for 'stop engines', the 'full astern', but with a low grating rumble the steamers port bilges ran over the rocks. Chief engineer Thompson blew off all steam and led the 'black gang' on deck as water poured across the stokehold plates. Everybody gathered on the bridge, and while the boats were being manned rockets were fired and flares burned. Within half an hour the coastguards had landed twelve men and a dog by breeches-buoy, the rest of the crew pulling ashore in the port lifeboat. Captain Sherwood, chief officer Thomas and Mr Brand stayed on board until 4 a.m, but there was nothing they could do to save their ships. Daylight found the Busby listing slightly to starboard, firmly held from bows to bridge and already half flooded. The Liverpool Salvage Association began work, pinning their hopes on the spring tides and continuing calm weather. To speed up the work, large square ports were cut in the sides, through which a score of local men shovelled the coal cargo overboard. Patching, pumping and shovelling continued unceasingly until, at noon on July 16th, two Falmouth tugs and a Liverpool salvage steamer reflected the Busby on the flood tide. But the salvors had not chosen their weather for such a delicate operation. A fresh north-westerly gale sent heavy seas tumbling over the Busby's low-lying decks, hurling many of the forty salvage men into the scuppers and leaving those down in the holds stunned or breathless as water cascaded through the temporary coal ports. The Busby, already drawing twenty feet, began to settle, fast, and as a salvage hands frantically got two diver out of their cumbersome suits the tugs ranged alongside. The last men to jump clear were John Nicholls and George Chirgwin, who had been at the helm, and Harry Nicholls and John Tucker, pumping hands, all of who came from Penzance. Gradually the steamers poop deck rose higher unit, with a rush of air, oil, and debris, the Busby foundered in twenty fathoms leaving only her masthead visible midway between the headland and the Three Stone Oar. This final disaster came only four dats after Captain Sherwood had been found guilty of the Board of Trade inquiry at Falmouth of not having navigated the Busby with due care and in a proper and seamanlike manner. His previous record was unblemished, the Busby being the third new steamer he had commanded for Ropners, so his certificate was suspended for only six months. The Busby lay beyond salvage, and on December 6th 1894 divers recovering valuable gear from her reported her to be in three pieces and slowly settling into the sandy bottom. Description from Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks: The South Coast (London: Penn Books Ltd, 1970), p31-32.
SS Saintonge stranded off Boskenna, 1895
SS Saintonge, stranded off Boskenna, near Land's End, 21 March 1895 (later salvaged)
SS Leputa ashore off Battery rocks, Penzance, 1895
SS Leputa ashore off Battery Rocks, Penzance, 1895 Another steamer and tug in background, rocks in foreground (Query ship's name and year)
Paknam, Dutch Steamer wrecked at Pendeen, May 13th 1895.
On May 13th 1895, the 200-ton steel river steamer Paknam, Affray master. Three days from the Clyde on her maiden voyage to Le Havre, then to French Tonkin, was wrecked in fog under Greeb Point. Description from Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks: The North Coast (London: Pann Books Ltd, 1970), p.32.
Full-rigged ship Granite State grounded off Porthcurno, 1895
Full-rigged ship Granite State, grounded off Porthcurno after striking the Runnelstone Reef, 18 Nov 1895
Alexander Yeats stranded at Gurnard's Head, September 25th 1896
The largest sailing ship lost anywhere between Land's End and St Ives was the Liverpool ship Alexander Yeats, launched in 1876 by D. Lynch of Portland, New Brunswick, as a wooden full-rigger of 1,589 tons. Towards the end of her career she was bought by Liverpool shipowner G. Windon, who cut her down to a barque. On September 17th 1896, laden with deals and pitchpine from Sable, Savannah, she received orders from a pilot-boat off Port Lynas to discharge at Devonport dockyard. Three days later she broke away from the tug Gamecock in a gale in SSW gale suddenly increased again, driving the Alexander Yeats back to the northward of Godrevy. The storm eased towards dawn, but the deck cargo had now shifted and the ship had developed a bad list to port. Throughout the day Portreath coastguards kept a vigilant watch on her attempts to wear off the land, and at dusk, as she wallowed past under small sail, they alerted Hayle lifeboat. But both she and the St. Ives lifeboat failed to reach the crippled ship, which, just before midnight, struck heavily in high seas under Gurnard's Head. Nineteen sailors, Irish, British, and Swedish were landed by breeches-buoy though not before a near-disaster when the landward anchor of the hawser came adrift. Apart from a broken forestopmast, the Alexander Yeats was not badly damaged, and by January 1897 a squad of traction engines, the first seen in the district, were hauling her pitchpine cargo to Penzance. Description from Richard Larn and Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks: The North Coast (London: Penn Books Ltd, 1970),p. 38.
Channel Fleet torpedo-vessels and major warships in Mounts Bay, 1897 (?)
Channel Fleet torpedo-boats and major warships anchored in Mount's Bay (1897? - possibly in connection with Royal Jubilee), Penzance harbour, Ross Bridge and buildings in foreground
Abernyte, Iron barque, Kynance, May 8th 1898
The Abernyte was a 700-ton Glasgow iron barque. The master of the ship was Master Cardwell. She wrecked on course from Caleta Buena to Falmouth with nitrates under Rill Head on May 8th 1898. Her crew rowed seawards, leaving the barque slowly settling below the cliffs, and were picked up at dawn by Falmouth pilot cutter No. 6. The Abernyte launched at Dumbarton in 1875 by Mackellar & Co, broke up in heavy ground seas during the evening. Description from Richard Larn and Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks: The South Cost (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1971), p. 155.
Masts and funnel of the Atlantic Transport Co. steamer Mohegan (1898), 6,889 t, on passage London to New York with cargo and passengers, wrecked on the Manacles Reef near Porthoustock, the Lizard, 14 Oct 1898. 106 fatalities, 44 crew and passengers saved Distant view, with steam tender near the wreck, group of onlookers on cliff in foreground Refs: DSA ii, 478; WR iii, 109-14
Accounts of the disaster recorded in The Cornishman Thursday October 20, 1898
Bluejacket stranded on Longships, November 9th 1898.
The Cardiff tramp, Bluejacket, struck the rocks sixty feet from the main door of the Longship Lighthouse on November 9th 1898. The wreck came at the end of a long tramping voyage which began on June 4th, under the command of Captain James Thomas, when she sailed from South Shields with coal for Venice, and ended in the course of a voyage from Danzig to Plymouth with railway sleepers. At five o'clock on the evening of November 9th, the Bluejacket sailed from Plymouth Sound in ballast for Cardiff. The weather was thick, with a strong ESE wind, but shore lights were visible so she was kept at her full speed of ten knots. Before he went below at 9:30pm, Captain Thomas told the second mate to call him when they approached Land's End. Just before midnight the captain was roused by the tramp's engine going full astern. Even as he made for the bridge from the boiler room by an inrush of water. The Bluejacket was on the Longships and the brilliant flash of the light showed up her already listing docks. The crew, including the captain's wife, took to the boats and were picked up by the Sennen lifeboat and landed at the cove. At dawn the Bluejacket presented a startling sight, poised like a gigantic seesaw across the rocks, at the very foot of the lighthouse. Eight days after the wreck she was sold to Joseph Breen, shipbreaker of Penzance, who began to demolish her when weather and tide allowed. The Bluejacket, which had been launched in 1883 by J.L Thompson of Sunderland, as an iron screw, schooner-rigged steamer of 2,205 tons gross, was on the Longships in January 1900, when the small tug Chase used by Joseph Green dragged her anchors in a strong westerly age and was herself wrecked beneath the Land's End Hotel. Description from Richard Larn and Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks: The South Coast (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1971), p.238-239.
SS Paris, Wrecked at Coverack on May 21st 1899.
The Paris left Southampton on 20 May 1899 with 380 passengers and 372 crew and collected a further 50 passengers from Cherbourg, then making passage to New York. The ship diverted to Eddystone and Lizard Lighthouses to get a navigational fix. However, in light misty rain the ship was about 15 miles off course and ran onto Lowland Point on Sunday 21 May. The passengers and crew were taken off the next morning by tug. The ship was eventually refloated. The Paris was eventually patched and towed to a dockyard where she was repaired, had one of her funnels removed and was again made seaworthy. Misfortune again dogged her career. She had another mishap in New York Harbour , was again made seaworthy and re-christened the Philadelphia. Once more misfortune followed her, but I cannot recall her ultimate end.
SS Paris was repaired, returning to service in August 1901 with two instead of three funnels and renamed Philadelphia
References: Cornish Wrecks South Coast by R Larn and C Carter Cornish Wrecks by F A Strike The Cornish Telegraph 1899-05-25 West Britain and Cornwall Advertiser Thursday Evening May 25th 1899
Collier Llandaff, 397 t, stranded in fog at Nanjizal Bay near Land's End on passage from Sheerness to Cardiff. She was salvaged, but finally wrecked again near Bude on 2 Oct 1899 Refs: WR, i, 35; ii, 94