Title
Mosel, wrecked at Bass Point, Lizard on August 9th 1882.
Subject
Cargo/Passenger
Specie/Mail
Shipwreck
Wreck
Description
The Mosel was a steamer owned by Norddeutscher Lloyd Line.
She had been plying across the North Atlantic with migrants from Bremen to New York, via Southampton, for almost nine years. In 1875, two years after her launch, a bomb planted on board by anarchists explored prematurely in Bremen docks killing eighty-one people. Early in 1882, the Mosel was fitted with new engines and sailed for New York on August 6th.
Besides the his crew of one hundred, Captain Julius Hesse had the responsibility of twenty saloon-class passengers and 600 emigrants. In addition, she carried valuable cargo, specie, mail and 400 tons of English woollen goods.
At 7:30 Am on August 9th, with the first and fourth officers on the bridge, the Mosel neared the Lizard. Occasional fog-banks impaired visibility and the lookouts had nothing more than infrequent glimpses of the shore. But the ship had passed this way dozens of times before and, confident in her course, her officers held on her full cruising speed of fourteen knots.
Just after 8:00 am the Mosel ran into a heavier bank of fog and ten minutes later steamed headlong into Bass Point, directly beneath Lloyd's signal station. She was so close to the cliffs the duty signalman climbed down, jumped on to the forecastle and spoke to the captain and officers in the saloon. In no immediate danger, the passengers were ordered to pack their baggage. The Falmouth tug, Rosetta, took off the bullion, mail, and some of the saloon passengers, while a proportion of the general cargo was transferred to the tugs Victor, Kimberly, and Sylph.
By noon, the rising tide had flooded the engine room cutting off the steam pressure and rendered the winches useless. Soon afterwards a small fire broke out in the engine room an it was decided to abandon ship. All the passengers and crew were landed safely, the emigrants being house in the warehouse of Falmouth Dock Company.
On August 11th, the Irish packet, Countess of Dublin, took the saloon passengers aboard for America, the remainder travelling on the Herman, a sister ship of the Mosel.
The wreck settled lower in the sea, and at high water lay bows-on to the cliff, with the stern completely under the water. Divers sent down to examine the hull found plates torn open by the stern to about eighty feet aft, but considered the salvage was still possible. Work commenced on patching the holes but was soon stopped by ground swells, and on August 24th the Mosel broke in half.
The wreck was only partially salvaged between winter gales and the greater part of it still lies below Bass Point.
Description from Richard Larn and Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks: The South Coast (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1971), p.121-122.
She had been plying across the North Atlantic with migrants from Bremen to New York, via Southampton, for almost nine years. In 1875, two years after her launch, a bomb planted on board by anarchists explored prematurely in Bremen docks killing eighty-one people. Early in 1882, the Mosel was fitted with new engines and sailed for New York on August 6th.
Besides the his crew of one hundred, Captain Julius Hesse had the responsibility of twenty saloon-class passengers and 600 emigrants. In addition, she carried valuable cargo, specie, mail and 400 tons of English woollen goods.
At 7:30 Am on August 9th, with the first and fourth officers on the bridge, the Mosel neared the Lizard. Occasional fog-banks impaired visibility and the lookouts had nothing more than infrequent glimpses of the shore. But the ship had passed this way dozens of times before and, confident in her course, her officers held on her full cruising speed of fourteen knots.
Just after 8:00 am the Mosel ran into a heavier bank of fog and ten minutes later steamed headlong into Bass Point, directly beneath Lloyd's signal station. She was so close to the cliffs the duty signalman climbed down, jumped on to the forecastle and spoke to the captain and officers in the saloon. In no immediate danger, the passengers were ordered to pack their baggage. The Falmouth tug, Rosetta, took off the bullion, mail, and some of the saloon passengers, while a proportion of the general cargo was transferred to the tugs Victor, Kimberly, and Sylph.
By noon, the rising tide had flooded the engine room cutting off the steam pressure and rendered the winches useless. Soon afterwards a small fire broke out in the engine room an it was decided to abandon ship. All the passengers and crew were landed safely, the emigrants being house in the warehouse of Falmouth Dock Company.
On August 11th, the Irish packet, Countess of Dublin, took the saloon passengers aboard for America, the remainder travelling on the Herman, a sister ship of the Mosel.
The wreck settled lower in the sea, and at high water lay bows-on to the cliff, with the stern completely under the water. Divers sent down to examine the hull found plates torn open by the stern to about eighty feet aft, but considered the salvage was still possible. Work commenced on patching the holes but was soon stopped by ground swells, and on August 24th the Mosel broke in half.
The wreck was only partially salvaged between winter gales and the greater part of it still lies below Bass Point.
Description from Richard Larn and Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks: The South Coast (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1971), p.121-122.
Date
1882 -08-09
Rights
Morrab Library
Format
Negative
Identifier
COLLINS.129
Coverage
Bass Point, The Lizard, Cornwall
Original Format
Print and negative