Title
Adolf Vinnen, wrecked at Housel Bay, Lizard, February 23rd 1923.
Subject
German Schooner
Maiden Voyage ashore at Housel Bay, Lizard
Shipwreck
Wreck
Description
When the Adolf Vinnen came ashore in 1923 she was a new ship, only nine day out of her builders hands. Owned by Vinnens of Bremen, she was one of five steel, five-masted auxiliary schooners built by Krupps of Kiel between 1922-23. Of over 2,000 tons gross tonnage, the Adolf Vinnen was fitted with a diesel engine originally destined for U- Boats and carried the peculiar sail plan known as 'jackass rig.'
She left the builders on February 1st 1923 for Brunsbuttel, via the Kiel Canal, where final fitting-out took place. On February 9th she sailed on her maiden voyage, in ballast for Barry to load coal. Her master, Captain Muller, had also commanded an earlier Adolf Vinnen, a 3,000-ton barque which had been requisitioned Mae Dollar. As the Adolf Vinnen left the North Sea and entered the Channel, she ran into strong headwinds. These increased and veered SSW so that when the Lizard was sighted on February 23rd she was dangerously close to the land. Failing to work clear, she drove ashore at 17:30 pm only seventy yards off Bass Point and very close to the wreck of the Mosel, lost in 1882.
As crowd of spectators had gathered long before she struck and the new motor lifeboat Frederick H. Pilley was being launched even as the big schooner hit the rocks. Seventeen of her crew were saved by breeches-buoy but Captain Muller, his officers and the steward decided to remain on board. During the night, heavy seas swept the wreck from end to end and they were almost swept from the rigging.
The seas was so rough that the Lizard lifeboat, unable to approach Polpeor station, had to make for the shelter of Falmouth. Next day, the captain and his comrades were rescued by breeches-buoy and the ship left to the mercies of sea. By March 16th, all four topmasts had collapsed and were followed shortly after the mainmasts. The wreck remains near Bass Point, but is often completely engulfed in sand and only uncovers at infrequent intervals.
Description from Richard Larn and Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks: The South Coast (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1971), p.134.
She left the builders on February 1st 1923 for Brunsbuttel, via the Kiel Canal, where final fitting-out took place. On February 9th she sailed on her maiden voyage, in ballast for Barry to load coal. Her master, Captain Muller, had also commanded an earlier Adolf Vinnen, a 3,000-ton barque which had been requisitioned Mae Dollar. As the Adolf Vinnen left the North Sea and entered the Channel, she ran into strong headwinds. These increased and veered SSW so that when the Lizard was sighted on February 23rd she was dangerously close to the land. Failing to work clear, she drove ashore at 17:30 pm only seventy yards off Bass Point and very close to the wreck of the Mosel, lost in 1882.
As crowd of spectators had gathered long before she struck and the new motor lifeboat Frederick H. Pilley was being launched even as the big schooner hit the rocks. Seventeen of her crew were saved by breeches-buoy but Captain Muller, his officers and the steward decided to remain on board. During the night, heavy seas swept the wreck from end to end and they were almost swept from the rigging.
The seas was so rough that the Lizard lifeboat, unable to approach Polpeor station, had to make for the shelter of Falmouth. Next day, the captain and his comrades were rescued by breeches-buoy and the ship left to the mercies of sea. By March 16th, all four topmasts had collapsed and were followed shortly after the mainmasts. The wreck remains near Bass Point, but is often completely engulfed in sand and only uncovers at infrequent intervals.
Description from Richard Larn and Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks: The South Coast (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1971), p.134.
Date
23-02-1923
Format
Print
Identifier
COLLINS.004B
Coverage
Lizard