Title
Bessemer City, wrecked October 31st 1936
Subject
Steamer
General
Shipwreck
Wreck
Description
The American steamer Bessemer City wrecked at Clodgy in 1936, was launched in 1921 by the Chickasaw Shipbuilding Company of Alabama for the US Steel Production Company.
She was steel screw steamer of 3,450 tons net, 5,686 tons gross, powered by two steam turbines, geared to a single shaft, made the Federal Shipbuilding Company of Kearney, New Jersey.
Under the ownership of the Isthmian SS Co of New York, and commanded by Captain Joseph Herman, the Bessemer City left Liverpool on the evening of October 31st 1936 for London, to complete discharging her general cargo from the USA. Twenty-four hours later she passed Godrevy light which was almost hidden by thick wintry haze, and shortly before midnight grounded heavily under Pen Enys Point.
In the weeks following, the Bessemer City broke up. Her poor complete with mast and cargo derricks, drifted under Trevalgan Cliff, and heavy seas demolished even the large forward and midship sections.
Cases of tinned fruit and salmon, boxes of raisins, sultanas and other delicacies ripened in the California sunshine, came ashore from Clodgy to Newquay. A Penzance firm recovered a lot, but a great deal more vanished into kitchen cupboards and was put to good used during the days of scarcity that followed.
Though her location was well known; the Bessemer City lay undisturbed until September 1963, when she was re-discovered by crayfish divers.
Description from Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwreck: The North Coast (London: Pen Books Ltd, 1970), p.40-41.
She was steel screw steamer of 3,450 tons net, 5,686 tons gross, powered by two steam turbines, geared to a single shaft, made the Federal Shipbuilding Company of Kearney, New Jersey.
Under the ownership of the Isthmian SS Co of New York, and commanded by Captain Joseph Herman, the Bessemer City left Liverpool on the evening of October 31st 1936 for London, to complete discharging her general cargo from the USA. Twenty-four hours later she passed Godrevy light which was almost hidden by thick wintry haze, and shortly before midnight grounded heavily under Pen Enys Point.
In the weeks following, the Bessemer City broke up. Her poor complete with mast and cargo derricks, drifted under Trevalgan Cliff, and heavy seas demolished even the large forward and midship sections.
Cases of tinned fruit and salmon, boxes of raisins, sultanas and other delicacies ripened in the California sunshine, came ashore from Clodgy to Newquay. A Penzance firm recovered a lot, but a great deal more vanished into kitchen cupboards and was put to good used during the days of scarcity that followed.
Though her location was well known; the Bessemer City lay undisturbed until September 1963, when she was re-discovered by crayfish divers.
Description from Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwreck: The North Coast (London: Pen Books Ltd, 1970), p.40-41.
Publisher
Morrab Library
Date
01-11-1936
Rights
Morrab Library
Format
Print
Identifier
COLLINS.026B
Coverage
Pen Enys point, near St Ives
Original Format
Negative and Print