Title
Balbec, Steamer wrecked at near Land's End, March 28th 1884.
Subject
Shipwreck
Description
The 848-ton early Cunarder Balbec was wrecked on a the 28th March 1884.
She had left Liverpool the previous day on her regular run to Le Havre, loaded with hides, chemicals, and Manchester goods, with a crew of twenty-nine and five saloon passengers.
She struck a submerged object of the Longship Rocks, Land's End, and had be beached on Nanjizel Bay. It was the lowest tide for years as she rounded Land's End at noon on the 28th, in calm seas and easterly breeze. Suddenly she gave a slight shudder, but sailed on; a hasty inspection revealed water pouring in through the coal in the port side bunker.
The pumps were started but could not cope, so Captain Marsh ran her ashore. No one was drowned, but the Balbec, which had launched on the Clyde in 1853, was a total wreck, the fourth Curnard Steamer lost on the Cornish Coast since 1857.
A Trinity House steamer searched for the mysterious obstruction, but found neither reef nor sunken wreck.
Description from Richard Larn and Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks: The South Coast (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1971), p. 231.
She had left Liverpool the previous day on her regular run to Le Havre, loaded with hides, chemicals, and Manchester goods, with a crew of twenty-nine and five saloon passengers.
She struck a submerged object of the Longship Rocks, Land's End, and had be beached on Nanjizel Bay. It was the lowest tide for years as she rounded Land's End at noon on the 28th, in calm seas and easterly breeze. Suddenly she gave a slight shudder, but sailed on; a hasty inspection revealed water pouring in through the coal in the port side bunker.
The pumps were started but could not cope, so Captain Marsh ran her ashore. No one was drowned, but the Balbec, which had launched on the Clyde in 1853, was a total wreck, the fourth Curnard Steamer lost on the Cornish Coast since 1857.
A Trinity House steamer searched for the mysterious obstruction, but found neither reef nor sunken wreck.
Description from Richard Larn and Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks: The South Coast (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1971), p. 231.
Date
1884-03-28
Rights
Morrab library
Format
Print
Identifier
RGN.015
Coverage
Land's End
Physical Dimensions
8" x 6"