Title
Maipu, Hell Bay, Isles of Scilly, 1879
Subject
Shipwreck
Description
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.
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.
Creator
Gibson
Date
1879-07-27
Rights
Morrab library
Format
Print
Identifier
RGN.010
Coverage
Hell Bay, Isles of Scilly
Physical Dimensions
8" x 6"