Title
S.S. Plympton, Isles of Scilly, 1909
Subject
S.S. Plympton, view from wreck of gig Dolly Varden and other local boats alongside engaged in rescue and salvage.
Description
The Plympton of London, a Commercial Steamship Company Vessel went ashore in the thick fog on August 14th while carrying maize in bags from Villa Constitution to Dublin, via Falmouth.
Built for Furness, Withy & Company of West Hartlepool in 1893, the Plympton was 314ft in length and 2, 869 tons gross was declared a total loss, her value for insurance purposes being set at 16,000 with her cargo at an additional £25,000.
Her arrival was not exactly unannounced, since she steamed headlong onto the rocks with her fog siren going full blast. An old gig, the Dolly Varden, was launched from Porth Cressa and after searching around Gugh and Wingletang area, found the Plympton with her boys hard and fast ashore, listing heavily to port. After her crew of 23 had been landed, the islanders set about the age-old practise of stripping the wreck. That afternoon, whilst work was still in progress, the flood tide gently lifted the steamer off the rocks and without warning she turned right over and sank, leaving only the bow section above water. Two local men, Charles Mumford of St. Marys and Charles Hicks of St. Agnes, were sucked down by the wrecked and drowned.
Several others had lucky escapes: one in particular , a visitor to Scily named Ormrod, was actually inside the deckhouse when the steamer capsized. He went down with her but managed to escape through a porthole and reached the surface still clutching his trophy, the saloon stewards dinner bell.
A remarkable coincidence occurred when in 1920, a German steamer Hathor, 7060 tons gross, sank right across the wreck of the Plympton on the base of the Lethegus Rock.
Richard Larn, Cornish Shipwrecks: Isles of Scilly (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1971), p.76-79.
Built for Furness, Withy & Company of West Hartlepool in 1893, the Plympton was 314ft in length and 2, 869 tons gross was declared a total loss, her value for insurance purposes being set at 16,000 with her cargo at an additional £25,000.
Her arrival was not exactly unannounced, since she steamed headlong onto the rocks with her fog siren going full blast. An old gig, the Dolly Varden, was launched from Porth Cressa and after searching around Gugh and Wingletang area, found the Plympton with her boys hard and fast ashore, listing heavily to port. After her crew of 23 had been landed, the islanders set about the age-old practise of stripping the wreck. That afternoon, whilst work was still in progress, the flood tide gently lifted the steamer off the rocks and without warning she turned right over and sank, leaving only the bow section above water. Two local men, Charles Mumford of St. Marys and Charles Hicks of St. Agnes, were sucked down by the wrecked and drowned.
Several others had lucky escapes: one in particular , a visitor to Scily named Ormrod, was actually inside the deckhouse when the steamer capsized. He went down with her but managed to escape through a porthole and reached the surface still clutching his trophy, the saloon stewards dinner bell.
A remarkable coincidence occurred when in 1920, a German steamer Hathor, 7060 tons gross, sank right across the wreck of the Plympton on the base of the Lethegus Rock.
Richard Larn, Cornish Shipwrecks: Isles of Scilly (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1971), p.76-79.
Creator
Gibson
Date
1909-08-14
Rights
Morrab library
Format
Print
Identifier
RGN.085
Coverage
St. Agnes, Isles of Scilly
Physical Dimensions
8" x 5"