Title
Hemsley I, wrecked on rocks of Fox Cove, May 12th 1969
Subject
Shipwreck
Description
The British Merchant service tanker, Hemsley I wrecked at Fox Cove, May 12th 1969.
Launched of the Admiralty in November 1916 by the Tyne Shipbuilding Company of Newcastle, she remained the naval oiler Scotol until 1948 when she was bought by Hemsley Bell Ltd of Southampton, who chartered her to Shell Mex & BP LTD as the Hemsley I.
Her tall buff funnel became a familiar sight in the Mersey, the Manchester Ship Canal, and many Irish seaports, as she piled the general coasting and bunkering trade with regular cargoes to Liverpool Clarence Dock power station.
She was still going strong in March 1969, but next month was sold for breaking. After a rousing send-off at Liverpool she sailed on her last voyage to Antwerp scrapyard. But at 2:30am on May 12th 1969, during thick fog and a fresh southerly gale, she struck heavily under high cliffs in Fox's Cove, just west of Treyarnon Bay. Her crew jumped ashore, leaving the old Hemsley I, described by her captain as 'a happy ship' firmly entrenched at the end of her last voyage.
Description from Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks: The North Coast (London: Penn Books LTD, 1970), p. 106-107.
Launched of the Admiralty in November 1916 by the Tyne Shipbuilding Company of Newcastle, she remained the naval oiler Scotol until 1948 when she was bought by Hemsley Bell Ltd of Southampton, who chartered her to Shell Mex & BP LTD as the Hemsley I.
Her tall buff funnel became a familiar sight in the Mersey, the Manchester Ship Canal, and many Irish seaports, as she piled the general coasting and bunkering trade with regular cargoes to Liverpool Clarence Dock power station.
She was still going strong in March 1969, but next month was sold for breaking. After a rousing send-off at Liverpool she sailed on her last voyage to Antwerp scrapyard. But at 2:30am on May 12th 1969, during thick fog and a fresh southerly gale, she struck heavily under high cliffs in Fox's Cove, just west of Treyarnon Bay. Her crew jumped ashore, leaving the old Hemsley I, described by her captain as 'a happy ship' firmly entrenched at the end of her last voyage.
Description from Clive Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks: The North Coast (London: Penn Books LTD, 1970), p. 106-107.
Date
1969-05-10
Rights
Morrab library
Format
Print
Identifier
WRECK 8.016
Coverage
Padstow
Period Costume
N
Individual Names
Helmsley I