Prawle Point to Langerstone Point
Take a short walk from the lane below East Prawle to Prawle Point and then east along the coast path to Langerstone Point where there is an in-between world of tidal land and sea. Prawle Point is the southernmost part of mainland Devon. The actual southernmost part of Devon is the Eddystone rocks out at sea, so be careful in a quiz how the question is worded.
The Lizard peninsula in Cornwall is the southernmost part of mainland Britain, being only 17 miles further south than Prawle Point, so we are very far south here in England. With the tide out you can clamber about on rocks which will be submerged only a few hours later.
Head further east and you come to the Start Point lighthouse, and further west Gara Rock and then Salcombe.
Just visible on top of the mound of rugged rock, the rugged rascal ran, to get to the old coastguard station.
"Round and round the rugged rock, the ragged rascal ran" is a famous tongue-twister used to practice pronunciation and the "R" sound.
The original coastguard lookout was built by the Admiralty in the 1860s, later serving as a Lloyd's Signal Station and Royal Navy station before HM Coastguard closed the official station in 1994. Volunteers restored the site in 1997.
NCI Prawle Point lookout at the historic coastguard site on Devon's southernmost promontory is operated by the National Coastwatch Institution and is open daily for safety monitoring and visitor information. Staffed entirely by volunteers keeping a daylight listening watch (09:00 to 17:00 daily, extended to 20:00 from early May to early September) reporting directly to HM Coastguard.
The geography of this spot is highly complex and mixed and you can see from this angle, below, that it is something unusual. It's all caused by isostatic rebound.
Put simply, this spot is a "wave cut platform" which if you think about it is self explanatory. There are sea cliffs set back from the sea and a flat area between them and the shoreline. This flat area was originally under the sea and the sea was crashing waves across this land to the base of the cliffs. You are looking at what happens when an ice age ends and the vast weight of that ice melts away.
The so called Terra Firma that we all walk on every day is more like a planetary water bed with a skin of shell-like rocks floating on the molten planet core underneath. Vast ice sheets cause a dip in the water bed mattress as if you had just sat on the edge of that bed. When the ice is gone isostatic rebound causes the mattress to bounce back up, quite slowly in this case. The ice melts, raises sea level and the land slowly rises but during that process the sea covers this wave cut platform. As the land continues to rise that platform becomes a flat area between the old shore and the new.
In this photo you can see clearly the bedrock overlaid with a "periglacial head slope". What looks like a layer of sand and stones is formed when the periglacial area or the zone at the edge of an ice sheet receives deposits from meltwaters. "Solifluction" is what we would think of as a sort of landslide where water saturated soils and surface material move down a slope and end up right here.
So it is really quite easy, you are looking at a wave cut platform caused by the retreating last ice age where isostatic rebound and solifluction during the Ipswichian interglacial period created a fossilised raised beach with a perigacial head slope all resting on top of a bedrock of two types of interleaved schist with embedded large quartz lenses, which were made hundreds of millions of years before that ice age.
I said it was quite easy. We'll be seeing some of that, close up on the beach.
Here is the base of the old sea cliffs.
This stretch of coast between Prawle Point and Start Point where there is a lighthouse, is a notorious ship's graveyard. Dozens of wrecks have been documented and they date from the Bronze Age up to modern times. Thirty Five ships were sunk within eight miles of Start Point in the First World War alone. Confirmed wrecks go back as far as 1692 with the HMS Crown Prize and as recently as the 1970's. Beyond Prawle Point towards Bolt Tail wrecks run into the hundreds.
Sheffield Independent - Saturday, 14 March 1891
THE GREAT STORM.
DETAILS OF THE. WRECKS AT
START POINT.
OVER SIXTY LIVES LOST.
NUMEROUS DEATHS FROM
EXPOSURE INLAND.
REMARKABLE ADVENTURES.
THE SNOW-BURIED TRAINS.
The Press Association states that in London yesterday the weather was fine, with a somewhat cold wind, and the storm seems to have passed away except in the extreme west of England, where there has been a renewed fall of snow........
The Coastguard men made heroic efforts to render assistance to the vessels in distress, and went from point to point where they were called, often having to cut their way in the midst of the blinding storm through the snowdrifts. The unknown steamer reported lost last night was the Mirama, with 25 hands- She was bound from London to Colombo with railway sleepers, belonged to Liverpool, and was to call at Swansea for coals. She left London Docks on Sunday morning with 28 hands, and on Monday evening in a blinding snowstorm struck a rock off Start Point. As the vessel was rapidly sinking the crew took to the boats. One disappeared and has not since been heard of. The other, after making vain efforts to effect a landing and capsizing twice, had only at last four survivors on board. These were all stokers and all Swedes.
Finally she was driven to the Mag Rock, slightly to the east of Prawle Point. At this time, with the exception of four men, all those on board of her succumbed through exhaustion and the fury of the waves. On landing at the foot of the cliff they commenced to climb the steep rocks. One of the men who suffered terribly from exhaustion was gallantly helped upwards by his comrades. They finally succeeded in reaching the summit, and had made half their way to Prawle village when the injured man could proceed no further. He laid in the road, and two of his fellows stayed with him while the other proceeded forward for help. He reached Prawle at half - past ten at night, but being unable to speak English it was some time before he could make the country folk understand what was wanted. At length a rescue party started out with warm food and clothing. They found the other three men, two alive and one dead. The two survivors were much exhausted, but recovered under careful treatment.
On Monday night also the chief coastguard officer at Prawle received information of a ship ashore at the Start. He proceeded immediately with the life-saving apparatus, but the roads were in such a fearful state owing to trees being blown across and drifts of snow that they had great difficulty in reaching there. It was then found that no assistance could be rendered, as the unknown ship had completely broken up a few minutes after striking the rocks. Five bodies of the crew have been found, among them the boatswain. Later on Monday night the three masted schooner Lunesdale, owned at Barrow, from London to Liverpool, ran ashore on the same coast. The captain managed to get over to the lee rigging, and was saved by a fisherman and coastguards with great diffiunlty. A line was eventually thrown on board, but the four other men had been washed overboard. Soon after this the schooner Lizzie Ellen, of Chester, came ashore near the same spot. The men on shore saw her distress light, but were able to save only the mate and third hand, the other two of the crew being drowned. The vessel became a total wreck.
A large boat, supposed to be a hooker or mackerel boat, is also reported to have gone down on the same coast. From Plymouth itself the most serious news is that the Hamburg- American steamer Suevia is missing. She arrived in the Channel off Prawle Point, on Monday afternoon, when the valve of the low pressure condensing engine gave way. With the strong east wind she drifted down the Channel, encountering the terrible weather of Monday night and Tuesday. The steamer Acme, of London, responded to her distress signals, but was too small to take the Suevia in tow, but took off the chief officer, who was afterwards transferred to a pilot cutter and landed at Falmouth Wednesday night. He afterwards came on to Plymouth, and the powerful tug Smeaton was sent in search, but the latest advices from Plymouth are that after two days' steaming she has been unsuccessful, and a steamer from Southampton and one from London are now in the Channel on the look out.
In 1847 the Royal Family were on a tour of Britain on the Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert, on the next leg of the trip the Royal Steam Squadron sailed from Dartmouth to the Lizard. Anyone standing here would have seen a quite spectacular procession.
Illustrated London News - Saturday, 21 August 1847
FRIDAY.
At four o'clock, A.M., the squadron weighed, and, leaving Dartmouth, proceeded to the westward.
At Plymouth, between four and five o'clock, the City of Limerick Dublin steamer descried the Royal Steam Squadron, to the eastward of Start Point.
A large ship with two funnels led the van. She was followed by the Royal yacht, Victoria and Albert; behind the Royal yacht, on the starboard quarter, came the Garland, and on the larboard quarter the Black Eagle. The Undine was in the rear of the Garland, and the Fairy followed the Black Eagle. The City of Limerick, with the Company's flag at the main, Ensign aft, and Union Jack at her bow, duly honoured the Royal Squadron as she passed under the sterns of the Garland and Black Eagle, off Prawl Point, a little after five o'clock.
There was very little wind. The squadron was at full speed-say 11 to 12 knots and steaming a course W. by N., which would bring them abreast of the Lizard. About six, the Garland put on extra steam, detached herself from the squadron, and steered a more northerly course.
This is the beach and here are the remnants of both the schist which has a greenish hue and the quartz lenses which are almost white. Tumble all of that around for a thousand years or more and you get this beautiful subtle mix.
The water out on this remote reach is crystal clear and the pebbles blend beautifully with the sea spaghetti in the gentle waves.
The drama was not all at sea and many of those in peril made it safely to land here at Prawle where they were always taken in by the local people. But it didn't always end there. In 1872 one terrible night of drama made the national news. Today East Prawle is a sleepy village for most of the year but a hive of tourism in the summer months where holidaymakers frequent the Pig's Nose Pub. How many of them realise that there was once a terrible bloody and deadly rampage in the pub, previously called The Union Inn, which spread all of the way to the coastguard cottages?
The Star - Thursday, 12 December 1872
TRAGIC AFFAIR AT PRAWLE.
Prawle Point, a wild and sparely inhabited promontory stretching far out into the English Channel from the Devonshire coast, was on Friday the scene of a tragedy the like of which is happily of very rare occurrence in a civilized country. The Italian brig Maria Teresa was so greatly damaged by a large schooner that she ran ashore at Prawle Point. The brig was commanded by Nicolo Bozzo, and her crew consisted of twelve men. She was of 400 tons register, and left Shields eight days before for Genoa with 500 tons of coal. The crew removed their personal effeets and abandoned their ship, leaving it to the coastguard and fishermen to strip her of her canvas and other moveable gear.
After landing the crew went to the Union Inn at Praule, kept by Mr. Patey, where they went to bed at abunt 9 o'clock on Thursday evening. About 2 o'clock on Friday morning the landlord of the Union Inn heard a disturbance in a room which had been allotted to seven of the men. Upon going to the room he was surprised to find most of the sailors under the bedsteads, of which there were three in the room. As soon as he opened the door a man, armed with a knife, tho blade 6 inches in length, rushed at him. Mr. Patey immediately closed and fastened the door, upon which the sailor made a furious attack, yelling and shouting, and endeavouring to break it open. Fearing that there would be murder Mr. Patey's wife, sisters, and a female servant, hastily, and partially dressed, ran out of the house; and Mr. Patey having placed the man servant at the door, left for the coastguard station to obtain assistance.
Meantime, the half a dozen sailors shut in with their infuriated comrade kept up a chorus
of yells, the fellow attacking them freely with his weapon. Mr. Brown, Lloyd's agent at Dartmouth, who was sleeping in the house, was aroused by the uproar and got up, and on the arrival of Mr. Segue, chief officer at the Prawle station, and another of the coastguard named Robert Kelwell, the bed-room door was opened.
The frantic man had become more furious than ever, and Mr. Brown, speaking to him in Italian, recommended him to surrender quietly, but instead of doing so he sprang at Kelwell before he could be prevented and stabbed him in several places. Kelwell, however, grappled manfully with his assailant, and a fierce struggle took place on the landing........
.......Ultimately, both men rolled over the stairs together, and the Italian becoming freed from his antagonist, rushed out of the house. Mrs. Kelwell, having received an alarm, ran towards the village. She was met on the road by the sailor, who made a savage onslaught on her. She received several stabs, one of them being on the back of her uplifted hand, the injury being so severe that the poor woman will never be able to use the hand again. With great presence of mind she dropped on the ground, and despite the agony she was in remained silent. The Italian, thinking she was dead, left his victim lying on the road, and, attracted by a lighted window, made for the coastguard station. The light was burning in the house of a coastguardsman named James Brown, who was dressing at the moment the Italian came up and tapped at the window.
Mrs. Brown saw the man, but was afraid to open the door, and upon her husband doing so the Italian immediately sprang upon and stabbed him. A terrible struggle ensued, and Brown at last fell, overcome by loss of blood. After he had fallen he received several stabs, until at length he became insensible. Just then Mrs. Brown came to the door, and the man at once attacked her. He aimed a blow at her head, but she fortunately perceived his intention in time to stoop, and the weapon merely inflicted a scalp wound. She seized him, and battled with him courageously. His attempts to pierce Mrs. Brown's clothes proving ineffectual, he struck her on the hand, and inflicted a frightful gash. It would have fared badly with the wounded woman if the Italian's attention had not been diverted by a new comer, viz., Mrs. Brown's son, at whom be immediately sprang, striking at his head with the knife. This time, however, he had met some one who was more than his match. His antagonist was a fine powerful young fellow,' and the weapon having failed to reach his head, he caught his assailant round the waist and pitched him over a low wall in front of the house.
Whilst this had been going on the elder Brown had been lying weltering in his blood, having received no less than twelve wounds, which bled profusely. He was quite insensible, and was carried by his wife and son into the house where he now lies in a very critical condition. The Italian finding himself worsted in the combat, made no attempt to renew the struggle with young Brown, but started for the village. In the interval Mr. Segue, Mr. Brown, and Mr. Patey, armed with cutlasses and carrying lanterns, had gone in pursuit of the fellow, whom they met on the road. Mr. Brown called upon him to give up the knife, which he still retained, and to surrender, but instead of complying he aimed a deadly blow at Mr. Segue, who placed the point of his cutlass at the other's breast, and pushed him back......
....More savage than ever he again attemped to stab Mr. Segue, who at once struck him on the forehead with his cutlass, inflicting a fatal blow, the Italian falling dead at his feet. The body of the dead man was conveyed to the Union Inn, to await an inquest, but the remainder of the crew, who appear quiet, peaceable men, were sent to Dartmouth on Friday.
Of the deceased they had been very much afraid, his violent temper keeping them in a state of continual terror. The weapon used by the dead man was very similar to a butcher's pig-killing knife, but, fortunately, was of very inferior material. The point was quite bent by its murderous use. Had it been good steel the results would have been more fatal than is now apprehended. During the affray Captain Bozzo was watching the wreck of his vessel, which was rapidly going to pieces under the effects of a south-west gale .- Western Morning News.
The earliest article I found was nearly 300 years old. Wrecks and salvage were big business along these shores, and seeing that parts of ship's hulls washed ashore were sold at auction, strengthens those famous claims of local cottages being built with ship's timbers.
Sherborne Mercury - Monday, 1 October 1753
Notice is hereby given,
THAT on Monday the 15th of October
next, will be exposed to publick Sale, at Salcomb, within the Parish of Malborough, and County of Devon, Part of the Hull and Furniture of a Dutch Vessel, called the PEACE, Burthen about 200 Tons, Hendrick Hals, Master, belonging to Amsterdam, bound thither from Cadiz, wrecked at the Mouth of Salcomb Harbour, in the Night, between the 4th and 5th of August last, consisting of,
Masts
Yards
Sails
Rigging
Anchors
Cables
Carriage and Swivel Guns
A Long Boat
Yawl
Large Pieces of the Hull
Cabbin Furniture
Immediately after Sale of the above, will be sold in like Manner, at Prawl, about four Miles from Salcomb, Part of the Wreck of another Dutch Vessel, called the St. Catharine, about 200 Tons Burthen, Bastian Bekker, Master, belonging to Amsterdam, bound thither from St. Lucar, lost in the same Night abovementioned on the Point called Prawl Point.
Any Person desirous of further Information, may apply to Arthur Holdsworth, Esq; in Dartmouth, or to Mr. Joseph Allison, at Salcomb aforefaid, where, and at Prawl, the Goods are to be seen, and Conditions of Sale may be known.
Today the lighthouse at Start Point is famous, but how many people who walk down the winding road to see it realise that it was very nearly built here instead, exactly where the coastguard station stands today? The light at Start was switched on on July 1st 1836.
Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser - Monday, 2 May 1836
LIGHTHOUSE OF START POINT.
The Corporation of Trinity House have conferred a valuable boon on the maritime interests of Great Britain, by the erection of a Lighthouse on Start Point, on the coast of Devonshire. Their decision as to the locality of this new light, by which the Start Point was preferred to the Prawle, bespoke a more proper and general view of the want of such a beacon on that part of the coast of Devonshire than if, listening to the more immediate convenience of the port of Brixham and adjacent places, they had fixed the Lighthouse on the Prawle.
The light will be first exhibited on the evening of Friday, the 1st of July next, and will be thenceforth continued every night from sunset to sunrise. " The character of the light, which will burn at an elevation of 204 feet above the level of the sea, at high water spring tides, will be that of a powerful revolving light, showing a brilliant flash, at regulated intervals of one minute; and in addition thereto a stationary light will be exhibited in the same lighthouse, in the direction of the Berry Head." Shipping Gazette.
The decision to place the lighthouse at Start and not at Prawle was controversial at the time. "A Sailor" wrote to the Naval and Military Gazette two years prior, a very detailed letter expressing his concerns. It is to be noted that standing at the foreshore here in Prawle the light at Start cannot be seen. It also could not be seen from the other side of Prawle Point close to shore and those deadly rocks. As I mentioned right at the start of this piece, Prawle is the southernmost piece of land.
Naval & Military Gazette and Weekly Chronicle of the United Service - Saturday, 7 June 1834
THE NEW LIGHT-HOUSES IN THE CHANNEL.
Sir,-I am most happy to find that the Trinity Board have at last commenced building a light-house at the entrance of Falmouth harbour, and report says that they are going to build one immediately either upon the Start or Prawl Points. To any man who has ever been near to these headlands, there cannot be a doubt for a moment on which this light-house ought to be erected, for no one in his right senses would think of placing it upon the Start, nor can I believe that the Elder Brethren of the Trinity House mean to do so. But if this should be their present intention, I would entreat of them to make a visit themselves to each of those points, and afterwards embark in their yacht, and stand away for the Eddystone, and then to reach in shore towards Bigbury-bay, when they will discover that they might as well put a light-house on Salisbury Plain, as on the Start Point! so far as it will benefit a ship making the land between Plymouth and the Prawl, with the wind from the eastward, and when standing in on the starboard tack in thick weather.
She would be on the rocks, without knowing where she was, though but a league from this costly light-house, towards the support of which her owners were compelled to pay every voyage a toll of several pounds. Before, then, this intended light-house be begun, let experienced and impartial persons re-examine the sites of the Prawl and the Start, and I am convinced that they will decide on placing it on the highest land, being that which also lies some distance south of the other.
On a question of such moment as the erection of a light-house, facts alone should determine the most proper situation, and caprice, or local interests, should never be suffered to sway a subject of this magnitude to the shipping interests of Great Britain. A SAILOR. June 2, 1834.
Around these parts the Salcombe Lifeboat Disaster of 1916 is legendary. On one terrible night 13 men of it's 15 man volunteer crew died when the boat capsized within sight of the town. What I had not realised previously was that it was a shipwreck right here at Prawle that was the reason for their rescue attempt. To add to the tragedy it later emerged that the lifeboat had not been needed after all as the stricken ship was able to land on a small width of beach and it's crew were rescued from land, before the lifeboat arrived.
Dartmouth & South Hams Chronicle - Friday, 3 November 1916
SALCOMBE LIFEBOAT DISASTER.
Sympathy from the King.
Evidence at the Inquest.
In connection with the disaster which overtook the Salcombe lifeboat on Friday, the following telegram has been received from the King by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution :-
I am concerned to hear of the distressing accident to the Salcome lifeboat, whereby thirteen of her brave crew have lost their lives in attempting to save others. Please convey my sympathy to the families of the gallant men who have perished. GEORGE, R.I.......
.....THE SUMMONS FROM PRAWLE.
Chief Officer of Coastguards L. A. C. May, Prawle Point, describes the circumstances which led to the calling out of the lifeboat. On Friday morning at 5.12, he said, a signal of distress was observed on or near Meg Rocks, off Langerstone Point. It was dark, and a fierce storm was raging, the seas being very heavy indeed. He instructed a man to watch for further distress signals, and another he sent to call out the coastgusrd, whilst a third available man was deputed to call out the Salcombe lifeboat by telephone. The message telephoned was :- Signal of distress on Meg Rock, Langerstone Point......
.....While these several preliminaries were being discharged he himself burnt a blue light as a signal to the distressed vessel that assistance was coming. The means taken by the coastguard for saving the vessel's crew were successful, and as events turned out the services of the lifeboat were not required.
The hand of Providence must have guided the schooner to the place she actually grounded at, which was not Meg Rock, which in the darkness he had first supposed, but a little sandy beach-the only bit of sand in the vicinity. She had driven safely past Meg Rock. Had she struck Meg Rock nothing could have saved the vessel, and the only chance any of the crew would have had would have been to be picked up by the lifeboat while they clung to the wreckage. It was 7.40 when, the coastguard having rescued the crew, he regained the coastguard station, and from that vantage point saw the lifeboat pass. A gale of wind was blowing, and the boat, splendidly handled, was going like a greyhound and riding the waves beautifully. He had no day signal by which he could acquaint the boat that her services were not required......
.....Had the incident happened at night he could have done so. Some little time later his attention was again called to the lifeboat, and he realized that she had seen she was not wanted. After a short tack to the southward, she turned back and headed about north-west, perhaps a little of the windward of north-west. She would not weather Prawle Point on the second tack, but on the third, when it was about 8.25, she did so, and made long legs for home.
A Juror: What time was the crew taken off the vessel ?
Witness: About 6.45.
Was there not time to go back and stop the lifeboat by telephone ?
Absolutely impossible.
Imagine Prawle with a heavy south-west gale blowing almost a hurricane and trying to get through that back to the station. It was terrible weather, there is no doubt about that.
CATASTROPHE DESCRIBED,
....Samuel Lamble, shore signalman, said he helped to launch the lifeboat a few minutes to seven on Friday morning. There was a very heavy seas. He watched the boat until she got to Prawle Head, and then lost sight of her for half an hour, when she again came in view, returning.
The boat was still under sail. There was some preliminary manoeuvring, and the crew were at last preparing to cross the bar when, as they were in the act of lowering the sails, a heavy sea struck and capsized the boat. This happened slightly before the actual bar was reached. Next he saw the crew clinging to the upturned boat.
On the beach are some interesting finds, geologically speaking. Here is some of that white quartz lying among the pieces of green schist. It has a look of petrified tree trunks.
Because quartz is highly resistant to weathering, these veins act as tough structural ribs within the softer, more friable surrounding schists. As periglacial conditions eroded the hillsides during the Pleistocene, the broken quartz fractured into angular boulders and pebbles. These elements comprise a substantial portion of the soft head cliff deposits and raised marine platforms that define the Prawle Point and Start Point SSSI today
A lot of the rock surfaces are pock marked with erosion which is probably a combination of abrasion and solution. Abrasion is caused by the water using loose material to sandblast the solid rock surfaces and solution is a chemical process caused by the salts and acids in the seawater dissolving the surface of rocks.
This view looks particularly like erosion by solution.
In coastal environments, salt spray and marine moisture accelerate the physical and chemical disintegration of greenschist, while meteoric water infiltration strips ions and transforms minerals into secondary clays, weakening the rock structure along its foliated planes.
In fact you can see that the pock marks are in rows, following the planes of the rock.
Here is a fault line. Arches like that on Prawle Point start with a small line of weakness like this. Lines of weakness in headlands are worn open by hydraulic action and abrasion to form caves. When a cave cuts all the way through a headland, it becomes an arch.
Western Morning News - Thursday, 8 February 1945
ASHORE NEAR START
Salcombe Lifeboat Stands By American Steamer
Recently an American steamship drove ashore at Langerstone Point, between Prawle and Start. In response to an S.O.S. Salcombe lifeboat (Coxswain Mr. Eddy Distin) went out and stood by under the lee of the vessel during the hours of darkness. The sea was moderate to rough, but the crew of the ship stood by until daylight, when tugs from Plymouth arrived on the scene. Next day the ship was towed off on the top of the tide and was taken up Channel.
Exeter and Plymouth Gazette - Wednesday, 15 August 1928
THE "GOSSAMER."
SOUTH DEVON WRECK RECALLED.
In the year 1870 there occurred on the coast of South Devon the greatest shipping disaster, of its kind, in this generation. The oldest inhabitant will tell you so. The Gossamer, a full-rigged sailing ship of some 2,000 tons, bound for Adelaide with a valuable general cargo, went ashore, in thick fog, near Prawle Point, and became a total wreck.
There was a high sea running, and some members of the crew, with the captain's wife, in attempting to reach the shore, lost their lives in the sight of the people who were powerless to do anything to save them. The ship soon began to break up, and the greater part of her cargo, which included all kinds of wearing apparel and things of everyday use for the Colonial market, was either washed away or badly damaged by the sea water. Although the coastguard men and the police did their best to prevent it, considerable quantities of loot found its way into the homes or hiding-places of the countryside, and for some time afterwards whenever any new garments of unusual cut or pattern appeared suspicious neighbours spotted it, and whispered "Gossamer!" or, perhaps, innocently asked the question : "How much a yard, my dear?"
Out from London's mighty seaport
Sailed the Gossamer,
Queen of all her famous clippers
Longshoremen aver.
Under sail she was a beauty,
Like a cloud of snow.
Curve on curve of swelling canvas,
When the breezes blow.
Down below there was a cargo
Rich as robbers' cave;
But the perils of the ocean
Gossamer must brave!
Suddenly a fog enshrouds her,
Like the pall of night.
Foghorns far and near are sounding-
Perilous their plight
Through the fog they're blindly groping,
Giving call for call;
They can only guess their bearings,
Guess, and that is all!
Now behold her battered, broken,
Of her beauty shorn,
Spars and sails in tangled wreckage,
Like a thing forlorn!
For her voyaging is ended
On the rocks of Prawle,
Wave on wave the wreck submerging,
Sweeping over all.
Crowds of eager folk are dumping
Salvage on the shore,
Merchandise from London City,
Like a Whiteley's store.
All along the coast 'tis lying.
Scattered far and wide,
Richest fabrics, like mere seaweed,
Drifting with the tide.
Vain man's conquest of the ocean,
Vain his vaunting pride,
E'en his mightiest creations
Ocean doth deride!
Yonder see the mighty fallen,
Doomed to rise no more-
Just a derelict, mis-shapen,
Cumbering the shore.
R.I.P.
Here are some more of the quartz inclusions looking just like old tree logs with petrified bark, which is what I thought I was looking at when I visited.
Bladderwrack amongst several different types of seaweed in the rock pools.
At beach level near Prawle Point in South Devon, close inspection of a notable local fault line reveals hematite featuring a core vein of quartz crystals coated with black siderite (iron carbonate) forming distinct leaf-shaped crystals. The "leaf" structures are actually black siderite crystals that have coated the core quartz veins.
London Packet and New Lloyd's Evening Post - Monday, 9 March 1818
DARTMOUTH, MARCH 5 .- A French West Indiaman drove on the rocks between the Prawle and Start Points, about ten miles from hence, and soon went to pieces. Her name is La Jeune Cecile de Culm. Her cargo is all lost, and not one of the crew were saved.
Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser - Friday, 5 February 1830
At PRAWLE, near the Start Point, County of Devon,
On MONDAY, February 8, at Eleven,
ABOUT 10,000 DRY & SALTED HIDES,
Damaged, being part of the Cargo of the Dutch Brig Adele, belonging to Ghent, wrecked on a voyage from Buenos Ayres, bound to Antwerp. For viewing the same apply to Mr. Thomas Prettyjohn, at Prawle; and for further particulars to Messrs. R. L. Hingston and Sons, Dutch Vice-Consuls, and Agents to Lloyd's, Dartmouth ; Mr. Skinner Row, at the place of sale; and of W. ROW, Sen. SONS, and Co. Brokers, 23 Little St. Thomas Apostle.
In 1891 many ships were steam powered but also had sails. Such was the liner Suevia, mentioned earlier in which reports had her missing, with a search in progress. She had a narrow escape from being wrecked at Prawle Point. The Suevia served the transatlantic route carrying immigrants to New York. She had a maximum capacity of 770 passengers so a huge disaster was narrowly averted.
Dundee Courier - Monday, 16 March 1891
ARRIVAL OF THE SUEVIA.
The Hamburg-American Liner Suevia, Captain Ludwig, which broke down in the Channel off Start Point on Monday, and drifted eastward, arrived at Plymouth on Saturday. She had not encountered any of the steamers sent in search of her. Captain Ludwig reports that one of the cylinders of the engine became disabled on Monday sfternoon. An awful storm was raging, and the steamer began to drift towards the rocks at Prawle Point. Hoisting all the sails he could manage to put up, he weathered the Point, but it was a narrow escape. From Monday to Thursday, when the engines had been repaired sufficiently to enable the vessel to resume her journey, she had drifted nearly 150 miles. The passengers did not give way to panic, having the fullest confidence in the ship and her captain.
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