3-070-692 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Wreck and burning of a barque in Mount's Bay, Cornwall, 1881. 'An American vessel got ashore on the Praa Sands on the 15th Feb., and by some accident, presently afterwards, took fire and was so destroyed. This vessel was the T. R. Whiton, a fine barque of 547 tons register, of Searsport, Maine. She was bound from Victoria, Vancouver Island, to London, with a valuable mixed cargo of wool, oil, and tinned fish...Her loss was caused by the thick weather, making it impossible to ascertain her position, and land was not thought to be so near, until she was rapidly drifting to shore...Very soon the Prussia Cove rocket apparatus was on the spot...and the crew were all landed in safety...[The fire] may have been caused by spontaneous combustion of the wool, but the binnacle lamp was left burning. The Coast Guard sent to Penzance for the assistance of the town fire brigade...They worked all night, until the in-coming tide compelled them to desist, and they returned to Penzance next morning. The fire had then got entire hold of the ship, but a large portion of the cargo was saved. Our Illustration is from a sketch by Mr. F. Martyn, of Helston'. From "Illustrated London News", 1881.