Winter storm uncovers Victorian shipwrecks from more than 130 years ago

03 March 2024 , 07:15

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Winter storm uncovers Victorian shipwrecks from more than 130 years ago

Storms around England's south coast have revealed a historic treasure trove of previously little-seen 130-year-old shipwrecks from the Victorian era.

Stormy seas that battered the north coast of Cornwall on Monday, February 26, have stripped the sand from the beach at Carbis Bay, uncovering the remains of a Victorian shipwreck. The iron steamships Bessie, Cintra and Vulture were all wrecked at the beach near St Ives during a violent storm 131 years ago.

The jagged fragments of the steam collier Bessie, which was wrecked alongside two other ships during a raging storm on Saturday, November 18, 1893, are a familiar sight on the beach at Carbis Bay, often revealing themselves after winter storms when there are big low tides. However, this winter the wrecks have stayed almost completely hidden beneath the sand, until now.

In the wake of the storm at the start of the week, the skeletal remains of both the Bessie and Vulture could be seen exposed at low tide. However, by Thursday, February 29 - when these pictures were taken - large parts of the wrecks that had been stripped of sand remained below the low water line as tides move towards the more moderate neaps over the next few days.

As the sand was removed by storms, the remains of a number of Victorian iron steamships were revealed (CornwallLive/BPM)

If the exposed wrecks stay free of sand for another week, they should be visible during the bigger spring low tides in a week's time. In January 2023, the shipwrecks of the Bessie, Vulture and Cintra were all uncovered following winter storms.

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Last year a shipwreck thought to be centuries old re-emerged from the ocean after a storm dredged it up. The wreck appeared on the shores of Cape Ray, Newfoundland after tropical storm Fiona moved through the area.

It comes as plans to raise a ship dubbed the Titanic of the Alps from the depths of a mountain lake have been approved. The shipwreck now lies 210m (689ft) beneath Lake Constance, which borders Germany, Switzerland, and Austria after sinking in 1933 and now Swiss authorities have given the green light to the ambitious scheme. The steamship Säntis has been called the Titanic of the Alps because of how her stern rose out of the water as she sank, with a number of technical similarities between the two ships.

Paul Donald