Back-to-back storms uncover shipwreck with debated identity
The wreck is a familiar sight during winter months, but debate continues as to whether it is from a 135-year-old French schooner, or a local trawler used in the salvage operation of a Royal Navy battleship
Back-to-back storms have uncovered the remains of a shipwreck which ran aground near Penzance. Following Storm Isha and Storm Jocelyn, which brought strong winds and large waves to Cornwall, the skeletal remains of a wooden hull can now be clearly seen at low tide on the beach at Long Rock.
Appearing from beneath the sand most winters, the wreck is a familiar sight to people in the area. However, every time the sands shift and the shipwreck reappears, so too does the debate about its true identity.
Until recently, popular opinion has been that the timbers emerging from the shoreline every winter are the remains of the French vessel, Jeune Hortense, a brigantine which ran aground on May 17, 1888. But despite the numerous stories in the news, claiming this wreck to be that of the Jeune Hortense, not everyone is convinced that this is her.
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Now, there is a growing consensus that the shipwreck at Long Rock could be that of a local trawler, Barnet, which was used as a salvage vessel in the attempt to re-float HMS Warspite which ran aground near Prussia Cove in 1947.
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The story of the Jeune Hortense goes that on May 17, 1888, the 91 foot brigantine was bound for Penzance, to repatriate the body of a telegraphist from Fowey, born in Penzance, who had died in France.
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In recent years, it has been reported that the ship got into trouble in heavy seas, and began to sink off Long Rock before reaching Penzance.
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However, the Penwith Local History Group cite a story in the Royal Cornwall Gazette on May 24, 1888, which suggests that the body of Mr Tom Hall, a telegraph clerk who worked for the Eastern Telegraph Company in Brest, where he had died of consumption, was successfully landed in Penzance on May 16, 1888 - the day before the Jeuene Hortense was wrecked.
(Image: Greg Martin / Cornwall Live)3 of 17![Back-to-back storms have uncovered a shipwreck at Long Rock near Penzance, the true identity of which is still up for debate.]()
According to contemporary reports, the ship then set sail in heavy seas on May 17, 1888, bound for either Fowey or Poole, under skipper and part-owner Francois Bidea. As well as the skipper, on board was a crew of just three men and a boy.
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Almost immediately in Mount’s Bay, the Jeune Hortense started to get into trouble, and set a course for the safety of the harbour at St Michael’s Mount. However, with strong winds and heavy seas pushing the ship back towards the shore, dragging her anchors, the schooner was driven up onto the beach at Long Rock.
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