A view looking across the width of the rocky beach at Porth Loe, in line with the high water mark. The wreckage from the iron three-masted sailing ship Khyber (1880) stretches from the foreground to the distant cliffs. One man near the centre of the image is leaning on a section of yard looking at the camera. Many more people are standing in groups looking over the wreckage of yards, masts and planking from the ship.

The three-masted ship Khyber (1880) was on passage from Melbourne to Falmouth, Queenstown or Plymouth for orders with a cargo of wheat in bags. Having left on 24 October 1904, the passage had been uneventful until a gale off the Azores on about 5 March 1905 when they hove to. They did not sight land until 14 March when they saw Wolf Rock while on starboard tack heading towards The Lizard. On making The Lizard at about 630pm the crew found that they were not going to weather it so wore onto port tack. The wind increasing to a gale blew the sails out and the replacement storm sails. They fired 24 rockets and burnt flares to call for assistance. The ship drifted until anchors were dropped at about 11pm off Guthensbras Point and eventually dragged shoreward. Sometime after 710am on 15 March 1905 the anchors parted and the Khyber struck the rocks, breaking up in about 10 minutes. 23 of the 26 crew were lost. [Inquiry Report, 30 May 1905]