A view from the cliff tops looking down at a port side view, just aft of the broadside, of the French steel three-masted ship Socoa (1901) aground off Kildown Point, near Cadgwith, Cornwall.

A view from the cliff tops looking down at a port side view, just aft of the broadside, of the French steel three-masted ship Socoa (1901) aground off Kildown Point, near Cadgwith, Cornwall. The tide has dropped sufficiently for five boats to get safely alongside the port side. Some of the sails have been partially furled, while others are still set. Two men are standing on the foremast lower yard near the mast above the partially lowered lower foresail, which G14201 shows lowered half-way to the deck. The cliff rocks are in the foreground at the bottom of the image.

The French owned steel sailing ship was on passage from Stettin to San Francisco with a cargo of cement for the city's rebuilding. Socoa became stranded near Cadgwith during thick weather on 1 August 1906 but was refloated after 50,000 barrels of cement were jettisoned over the side and beached in Cadgwith Cove on 26 August 1906 [The Times, 28 August 1906]. The ship was then towed to Falmouth by four steamers with pumps keeping it afloat, arriving 31 August 1906 [The Times, 1 September 1906].

Object Details

ID: G14204
Collection: Historic Photographs
Type: Glass plate negative
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Gibson & Sons of Scilly
Date made: 2-25 August 1906
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, Gibson's of Scilly Shipwreck Collection
Measurements: Overall: 6 1/2 in x 8 1/2 in