A view of the top of the masts of the topsail schooner Susan Elizabeth (1857) appearing above the waves crashing onto the beach at Porthminster, near Saint Ives. The foremast topsail is still set. The photographer was standing on the top of the beach looking northwest across Saint Ives Bay. The wash from the waves running up the beach dominates the foreground of the photograph.

This is a glass copy negative of an original print.

The schooner Susan Elizabeth was voyage to Saint Ives with a cargo of coal when it encountered gale-force conditions. A telegraph alerted the Saint Ives RNLI lifeboat that it was on its way, so the lifeboat was prepared. However, due to the tide and the conditions the lifeboat was replaced onto is carriage - at which point the Susan Elizabeth came into view, low in the water with most of her sails shredded. The lifeboat was relaunched as it was clear the schooner could not make the harbour and was drifting towards Porthminster beach. The schooner struck at low water and as the tide rose, the seas came higher over the ship. The crew sought refuge on the bows. The lifeboat was eventually able to rescue the crew. The incoming tide and the strength of the wind eventually threw the ship onto her beam end, the topsail caught by the crest of a wave and she was dismasted. [The Cornish Telegraph, 24 October 1907].