A port bow view of the three-masted schooner Mary Barrow (1891) aground on the Porthminster Beach. Waves are breaking on the beach at its stern with surf riding up the beach along the lower hull to the area of the foremast. Groups of people are standing on the beach off the bows looking at the ship. In the distance, to the left, is the three-masted schooner Lizzie R Wilce (1876), stranded on the beach close to Pedn Olva, on the south-east side of St. Ives. Waves are breaking down the sides of its hull just below the mizzen mast.

The negative has areas of red masking fluid in the sky to create a cloud effect. This is a glass copy negative of an original print. See P50827 for a 6x4 inch copy negative of this image.

The Mary Barrow was caught in a gale while carrying coal from Swansea to Cowes. When three miles of Trevose Head the ship lost nearly all its canvas and drifted in a helpless condition towards St. Ives where it was beached. The Mary Barrow was refloated on 14 January 1908. The day before, on 7 January 1908, Lizzie R Wilce was beached closer to St Ives on the same beach. Both sets of crew were rescued by the St. Ives RNLI boat.