A close-up view, fine off the port bow, of the cargo steamer South America (1900) aground at the western side of St Loy's Cove (Paynter's Cove), near Point Merthen, Cornwall. Along the port side is the steamer Abertaye (1888), viewed from its port quarter. A man can be seen on a ladder climbing across to the hulk of the South America, wrecked seven months earlier. The photographer was on the beach looking across towards Boscawen Point obscured by the two ships.

The South America was on voyage from Hamburg to Cardiff in ballast when it went aground below Methen Point in a moderate west south-west gale. The crew self-rescued before the RNLI lifeboat arrived. The ship was eventually abandoned after attempts to salvage it. The Abertaye, on passage to Barry with a cargo of pitwood, was wrecked in similar circumstances in fog, running aground alongside the South America seven months later. The Abertaye was badly holed at the stern and later broken up for scrap.

A glass copy negative from an original print created from the glass 6x4 inch negative P50962.