A close-up view, 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 directly off its stern. The photographer was on the beach, seen in the foreground, looking east towards Boscawen Point behind 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.

This is a glass copy negative from an original print.