A view fine off the stern, port side, of the Austrian wooden sailing barque Cviet (1870), listing to starboard on Porthleven beach with waves breaking on the hull. People are watching from the top of the beach. In the background is Porthleven and the pier jutting out about a quarter of a mile away.

An unfocussed image, possibly due to the gale moving the camera.

The Cviet was bound from St. Domingo to Falmouth for orders with a cargo of about 600 tons of logwood. On 26 January 1884 the ship was caught in hurricane force winds that blew most of her sails. Cviet was driven ashore on Porthleven beach broadside to the waves. Rocket lines were fired to reach the crew, but eventually a fisherman swam through the surf and threw a line. The captain and one of the crew were washed overboard and drowned. The rest of the crew were saved. The rigging was taken down on 27 January at low water and the salvage operations continued under the direction of the Receiver of Wreck. [Royal Cornwall Gazette, 1 February 1884]