I remember the day she stranded very well. Uncle Bert from Hayle was visiting and father was showing off his wireless set which picked up ship-to-shore from Land's End Radio. We heard reports of this stranding on the radio and got in Uncle Bert's car (what a novelty) and drove over to Bojewyan and stanked down over the cliff for a geek.
Can't find reports of time of stranding and am unsure if this is several memories conflated into a narrative. But that is how I remember it.
Alacrity:
built Feb 1940 Goole Shipbuilding and Repairing Co, Yard Nr 347;
554grt; 283nrt; 692dwt; 168.7 x 27.7 x 10.0ft
M5cyl Newbury Diesel Co, Newbury
FT Everard wrecked Pendeen, 13th September 1963; she was heading for Brussels from Swansea with anthracite dust, but became grounded at Portheras. Salvage was abandoned and she broke up herself in a few weeks. However the wreck was finally blown up September 1981.
My wife was at school at Pendeen in the early nineteen fifties and recalls a grounding or wreck of a vessel around Boat Cove where the crew were taken off by breeches bouy. The cargo of this vessel included tallow, some of which was cast up into the sheds and coalhouses locally. After the event the school essay subject was “What my father found on the wreck” – must have been interesting reading.
Seems that the exact year and place makes the wreck of the Liberty the one I inquired about. I found a brief account this morning - “The Liberian steamer 'Liberty' went ashore under Pendeen Lighthouse during a north-westerly gale on January 17th 1952.Two holes were cut into the hull by the Roland Morris salvage team to lessen the wave impact. The wreck was then hauled up the cliff to be sold as scrap.” The cargo of Alacrity brings to mind a fisherman on the Isles of Scilly. One specific sandy bottom trawl he did invariably brought up a load of weed covered ‘stones’. These ‘stones’ were in fact nubs of best steam coal and, pound for pound, worth more than the fish. This perk kept him going in fuel and explained why his coalhouse was full of green coal.
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