The SS Eltham was wrecked at Chapel Porth on the 18th November 1928.
What happened to its cargo and crew?
Some of you may have heard of the wreck of the S.S. Eltham at Chapel Porth on the 18th November 1928. She was a 687 ton Liverpool coaster launched by Dublin Dockyard Co. in April 1915. Newspapers report that on the night in question, under the command of her captain Ellis Foulkes, she was en route from Swansea to Rouen with a cargo of coal and was found derelict on the beach during a north-westerly gale early in the morning.
The Daily Mail newspaper of the 19th November 1928 under the heading ‘MYSTERY OF A WRECK’S VANISHED CREW’ reported:
The villagers of Chapel Porth, near St Agnes, at dawn yesterday found the steamer Eltham (687 tons) washed ashore, broken in two. There was no sign of the crew of eleven.
The wreck was partly submerged about 200 yards from shore. Fishermen put out in boats, but could find no clue as to the fate of the crew.
Coastguards at St Agnes Head saw no flares or signals of distress during the gale of Friday night. The Eltham carried no wireless.
Local fishermen declare that the sea was so rough that it would have been almost a miracle if the crew had been picked up by another vessel. Inquires, however, are being made by Coastguards along the coast in case the crew are safe in a coasting vessel without wireless…Part of the Eltham’s lifeboat was picked up at Perranporth, six miles away.
The Western Morning News and Mercury newspaper of the 19th November 1928. MYSTERY OF THE GREAT GALE:
…The steamer Eltham was first seen between St Agnes and Porthtowan about 7.30am on Saturday, 150 yards from the huge cliffs firmly embedded in the sand, with no sign of life on board. It was then full tide, with the seas washing over her, and it was noticed that she was badly buckled. The heavy seas and huge breakers rendered it impossible to go out to the ship although she was close to the shore, and up to last night she had not been boarded…large numbers of people visited the spot yesterday, most of them from the surrounding districts, and it seemed as if half of the population of St Agnes had strolled out there this afternoon, the beach and cliffs being well crowded with visitors gazing at the sad scene, and the remark of everyone was “What has become of the crew?”
The S.S. Eltham had a crew of 11 officers and men, consisting of a master, mate, five able seamen, two engineers and two firemen. Capt. Foulkes came from Chester and the rest of the crew were shippped at Liverpool.
The Montrose Standard newspaper of the 30th November 1928 reported on a Montrose man’s lucky escape, It stated that a Montrose man was on leave of absence from his vessel, Eltham, when she foundered. He was James Pert, a stoker, who was a naval volunteer. Mr Pert for a long period had served as a stoker with the Mason Shipbuilding Company, Ltd., Liverpool, on board the steamer ELtham. Normally he would have been on duty in the stokehold of the Eltham but, being a naval volunteer, he had been granted leave only a day or two previously to serve his yearly period of drill at Devonport. Mr Pert was interviewed by the newspaper when he arrived home from drillng and he certainly considered himself fortunate to have escaped the fate of his comrades. The company had given him three dates to choose from and he had chosen the middle one. Mr. Pert informed the “Standard” representative that he had been 7 years with the Eltham and never dreamed for a minute that she would go down as she was absolutely seaworthy. He and the Chief Engineer had been together for a longer period than that, and it was another coincidence that these were the only two regular crew to survive, as the Chief Engineer was absent on sick leave. The newspaper article concluded with:
Mr Pert will only be home for a day or two as he has received word from the owners of another berth, and while he stated he would have liked a few more days at home, he would, not withstanding his narrow escape, be glad to start work again, rather than remain in idleness.
The Western Morning News and Mercury newspaper of the 21st November 1928 reported:
…Considerable divergence of opinion exists in the neighbourhood as to whether signals from the doomed were seen and ignored, or whether what inhabitants declare they saw were not distress flares but lightning. There exists support for both arguments and until some definite news as to the vessel’s movements before she was washed ashore, and the fate of her crew, is received, no degree of certainty can really be attached to either side of the controversy. It is unquestioned that there was some display of lightning over the channel during Friday night’s gale, but advocates of the argument in support of the distress flares have a discharged rocket, and empty canisters which probably contained ship’s flares, picked up in the vicinity, to support their contention. But if the crew did discharge flares in the neighbourhood, why have they not landed on the coast, or their bodies been washed up? If they were picked up by another boat after their flares were seen, why have they not been landed at some Cornish port? The inference seems to be that the ship was abandoned some distance away and the crew either lost in their boats or picked up. But assuming flares were seen, whose flares were they if not those of the ill-fated Eltham?…
The Western Morning News and Mercury newspaper of the 22nd November 1928. SEA MYSTERY DEEPENS:
There is still an entire absence of information which will tend to clear up the mystery of the wreck of the Liverpool steamship Eltham, which lies off the rugged North Cornwall coast near Chapel Porth and there is certainly nothing to indicate what has happened to the crew of the ill-fated vessel…It is claimed by those who know the coast that if the crew had been on board when the Eltham ran ashore some of the bodies would have been washed up pretty soon afterwards, as the conditions all favour this. That nothing has been seen lends colour to the suggestion that the crew abandoned the ship a considerable distance from land and entrusted themselves to the mercy of the raging seas in their small ship’s life-boat, which could not have long survived the elements.
The Birmingham Gazette newspaper of the 28th Novvember 1928. MYSTERY WRECK Coastguards unable to board vessel:
The wreck of the Liverpool steamer Eltham of Chapel Porth, North Cornwall, is still a profound mystery. Since she went ashore in the gale last Friday week there has been no sign or news of the crew of eleven, and the seas have been too rough for anyone to get on board. It was hoped with the low tide on Monday night and yesterday that it would have been possible to get on board, but coastguards who made the attempt only got within 50 feet of the vessel. the after-part and the engine room are exposed, but the chart house has now gone and the forecastle is open and apparently full of water. Another attempt to board her is to be made this morning.
The Staffordshire Sentinel newspaper of the 28th November 1928. ELTHAM BOARDED BY YOUNG MAN:
The Liverpool steamship, Eltham, which went ashore on the Cornish coast, at Chapel Porth, last Saturday week, was boarded to-day for the first time by a young volunteer. Mr. A. Donald Trounson, of Redruth, but nothing has been found which would shed light on the mystery of the foundering. Mr. Trounson swam out with a line attached to himself, and, held by coastguards, explored the charthouse and forecastle.
The Daily Herald newspaper of the 29th November under the heading ‘NO CREW, NO LOG, NO CARGO, Mystery of Abandoned and Holed Ship’ reported:
The mystery of the Eltham (687 tons), which went ashore at Chapel Porth, St Agnes, Cornwall, during the gale of Friday week, is more mysterious than ever. She was boarded at noon yesterday at the lowest tide by Donald Trounson, Redruth, a volunteer, to whom a lifeline was attached. He found the vessel badly holed on the sea side, but could not find any log book or papers of any kind. Her anchors and chains were stowed away and there was no sign of any cargo. A considerable quantity of fittings had been washed away, but with the boilers and engines apparently intact there is nothing to indicate why the crew abandoned her, except for the hole in the side. The Eltham seems to be an old vessel, and the hole may have been caused by the breakers on the shore.
So what did happen to the cargo of coal and the crew? Recent research by Museum Chairman and local historian, Roger Radcliffe, has found that the first mate had sent a letter to his family from Rouen before the ship was wrecked. This shows that the Eltham had actually unloaded its cargo of coal at Rouen and was on its way back to Swansea empty when the tragedy occurred.
It also seems very likely the crew took to the lifeboats when the ship was much further out to sea. Currents then took the lifeboat and bodies up the coast away from Chapel Porth. This would explain the lifeboat washed in at Perranporth. Further evidence to support this is an article found in the Liverpool Echo newspaper of the 1st December 1928:
The headless body of a man was washed ashore at Holywell Bay, Cubert, on the North Coast of Cornwall, this morning. It was unclothed and decomposed, and there was no means of identification, but it is believed to be the body of one of the crew of the Liverpool steamer Eltham which foundered at Chapel Porth, six miles away a fortnight ago.
The Eltham remained broken in two on the sands at Chapel Porth for several years. At low tide it became a playground for children and a curiosity for adults to visit. Eventually most of the ship disappeared leaving just its boiler sticking out of the sand.
All photographs are copyright of The Clive Benney Collection.
Clive Benney Is a local historian, author and Cornish Bard. He is the recorder of St Agnes Old Cornwall Society and Vice Chairman of the St Agnes Museum Trust. His books are available at the St Agnes Museum online shop
