But these events pale in comparison to the great Atlantic storm which wrought terrible damage not just across Cornwall, but the entire country. The Cornish Guardian's sister paper, The West Briton was on hand to report on the catastrophe 150 years last Sunday – on October 25, 1859.
With the industrial boom in full swing, but the rail network still in its infancy – the Cornwall Railway, from Plymouth to Truro across Brunel's Royal Albert Bridge, had only been open a matter of weeks – it fell on shipping to ensure the country's hunger for fuel – prime Welsh coal from the valleys – was supplied. Many ships engaged in this trade were to fall prey to this storm. Heavy gales began to whip up from about 3pm on the afternoon of Tuesday, October 24, 1859 and, accompanied by heavy rain, continued for a full 24 hours.
The West Briton's St Ives correspondent summed it up: "At daylight, the weather was fine. At noon it was blowing, with heavy rain at the east. At 4pm it was NNE, a complete storm; and at 8pm it was NNW and increased to a fury."
These ever-shifting winds played havoc with the sailing craft carrying goods and passengers.
Many ships made for the safe haven of Falmouth, where 180 were reported to be in harbour, but not all were lucky.
The crew of the Amphitrite, bound with coal from Newport to Alexandria, had dropped anchor in Gerrans Bay to the east. She had her sails stripped from her over the night of the 24th, a situation complicated by her anchor cables snapping.
Dropped anchor
She was quickly driven onto shore at "Portscatha". Fortunately, the coastguard at Gerrans watched events unfold and rescued the crew in a barque under the command of Capt Richard Hayes.
Similar scenes were repeated around the coast. At Port Isaac, the Busy, bound from Newport to Pentewan, again laden with coal, broke for harbour in low water but driven on by the heavy seas. Her crew were saved by "the praiseworthy exertions of the inhabitants, in their boats, and at a great risk to their lives".
At nearby Port Gaverne, Padstow's the Catherine, en route from Dublin to Swansea, limped into the narrow harbour, "...nearly all her sails damaged".
The Bude correspondent supplied a terse list of events, such was the number of craft coming ashore: "The Trio, of Truro, with copper ore from Devoran to Wales, went on shore at Crackington; crew saved. The Nuggett, of Cardiff, with railway iron from Cardiff for Troon went onshore at Crackington; crew saved. The Sprite of Bideford, from Newport for Boscastle, with coals, went on shore at Maluke; crew drowned. The Edward Prothero, from Cardiff for Dartmouth with coals, came on shore about a mile above Bude; the captain and three men were drowned, and one was saved."
For every brace of ships which limped ashore crippled, another was to be dealt a cruel hand.
At Padstow, the Providence, a French ship laden with Welsh coal, was "driven in and sunk in the sand on the eastern side of the harbour – crew saved" whereas "...the Sultana Salina, Hart, master, of St Ives, is a total wreck on Trebetherick Point, and all hands have perished. The Favourite, of Boston, 1,039 tons, from London to Cardiff, struck on the rocks under the Daymark, and went to pieces. There were about 30 hands on board, and all drowned".
The Rose, of Padstow, went to pieces at Morte Bay (near Ilfracombe) and only the captain was saved. The ship, making the short dash with about 100 tons of cargo from Newquay, and with a Newquay crew, was caught out as the wind veered to the opposite point of the compass, "and blew a perfect hurricane".
The captain, William Darke, explained the tragic fate of the crew: "Both myself and the crew were at the masthead when the ship went ashore...I believe the poor fellows were in the rigging when the mast went over the side of the ship as she drifted onto the rocks."
But it was the St Ives area whose seafarers were to bear the brunt of the losses that terrible day and night. It was reported that of the six vessels reported to have left Cardiff that morning, "bound and belonging to St Ives, only the Liberty, master, Captain Andrews, reached that port; the other five are lost".
The roll-call of these ships makes sobering reading: as well as the aforementioned Sultana Salina, there was the Thistle, of Hayle, wrecked in Morte Bay, crew saved; the Pearl, which went aground at St Agnes, the crew saved; but then the John Wesley, "...Capt John Bryant, has not been heard of, and it is feared that she foundered at sea and gone down with all hands".
The wreck that sent a shockwave through St Ives was the loss of the Sir Robert Peel, a sleek schooner, two miles west of Portreath – within sight of home. The captain, John Richards, employed his 15-year-old son. Both perished, as did two other St Ives sailors and one of Newlyn.
Innovation
But the biggest disaster, and one which brought about innovation in predicting such terrible weather, occurred off Anglesey, North Wales.
As author Robert Williams recounts in his book Shipwreck!, the Royal Charter, a swift clipper, was en route from Australia for Liverpool, carrying many emigrants who made their fortune in the gold rush down under. The insurance on the amount of gold on board the Royal Charter was £322,000 – an incredible £24.5 million today.
Like most other ships caught out by the weather, she had hove to in a bay in the strong easterlies. As the wind changed and its speed increased she was driven into shore against jagged rocks at Moelfre. With waves whipped by winds that were topping 100mph, neither her, nor her passengers, stood a chance.
Among her passengers, The West Briton reported, were 11 Cornishmen, their fortunes made. Samuel Grenfell, of St Ives, was among the mere 39 out of about 490 on board who made it ashore. He relayed the melancholy news that his fellow townsman, Thomas Wallis, "was drowned by his side".
The loss of so many lives, almost at the end of their 14,000-mile journey, provoked a public outcry.
Vice-Admiral Robert Fitzroy – who had found fame as master of the Beagle, Charles Darwin's ship – was heading up the forerunner to the present-day Met Office. He quickly established 15 stations at ports countrywide, which, issued with his invention, the barometer, allowed data on approaching weather systems to be collated and charted to produce the world's first weather "fore-cast". By 1860, The Times was publishing this 'fore-cast' daily.
Some 343 ships were lost nationwide; upwards of 30 of those either on Cornish shores or belonging to Cornish ports, but the weather forecast was born out of this tragedy, to avoid such a one ever happening again; a tragedy where the scale has never been repeated since.
● Robert Williams' Shipwreck! is available from www.llyfrau-magma.co.uk
article copyright WESTERN MORNING NEWS