Storms reveal skeletal remains of shipwreck on Penzance beach

The skeletal remains of a wooden hull can now be clearly seen at low tide on the beach at Long Rock. Credit: BPM Media

Back-to-back storms have uncovered the remains of a shipwreck which ran aground near Penzance.

Following Storm Isha and Storm Jocelyn, which brought strong winds and large waves to Cornwall, the skeletal remains of a wooden hull can now be clearly seen at low tide on the beach at Long Rock.

The wreck is a familiar sight to people in the area, as it appears from beneath the sand most winters.

But every time the sands shift and the shipwreck reappears, so too does the debate about its true identity.

The wreck can be often be seen following a large storm. Credit: BPM Media

Until recently, popular opinion has been that the timbers emerging from the shoreline every winter are the remains of the French vessel, Jeune Hortense, a brigantine which ran aground on May 17, 1888.

But despite the numerous stories claiming this wreck to be that of the Jeune Hortense, not everyone is convinced that this is her.

Now, there is a growing consensus that the shipwreck at Long Rock could be that of a local trawler, Barnet, which was used as a salvage vessel in the attempt to re-float HMS Warspite, which ran aground near Prussia Cove in 1947.

Launched at the beginning of the First World War, HMS Warspite joined the Royal Navy’s Grand Fleet and took part in the Battle of Jutland. By the end of the Second World War, the battleship had earned the most battle honours ever awarded to an individual ship in the Royal Navy.

Some believe that the shipwreck at Long Rock could be that of a local trawler, Barnet. Credit: BPM Media

However, after being decommissioned in 1945, HMS Warspite ran aground near Prussia Cove whilst being towed to be scrapped in 1947. An attempt to re-float Warspite was made in 1950, attracting a large crowd of public and press as the salvage crews set to work.

In an increasing south westerly gale, the salvage boat Barnet, which was standing guard overnight under the Warspite’s bows was holed in the engine room, towed away from the ship, and eventually drifted ashore at Long Rock.

The caption from a newspaper photograph of the Barnet at the time read: “A SALVAGE VESSEL HERSELF IN NEED OF SALVAGING: The Barnet, which was returning from Prussia Cove, where she helped in salvaging the former battleship Warspite, seen after being driven ashore at Long Rock Beach, Penzance. The crew was taken off by the Penlee Lifeboat."

It added: "The Warspite, it may be remembered, went on the rocks in Prussia Cove, on the eastern shore of Mounts Bay, in 1947, when she broke adrift in a gale while on the way to a breaker’s yard in Clyde.

"It was one of the tasks of the Barnet to tow the battleship into deep water after she had undergone tests for buoyancy."