The Shipwrecks of Cornwall

After the success of a number of books on lost ships, most recently Shipwrecks of the Solent, I was tasked with writing a similar one for the Cornish coast, a place that is steeped in history, mystery and drama. I already knew a lot of the wrecks by name - the Darlwyne, RMS Mulheim, Pescado - but this gave me a chance to hunt down and study shipwrecks that were sat in my files untouched for many years. So this is a brief rundown of some of the wrecks that I have taken the time to write about during my visit to Cornwall in the August of 2026. 

RMS Mulheim - The story of this ship grounding on rocks is almost put down for comedy value if it wasn't for the fact that it caused an environmental threat, and the fact a guy probably thinks about this every day of his life now! It was 22 March 2003 and the ship was taking a cargo of plastic waste past the Cornish coast, it was the middle of the night and the one person who was on watch on the bridge got up from his chair. Unfortunately his trousers hooked on to the chair lever and sent him flying, knocking him unconscious and leaving the ship sailing with nobody at the helm. When he came around to his horror he found the ship heading for the rocks. With no way ot turn her around, the RMS Mulheim grounded and has been there ever since near Maen Castle, the salvage of the cargo being mostly successful and today the wreckage of the stern and much of the structure is scattered on the cove. Climbing down to the wreck - very carefully - I managed to get up close to the wreck that after 23 years still has blue paint on her and the name visible. She has become quite a tourist attraction over the last two decades! 

Hera - The tragic sinking of the Hera in 1914 led to the deaths of nineteen of the crew, but only 16 bodies were recovered. The captain was sent back to his family but the other fifteen bodies were laid end to end in what is now Britain's longest grave at the church in the village of Veryan (left). 

Darlwyne - A modern day tragedy of the motor cruiser Darlwyne that didn't even have a licence to carry the people that she set off with on 31 July 1966. The two crew were hosting 29 passengers for a day trip when the return leg had her vanish without trace. A rescue operation found twelve bodies floating in the coming days but no sign of the missing vessel until 2018 when diver Nick Lyon located the remains of the boat on the seabed, scattered into small pieces over the years. In the church at St Mylor near Falmouth are a number of graves of the victims and inside is a memorial panel listing all those who died on that tragic day. 

Solomon Browne/Union Star - In what is still one of the most awful stories of the Cornish coast, the wreck of the Union Star with eight crew and the loss of the rescue lifeboat Solomon Browne , also with eight crew, still brings a tear to the eyes of the locals today. On 19 December 1981 the Union Star got into difficulties and as they drifted closer to the rocks following engine failure, the Penlee lifeboat was launched to rescue the crew. In dreadful weather and stormy seas the lifeboat radioed that they had managed to get four crew on board, but then that was the last anybody ever heard of the Solomon Browne. The following day the Union Star was seen to be upside down on the rocks, the lifeboat smashed to pieces nearby. There were no survivors from each. Today there are memorials (above) at the old lifeboat station (which is a listed building) and the medals posthumously given to the eight crew and displayed in the new lifeboat station around a mile down the road in their visitors centre. 

Milly - A cargo ship torpedoed by a submarine in the First World War, the Milly had on board a gun that was latere salvaged and placed outside the pub The Golden Lion in the village of Port Isaac (left). 

Mohegan - A liner with over 100 people on board, she went down after a navigational error in 1898 saw her ground onto rocks and sink with 106 people killed. At the church of St Keverne a mass grave stands testament to the number of people killed in this disaster, a memorial window inside the church honours those who died and the Museum of Cornish Life has a number of artefacts recovered from the wreck on display. 

This is just a snapshot of the shipwrecks that I have been writing about recently and each of these was a visit to a memorial, wreck or artefact that tells the story of the maritime history of Cornwall, a treacherous but fascinating coast that continues to teach us as more discoveries are made. The book I have written will most likely be out in 2027, published by Amberley who have been amazing at allowing me to run projects that have so far included wrecks of the Solent, Yorkshire Coast and highlighting the ships involved in the Titanic disaster. Cornwall was a fascinating place to visit and I would happily go there again to further my research into shipwrecks and history.