The wreck of the S.S AUSTRIA, 9th March 1907. - Research and story by Robin Langford.
On the morning of Friday 8th March 1907 the Spanish Steamship AUSTRIA had finished loading her 2077 ton cargo of coal and left the port of Penarth, Wales at noon, bound for Nantes in Spain. The ship was under the command of Captain Goita who was familiar with this voyage because he had been the ships master for the last seven years.
The weather conditions at the time were described as being fair with a strong WNW wind blowing. Shortly after midnight the ship encountered thick fog and the lookout reported that it was only possible to see a short distance ahead of the ship.
Captain Goita recalculated the ship's course and dead reckoning after passing Hartland Point, he expected his ship to be several miles North of Pendeen Lighthouse. At 5.30 am the lookout reported that breaking waves were seen ahead, it was evident that the ship was off course and in shallow water. The Captain was still on the ship's bridge at this time and he ordered the the ships helm " hard to Port " but it was too late, his ship had struck the rocks near Trevessa / Carn Naun with a great deal of force.
The S.S. AUSTRIA had a crew of 22 and many of these men were asleep in their bunks when the ship struck the rocks. There was a state of panic onboard and the partially dressed sailors rushed on deck to hear the Captain give the order to " Abandon ship ".
Huge waves were now breaking over the ship and it was reported that she was quickly filling with water and that the ship had already broken in half just forward of the bridge.
The first lifeboat lowered over the side was swamped by a large wave and the four crew members were thrown into the raging seas. The remaining lifeboats were quickly launched and Captain Goita was the last to leave his sinking ship, he made a gallant attempt to rescue the four men from the capsized lifeboat but only managed to find two of them. He searched for the other two missing sailors for 45 minutes and eventually found one of them but he was barely alive and had a broken leg after being thrown against the rocks by the turbulent seas. The other missing crew member was the fireman but he was never seen again.
It was an unfamiliar area and a dark night with rough seas but Captain Goita led the remaining three lifeboats containing his shipwrecked crew mates towards St. Ives where they managed to land in Trevessa cove. Their next challenge was to scale the steep rock face but luckily for them a group of miners on their way to work, heard the cries for help and assisted the injured sailors up the treacherous cliff.
They were then escorted to Trevessa Farm where Mr and Mrs Hollow took care of the men. The Captain was the only person who spoke English and he explained the details of the disaster. Mr Hollow immediately mounted his horse and rode to St. Ives to inform the Coastguard about the shipwreck.
The St. Ives Ambulance Corps and the Shipwreck Mariners Society went to Trevessa Farm to render first aid and transport the sailors to St. Ives.
On Sunday large quantities of wreckage was being washed ashore at St. Ives and Hayle but by Monday the steamship had completely broken up and disappeared beneath the waves.
S.S. AUSTRIA was built in 1883 by Sunderland shipbuilders, Bartram Haswell & Co. The ship was originally named S.S. NICHOLAS VAGLIANO, owned by the Vagliano Steamship Company and registered in Kefalonia, Greece. The ship had a gross tonnage of 1615, was 258 feet in length and powered by a two cylinder compound steam engine that produced 192 horsepower.
At the time of sinking the ship was owned by the International Navigation Company of Bilbao, who renamed her S.S. AUSTRIA.
Captain Goita reported that after the lookout had sighted the breaking waves, he ordered the ship's helm "hard to port" which would have turned the ship to the left (?) The Captain would have known that with the ship on a South Westerly course, the land and rocks would have always been on the port / left hand side of the ship. So why did he order the helm "hard to port" ? Maybe the breaking waves had been sighted off the starboard / right hand side of the ship, if so it must have been the Wester Carracks ( Seal Island ) that was seen by the lookout ?. We will never know, but this theory certainly ties in with where the ship was wrecked !
Story by Robin Langford.