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| I asked Jan Morgan this question:- "Do you know anything about the bollards in this picture? They were never originally there. Clearly from a wreck, but do you know the ship? And who put them there, and when?" And he replied:- "Well now, as a matter of fact I can, as wot my mate and I put 'em there! About 1992 I reckon it was, Ronnie Elliss and I had a bit of a thing about reclaiming old artifacts washed ashore over the years from a place called Green Lane, under Bass Point. Every so often after a rough old easterly gale and then a very low tide we would potter over to see what had come to light. Courtney Rowe, from The Lizard (Ex Kuggar), would also spot for us and let us know if anything was showing. We called ourselves the Cove shipwreck archivists! The bollards came to light that summer partially covered so we took ourselves over to start excavating them. We reckoned they were from the 'Adolf Vinnen' wrecked in Green Lane in 1923 on her maiden voyage. When more or less exposed we tied a VERY large orange buoy to them at low tide with a securing anchor and waited! By high tide it was floating clear so we then towed it back to Cadgwith very slowly (took forever) and landed it on the beach. We put it in its present position on a thin base of mortar as the winch had long ago stopped working. We also re-secured the winch to its present position as it had all started to move sideways. Other artifacts in the same area were also from Green Lane, there is a small capstan which we brought over using the same technique and a ring bolt, both shallowly cemented in. Other items salvaged were a couple of huge mast bands which are still somewhere in the cove. Happy days, hope this helps!" And then I asked:- "And do you know the origin of the winch itself?" And he replied:- "It's a sailing ship deck winch, similar to the one by the winch house, maybe they came from the same wreck - highly likely I would think. Not sure if they were general workhorses or an anchor aid (in which case it would have been found on the fo'c'sle). Socoa was wrecked in 1906 but was refloated and eventually came to grief in N Africa in 1916, but I think the winches came from that era or earlier. The petrol winch was installed in 1911 in the winch house so I'm guessing it was there well before then. Sorry I can't give you chapter and verse on that one! Is there a maker's name? That might trace its origins." I hope that has cured your insomnia! |
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