Cormorant

That steamboat In the early hours of December 21st, a dense fog blanketed the area at the mouth of Whale Chine, where Cormorant had ran ashore.

Someone on land saw her and raised the alarm and a boat was sent out, which later returned with a message requesting a tug. The next day, with the tide high due to the growing southerly wind, the tug came and tried to pull her off. Unfortunately, the tow rope snapped, and the wind and waves pushed her broadside onto the non forgiving rocks, sealing her doom.

Armed with derricks and horses, gangs of workers managed to unload the cargo and drag it up the cliffs, here it was then placed on farm waggons and transported across the Island before reloaded back onto a suitable ship and sent on its way.

Not long after the Cormorant ran aground, another ship also in distress rammed it a midships in the middle of the night and when the fog finally broke, the second ship was spotted nursing a severely damaged bow.

The Cormorant was latterly sold and broken up into its component parts over some time, once all of the cargo had been removed.

• http://backofthewight.co.uk/cormorant.htm

• Back of the Wight – Fred Mew
• Shipwrecks of the Wight – J.C.Medland
• Shipwrecks of The Isle of Wight – Ken Phillips
• The Lifeboats of Brighstone Bay – Christopher J. Willis and Edward H. Roberts