William Rowe of Porthleven
was awarded a silver medal for swimming out to a
wreck with a rope and saving the crew on 27 April
1824 the brig Olive was wrecked
beneath the Halsferran Cliffs. John Freeman of
Gunwalloe was awarded one also for assisting him.
In January 1796 a
large transport, bound for Portsmouth with the 26th
Draggons on board, parted from her convoy and ran
ashore near the rocks of Porthleven. Despite huge
seas, "nine men of Breage" joined
themselves by rope and waded out towards her, but
they were engulfed by a great wave and never seen
again. Soon after, the transport broke apart and none
of the 400 on board survived. Sixteen years later,
the entire crew of a Swedish ship which was wrecked
nearby, were entirely saved by a local man, Tobias
Roberts, who had already distinguished himself in the
loss of the Anson in 1807.
Frederic Rogers of
Penrose led a bid to rescue the captain and mate of
the ketch Ida of Stockholm
wrecked on Loe Bar in a gale on 5 February 1826. The
rest of the crew had been swept overboard. A young
woman from Cury was also killed when the breakers
surged over Loe Bar and carried her into Loe Pool. A
young Helston man was swept off an outlying rock.
Cuttance organized
the rescue. He sent over food on a light rope until a
heavier one could be rigged with a chair. All were
brought ashore after ten hours.
