One of the last sailing ships
lost at Gunwalloe was the Austrian Diana which was crippled off of
Wolf Rock by a gale on 8 December 1874. The ship
drove ashore at Creeg-an-Pella, a small cove near
Gunwalloe. Her crew was saved by rocket line but the
ship finally broke up.
A new lighthouse
was established on Wolf Rock and those at the Lizard
and Longships were improved. Steamships began to be
used and the use of certain sailing ships declined,
resulting in a decrease in wrecks from the late 1870s
onwards, less than a dozen from 1877 to 1916 are
recorded.
(Larn and
Carter, Cornish Shipwrecks,
pages 154-155.)
