Wreck of the SS Alba off Porthmeor beach, St Ives, 1938

The boilers of the SS Alba.

I’d heard of the remains of shipwrecks around St Ives but never seen any until a recent unusually sunny-ish day in St Ives when a low tide revealed the boilers of the SS Alba. By chance we were on the beach just a few days after the 87th anniversary of the accident.

On the night of the 31st January 1938 the steamer SS Alba was carrying coal from Barry in Wales to Italy when it crashed onto the rocks on Pothmeor beach, instead of the town, where it was headed.

The crew of 23 were all saved by a lifeboat, only for the lifeboat itself to be capsized by waves, resulting in the loss of five crew members of the Alba.

Ex-sailor and St Ives artist Alfred Wallis St Ives painted various versions of the shipwreck, presumably near-contemporary depictions for he could easily have witnessed it. His primitive style captures the roughness of the sea, the word ALBA can clearly be seen on the vessel despite the waves covering it.

Previously on Barnflakes
The Cornish shipwreck that inspired Du Maurier
Alfred Wallis grave in St Ives