This record comprises a documentary reference to a shipping casualty which has been assigned to the maritime named location MUMBLES HEAD pending more information which may allow a more precise location for the loss to be assigned.
Event and Historical Information:
The CORNISH DIAMOND was a 100nt wooden schooner built in 1839 in Bridgewater and registered at Truro. At the time of loss on 20 April 1871, the vessel was on passage from Swansea to Devoran with a cargo of coal. It was caught by a force 10 gale and driven ashore near the Mumbles. The waterlogged boat, containing two dead seamen, was picked up off Swansea the following morning. Later that day the schooner's figurehead and part of its stern and deck were washed ashore in Swansea Harbour. Four crew member lives were lost in total. At the inquest into the deaths of the dead seamen found in the boat, it transpired that the Mumbles light could not be clearly seen out at sea, due to the effect of copper smoke and other atmospheric conditions.
Sources include:
Board of Trade Wreck Return 1871 Part II Table 21 pg 44(642)
Larn and Larn Shipwreck Database 2002
Western Mail, 22 April 1871, issue 619
