DOES anyone have any information or a picture of the GI Jones? She was a wooden barque made in Newport, circa 1868, by brothers by the name of Jones. On her last trip in 1883, she sailed from America with a cargo of phosphorus and was headed for Falmouth in Cornwall. Early in September, as the ship entered the channel, there was a great storm and the ship was wrecked at Men Dhu Cove at Perranuthnoe.
Of the crew of 14 only two were saved. No blame was attributed to the seaworthiness of the ship, the captain or the pilot. The drowned seamen are buried in a mass grave at Perranuthnoe church. This year, Valentine’s Day saw the third big storm in a month. From that storm, old ships’ timbers - teak with bronze pegs - were washed up from the deep from the GI Jones.My husband and I collected them and have subsequently had them made into a refectory style dining table 7.5 ft long elliptical - following the curve of the ships timber. The disaster was greatly reported in the local newspaper of the day, but it broke up so quickly so that by the following morning there was no sign of it to photograph. - just broken timbers on the shore.
Can any of your readers give me any more information or better still a picture to go with the GI Jones table? I can be contacted on 07980313739 or at kwall@btconnect.com.
Karen Wall, Perrnauthnoe, Cornwall
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