CORNISH SHIPWRECKS: The North Coast - Volume 2.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.NFINE/VG+.No owner inscrptn, and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright, crisp,clean,glossy laminated,b/w photographic (wreck of the barque 'Concezione') illustrated upper panel of dw/dj with blue lettering; with negligible shelf-wear and creasing to edges and corners.Small,vertical,4/5" closed tear with reciprocal oblique creasing,to rear panel's gutter edge of spine/ backstrip,a further small,vertical,1/2" closed tear to top edge of same rear panel - again towards same gutter edge of spine/backstrip - no other major nicks or tears present. Some miniscule rubbing+chipping to both head+foot of spine/backstrip and also to top two corners of dw/dj.Top+ fore-edges both lightly aged/toned,with some minimal grubbing,but generally bright and clean; contents bright, tight,clean,solid and sound - with no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners - an unread example? Bright, clean,light blue paper-covered boards with bright,crisp, blocked gilt letters to spine/backstrip and near immaculate plain white endpapwers.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn, 5-236pp [paginated] includes contents+illus lists/tables,an introduction,10 chapters,32pp of 50 contemporary b/w photographs+illus interspersed throughout the text and the book,13 b/w wreck location charts,source notes, acknowledgements,a bibliography,an index of ships and a general index.Plus [unpaginated] half title,b/w illus frntis, and title page.
One of the most dangerous stretches of coastline in the British Isles,the seventy-odd miles of Cornwall's northern shore,unlit between Longships and Lundy Island until the mid-nineteenth century,have claimed a monstrous toll of ships and seamen over the ages.No full account is possible,but a conservative estimate based on known records is that 800 small sailing vessels,200 larger ships, 100 fishing-boats and 94 steamers,exclusive of heavy wartime losses, were wrecked on the coast between 1800 and 1920.In one month of 1859 alone,fourteen ships and nineteen fishing-boats were lost when a southerly gale veered to the northward,turning the whole cliff-strwen coastline into a lee shore.
Shelter was virtually non-existent or too dangerous to enter during an onshore gale, as the number of Cornish crews who drowned within sight of their own pierheads testifies.
But grim though the setting may be and tragic so many of the disasters it records,this detailed account of wreck and rescue on the north Cornish coast is no morbid list of victims.It is a lively and exciting story about ships of all sizes and many nations,of strange cargoes carried on voyages in the distant past and,not least,a story of heroism, daring and self-sacrifice,and of the many colourful characters - lifeboatmen,coastguards,excise men,and the notorious 'wreckers' too - whose deeds made Cornish and maritime history.
The result of years of intensive research and fieldwork,this book records several hundreds of shipwrecks on the north Cornish coast from the early eighteenth century to recent years,and is illustrated by a remarkable collection of some fifty photographs,many of them previously unpublished. An uncommon and highly sought after title,particularly from this publisher,as the book is no longer in print,in this edn.
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