The Wreck of the New Commercial
In the early hours of Saturday 11th January 1851, in thick fog and extremely rough seas, the brig "New Commercial" struck the rock connecting Great and Little Brison. The ship was battered by the waves and broke up almost immediately, yet Captain Samuel Sanderson, his wife Mary (wearing just her nightdress) and the crew of nine managed to reach a ledge where they sheltered until they were spotted at daybreak.
However, the sea was still too rough for the local boats to mount a rescue. Around 9am, a huge wave swept the crew from the rocks and only three survived; Isaac Williams clung to a piece of the wreckage and attempted to paddle towards Whitesand Bay before being picked up by a local fishing crew sent to rescue him that afternoon, meanwhile Captain Sanderson and his wife were washed on to Little Brison.
Captain Davies of the Coastguard at Penzance ordered the revenue cruiser "Sylvia" around Land's End to mount a rescue. When the ship arrived at Cape Cornwall a boat with a crew of four was launched but they could not get near the Brisons and had to return. The Sandersons faced another night on the Brisons.
On the Sunday the weather started to improve slightly, and in the afternoon the Sylvia again launched a boat in to the still very rough sea. Another four boats were launched at Sennen and the Coastguard in Pendeen also commanded a boat, making a rescue party of six. Reports say that over five thousand people gathered on the cliffs to cheer on the rescue attempts, but the seas were still too high for any of the boats to get near the Brisons.
Captain Davies had brought with him a rocket apparatus which he had never tested either on land or water. The instructions said to be well away from the nine-pound rockets when firing, but Captain Davies' boat was only 25 ft long. He transferred the rest of his crew to a Sennen boat and volunteered to fire the rocket himself.
The first rocket fell short, and Captain Davies was engulfed in flames, but thankfully unhurt. The second line fell close to Captain Sanderson, who tied the rope around his wife and encouraged her to leap in to the raging waters. At that moment three huge waves broke in quick succession and the crowd feared the worst, but thankfully the pair remained on the rock unscathed.
Mrs Sanderson then jumped in to the sea and was pulled through the water, still clad in only her nightdress, but sadly died from exhaustion before the boat reached shore. Samuel was later pulled from the water, and made it safely back to land.
Mary was buried at Sennen Parish Church later in the month. As a result of the rescue attempts, and in recognition of the bravery of the local people, Sennen was awarded its first lifeboat by the National Shipwreck Institute (later to become the RNLI), and the boat came in to service two years after the disaster.
160 years on, Mary's grave had fallen in to a state of disrepair, with the gravestone weathered and cracked. To mark the anniversary of her burial, the National Coastwatch Institution's Cape Cornwall station adopted the grave, and with the help of several local businesses renewed Mary's gravestone. On 19th January 2011 a rededication service was held at the church, attended by volunteers from the Coastwatch station.
The Cache
To find the cache you will need to visit Mary's grave at the given coordinates and note the following information:
A = Mary was the ?th daughter of Rev. Wood
B = Number of times the word "waves" appears on the gravestone
C = Number of times the word "rocks" appears on the gravestone
D = Number of letters in the first word after Mary Sanderson's name
E = Number of words in the three topmost lines of the gravestone
F = 3rd digit of the year that the church was founded
The cache can be found at:
N 50° 04.ABC W 005° 41.DEF
The cache site offers a good view of the Brisons, where Mary spent her final hours.
