Monthly Archives March 2017

Tragedy and heroism at St Ives  January 31st 1938 The steamer ‘ALBA’ was built in the USA and Panamanian registered.  She was taking a cargo of coal from Barry, South Wales, to Civita Vecchia in Italy.  Her captain Yuluis Horvath was one of 14 hugarians aboard.  The other crew were from Yogoslavia, Romania, Spain, Portugal & Italy. As the vessel approached Scilly, the captain decided to run into St Ives Bay for shelter.  He mistakenly assumed the lights he saw  were those of the harbour, and alas he dropped anchor off Porthmeor which gave no shelter at all from the
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Godrevy Lighthouse   never had more than two keepers, and once, for eight days, it was reduced to one. On Christmas Day in 1925, one of the two keepers was taken ashore by the St. Ives Lifeboat suffering from pneumonia, and unfortunately the weather made it impossible to land a relief keeper until 2 January. During the intervening eight days, Assistant Keeper W J Lewis, alone on the rock, kept the light and fog bell going without interruption. Mr. Lewis documented his solitary watch in the July 1960 edition of Trinity House’s   Flash   magazine: “It all happened during
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