Leonie

Last Updated on Friday, 14 January 2011 15:00

1910 – The Leonie, a French schooner, carrying a cargo of pit-props, broke up on the fierce rocks below Tears Point.    The French crew miraculously struggled ashore through “a moving sea of wreckage”.    They climbed the cliffs and raised the alarm - though communication was awkward because of the language difficulty.   The coast was strewn with pit-props for months after.   Some were recovered and stacked up on the shore but a fierce storm swept most of them out to sea again.    (Ref. 020)