120 YEAR OLD SUNKEN COPPER INGOTS RETURN TO CORNWALL

8 Mar 2002 02:44 PM

Five ingots of Cornish copper will be making a homecoming next week when the Receiver of Wreck returns them to Cornwall. The five ingots were part of a shipment of copper which had laid on the seabed for 120 years before it was salvaged last September.

The Camborne School of Mines Museum will display four of the ingots and the Helston Museum will display one. The five ingots will be presented by Sophia Exelby, the Receiver of Wreck, at the Camborne School of Mines Museum on Tuesday 12 March at 4.00 pm.

54 tons of the copper ingots were salvaged off the steam ship, 'St George', by a commercial salvage company last year. The copper is thought to have been mined in Cornwall, before being taken to Wales for refinement. The ship sank 15 miles off St Agnes Head in 1882 after it began taking on water with a heavy load on board in stormy weather. The salvage company reported its find to the Receiver of Wreck, which is based at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in Southampton. The Receiver then began to research the wreck and its 9,550 ingots of copper in an effort to find an owner. Since no owner has been forthcoming it has now been decided that the majority of the copper will be smelted, but that five of the ingots will be kept as historical artefacts and that these will be displayed within Cornish Museums.

Sophia Exelby, Receiver of Wreck said:

"Wherever practical, we offer historic wreck to institutions, such as museums, where it will remain accessible to the public. We endeavour to ensure that artefacts are offered to a museum within the area of the find site. We are therefore delighted that we have been able to place the ingots with a local museum within Cornwall."

"In this particular case we have had to recognise the commercial as well as the historic value of the cargo and to strike a balance between the two. The whole of the cargo is worth approximately £48,000. If no owner is forthcoming at the end of the statutory one year period, the bulk of the cargo's value will go to the salvor."

END

Notes to Editors:

- Each of the copper ingots is 1 ft long and weighs 14 lbs. They are all stamped with CCC which we believe stands for Crown Copper Company.

- It is a legal requirement that all recovered wreck is reported to the Receiver of Wreck. The Receiver of Wreck is responsible for the administration of that part of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, which deals with wreck and salvage. If you find wreck you can contact the Receiver of Wreck via your local Coastguard or Marine Office.

- The Receiver of Wreck investigates ownership of wreck items. The owner has one year in which to come forward and prove title to the property. If the wreck remains unclaimed after the year it becomes property of the Crown and the Receiver is required to dispose of it. This may be through sale, although in many cases the finder will be allowed to keep the item in lieu of a salvage award.

For further details please contact
Maritime and Coastguard Agency Press Office, on: (023) 8032 9401

Press releases and further information about the Agency is available on the Web at www.mcga.gov.uk