Runnel Stone
Coordinates: 50°01′48″N 5°40′30″W / 50.030°N 5.675°W
The Runnel Stone (or Rundle Stone) is a hazardous rock pinnacle situated about a mile south of Gwennap Head, Cornwall, United Kingdom that used to show above the surface at low water until a steamship struck it in 1923.
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[edit] Marks
A buoy currently marks the position of the Runnel Stone. It is topped with a flashing light and a bell which peals with the movement of the waves. It is also fitted with a whistle set in a tube, which emits a moaning sound when there is a good swell running. This mournful noise can be heard clearly from Gwennap Head, drifting in from the sea, and adds to the eerie atmosphere of the clifftop in foggy conditions.
There are a pair of cone-shaped navigation markers on Gwennap Head, in line with the Runnelstone buoy. These are day markers warning vessels of the hazard of the Runnel Stone. The cone to the seaward side is painted red and the inland one is black and white. When at sea the black and white one should always be kept in sight in order to avoid the submerged rocks nearer the shore. If the black and white cone is completely obscured by the red cone then the vessel would be directly on top of the Runnel Stone. The black and white landmark was erected by the Corporation of Trinity House in 1821 - an event recorded on a plaque on the back of the marker.
One 19th century attempt to attach a warning buoy to the Runnel Stone was led by the naval Lieutenant Hugh Goldsmith (nephew of the famous poet Oliver Goldsmith) aboard the cutter HMS Nimble. After several unsuccessful attempts Lt. Goldsmith and a number of his crew turned their attention inland and succeeded in toppling the famous Logan Rock from its precarious perch on the Treryn Dinas headland east of Porthcurno.
[edit] Shipwrecks
Between 1880 and 1923 over 30 identified steamships were wrecked, stranded or sank in the area.[1]
At 3pm, 8 October 1923, the 6,000 ton SS City of Westminster bound from Belfast to Rotterdam with a cargo of South African maize knocked the top of the reef clean off. A total of 72 people were taken off by the Sennen and Penlee lifeboats.[1] Today, the remains of the ship lie in 30m of water, jammed into a gully on the eastern side of the stone.
[edit] Diving
Due to its exposure to the ocean currents and its relative accessibility of slipways at Porthgwarra and Lamorna, the Runnel Stone is known as one of the best dive sites in the whole of Cornwall.[2] Diving must be carried out at slack water, which is about one and a half hours before high water at Newlyn. The highlights include visibility of up to 20m, numerous wrecks, and anemones in a vast array of colours.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Larn, Richard (1996). Dive South Cornwall. Underwater World Publications. pp. p211. ISBN 0-946020-25-6.
- ^ Hood, Charles (2003). 100 Best Dives in Cornwall. Circle Books. pp. p87. ISBN 0-9538919-3-3.
- Extracts from A Complete Parochial History of the County of Cornwall, Joseph Polsue, 1868
- Some of the above information is extracted from material on display in the visitors' room at the Coastwatch station on Gwennap Head near Porthgwarra.
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