Lost treasure of Gunwalloe Beach

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Here is another treasure beach story. Not one but two stories. How good can it get? It is a good enough excuse to dust off the old metal detectors at least?

There is a legend in Cornwall of a beach that a ship some time around 1785 broke up and spilled over two tons of coins into the sands of beach. Over the years from time to time coins have been found. The earliest reference to the lost treasure was from a book written in 1848 called ?A week at the Lizard? By G. A. Johns.

Here is the following extract from the book.

As we descend, Gunwalloe Cove and Church open on us, the former as delightful a spot in which to spend a long summer's day as can be well imagined; the latter an ancient structure, said to have been erected as a votive offering by some rescued mariner. The Churchyard walls are washed by the sea; the unpretending belfry is detached from the Church, being built against the side of a hill which rises between it and the sea. On the point outside formerly stood a stone cross, where it must have been the first evidence of human workmanship which presented itself to any one approaching the land. It has long been thrown down, and is said to be now lying at the bottom of the stream which winds its way down the valley. If this be the case, it is much to be hoped that it may soon he restored to the spot where it was piously erected.

In the absence of all record, it may be conjectured with some plausibility, that the rock on which it stood, was the very one on which the founder of the church secured his footing after his shipwreck. If it be, as some maintain, a superstitious feeling which leads to the restoration of crosses, that is surely a laudable superstition, which would commemorate the fact, that an unknown Christian, who lived in days beyond the memory of man, here gave Glory to God for an act of mercy, in saving him from sudden death.

A rather wide valley runs up from Gunwalloe Cove, with so gradual a rise, that a great part of it is marshy; the little river which flows through it appears in many places to be almost motionless. It is lined, and sometimes almost filled with flags and other aquatic plants, among which the great spear-wort,* a rare plant in the south of England, is very conspicuous.

Beyond Gunwalloe Church, the land rises and the coast again becomes bold for a short distance. The cliffs, though not very lofty, are precipitous, and offer no chance of escape to any unfortunate vessel which may chance to be driven in within reach of the rocks. About the year 1785, a vessel laden with wool, and having also on board

two and a half tons of money, was driven ashore, a few hundred yards west of the church, and soon went to pieces. Ever since, at intervals, after a storm, dollars have been picked up on the beach, but never in sufficient numbers to compensate for the time wasted in the search. No measures, however, on a large scale, for recovering the precious cargo were adopted until three years ago, when people were startled to hear that a party of adventurers were going to sink a dollar-mine in the sea.

The vessel had gone to pieces between two rocks at a short distance from the base of the cliff, and here it was proposed to construct a kind of coffer-dam, from which the water was to be pumped out and the dollars to be picked up at leisure. Mad though the scheme was, operations were actually commenced; a path was cut in the face of the cliff, iron-rods were fixed into the rocks and several beams of timber laid down, when a breeze set in from the south-west, and in the course of a few hours the work of as many weeks was destroyed. The wood-work was ripped up as effectually as if it had been a mere wickercage, and the coast soon lined with the fragments.

It is not likely that the attempt will be renewed. The speculators were in this instance strangers, which accounts for the enterprise having been taken in hand at all; for any one acquainted with the coast must have been well aware, that although the sea is sometimes tolerably calm for many consecutive days, it never is so for a period long enough to allow the completion of a work which requires time.

And which, in the most favourable weather, is beset with difficulties; indeed, an ordinary breeze setting on this shore excites the sea to such a state of fury, that certainly no unfinished mechanical structure could withstand the force of the breakers.

This is not the only unsuccessful search for treasure which has been made at Gunwalloe. In the sand-banks near the church (or, as others say, at Kennack Cove), the notorious buccaneer, Captain Avery, is reported to have buried several chests of treasure previously to his leaving England, on the voyage from which he never returned.

So strongly did this opinion prevail, that Mr. John Knill, collector of the customs at St. Ives, procured, about the year 1770, a grant of treasure-trove, and expended some money in a fruitless search.

A beach on South Coast of England with two treasure legends almost on top of one another a perfect opportunity for our Brit Thunters Wink