Page:Cornwall (Salmon).djvu/209

 MALPAS— MANACLES oft St. Keverne, a deadly threat to all vessels making Falmouth Bay. They are about half a mile from the shore, and extend for the same distance ; all but one are covered at high water. The passages between them are safe enough in calm weather to a skilful steersman. Probably the name {men-eglos, " church-stone ") applied originally to a single rock in connection with the landmark of St. Keverne spire ; for we find that another of the rocks which stands in a direct line with Trenoweth, on the mainland, is named Mantrenoweth. The number of wrecks that have taken place here is very great, and there have been many of which no record survived. In 1809 two ships, bringing officers and men from the Peninsula, were wrecked almost simultaneously; about 200 were drowned. From one of the vessels, the Primrose, only a boy was saved, through the noble efforts of six fishermen from Porthoustock. For days the shore was strewn with corpses. In 1855 the John of Plymouth sailed for Canada, bearing 260 emigrants, of whom 1 1 2 were children. The weather was fine ; nevertheless the vessel struck one of the Manacles and drifted till it stranded on others. Even then with care and patience every one might have been saved. Boats were launched, in which a few persons, chiefly crew, made a selfish and cowardly escape ; and these carried the news to the mainland. The captain believed his position to be safe, the sea being calm ; but a wind sprang up, and it was with the utmost difficulty that men from Porthou- 175