Coverack

Coordinates: 50°01′N 5°06′W / 50.017°N 5.100°W / 50.017; -5.100

Coverack (Cornish: Porthkovrek, meaning cove of the stream) is a coastal village and fishing port in Cornwall, UK. It is on the east side of the Lizard peninsula, about nine miles south of Falmouth.

Coverack has several hotels and a youth hostel. The area is a centre for watersports, particularly wind surfing, sailing and diving. The nearby rocks known as The Manacles have been the site of many shipwrecks and as a consequence are now a favourite diving destination.

Geography

Near the South West Coast Path is Poldowrian Garden which includes a prehistoric settlement discovered in 1965, dated by archaeologists at 5500 BC. Finds from the site are available for viewing. The roads to Coverack cross Goonhilly Downs (famous for the BT satellite earth station).

"Coverack Cove and Dolor Point" SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) is one of the most famous geological localities in Cornwall, providing an almost continuous section across a mantle-crust boundary. Other nearby SSSI are Coverack to Porthoustock and Kennack to Coverack.

Dorothea Weber

Dorothea Weber was a 190 GRT three-masted Schooner that was built in 1922 as the barge Lucy by J Oelkers, Hamburg. She was later renamed Midgard I, Midgard IV and then Elisabeth before a sale in 1935 saw her fitted with a diesel engine and renamed Dorothea Weber. She was seized by the Allies in May 1945 at Guernsey, passed to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and renamed Empire Cononley.

In 1947, she was sold into merchant service and renamed Coverack. A further sale in 1953 saw her renamed River Witham. She served until 1959 when she ran aground off Lowestoft. Although she was refloated, she capsized and sank off the Inner Dowsing Light Vessel.

Description

The ship was built by J Oelkers, Hamburg. She was launched in 1922.

The ship was 105 feet 7 inches (32.18 m) long, with a beam of 24 feet 9 inches (7.54 m) and a depth of 8 feet 1 inch (2.46 m). The ship had a GRT of 190 and a NRT of 100.

As built, the ship was propelled by sails alone. A diesel engine was fitted in 1935 and this was replaced by another engine in 1951.