The history in West Penwith has been well recorded in a number of books which are available at the library to both residents and visitors alike. These pages are not to be seen as a history of that kind but more of a drop in and read a little, type of coverage in which I have tried to bring together both actual accounts and those written as fiction by Authors who were known to have researched the subject well. The information has all been gathered from books in the Library. 

THE MORRAB WEBMASTER.

The Spanish Raid On Mousehole - Quakers of the Lands End Meeting  -

 Levant Mine Disaster 1919

The Spaniards Raid on Mousehole in the year 1595

As reported in the state papers of the Reign of Elizabeth 1st of England. Vol.CCLIII. Copies of which are in the Morrab Library.

Monday 9pm July 21. 1595

26. Thos. Lukie and Wm. Psakowe to Sir Fras.Godolphin: We hear from Mr. Killigrew, that 60 sail are in our bay in the Manacles, which have been turning off and on all day. We will give you advertisement of any discovery of their pretence; we are keeping sufficient ward. There were two pinnaces at the harbour’s mouth, but they returned towards the said fleet.

Tuesday July 22. 1595 Falmouth

27. Thos. Lukie to Sir Frau. Godolphin: Upwards  20 sail were about the harbour last night, and Rich. Pesres affirms there are divers great ships and shallops amongst them. I have sent out a boat to descry them, and when she returns will advertise you.

Wednesday July 23 1595. Plymouth

29. Sir Frau. Drake and Sir John Hawkins to Sir Robt. Cecil: We have not written earlier, having nothing of importance to tell. We are hastening our despatch, so  to avoid charge. Now our men are together; with gentlemen, soldiers, and mariners they are (two lines missing at bottom of the page) honour and good liking only we wish fair weather to labour in, and a fair wind to send us away in haste.

Wednesday July 23 1595. St Mawes Fort.

30. Hanibal Vyvyan to Sir Frau. Drake and Sir John Hawkins, Generals of the fleet at Plymouth:  I think you are informed of the Spaniards landing this day in the western parts; they have burned Penzance, Newlyn, Mousehole, Poole Church, and Church Town, and other villages adjoining without resistance; I speak it to the disgrace of those people. The only ships there are four galleys, but there are 40 sail seen to seaward. There is great want of leaders; the Spaniards’ conquest without resistance may give them greater encouragement to land along the coast as well to the east as north. I beg you, if your ships are not fit to fight, to send into these part. some of their leaders who have commanded in war, as they are greatly needed now, and will be more so if the Spaniards should land. If you lack mariners, I think 100 could he pro­cured in 10 hours in Falmouth harbour.

 Noted by Sir Fras. Drake and Sir John Hawkins that this letter came to hand as the post was ready to take his horse, and that some captains are getting ready to go westward. Endorsed (by Cecil), “Hannibal Vyvyan, from the fort of Falmouth, to Sir Fras. Godoiphin, advertising the burning of divers towns.”

Wednesday July 23. 1 o’clock On the Green beyond Penzance 

31. Sir Frau. Godolphin and Thos. Chiverton to Sir Frau. Drake and Sir John Hawkins, generals of the forces now at Plymouth 

“Four galleys are at anchor before Mousehole, their men landed, and the town and other houses in the country thereabouts are fired. No more of the fleet are in sight; 50 or 60 were seen Monday evening and yesterday, athwart of Falmouth. Pray consider what is to be done both for safety and defence.

P.S About 200 men have assembled; we attend the coming of more, so as to make head towards the enemy.

  The English court had its spies abroad keeping an eye on the Spaniards. One of these was Edmond Palmer who reported to the Lord High Admiral.

July 23. / Aug. 2.

32.  Edm. Palmer to the Lord High Admiral. I wrote you 18 July, and intended to have waited upon you personally, but have since altered my mind, and shall not leave until the departure of the King’s ships to the Passage. Subiacoe came back from Bluett 28 July, having landed such monies and provisions as he carried, and brought back some horses, pigs, &c., as also general Don Diego Brochero, who was in the galleys there, and who landed in the Passage Road, and went post to the Court at Madrid; when he returns, he will go as general of six sail and four pinnaces, now in the Passage, and bound for Lisbon to join those there.

Their pretences are to follow Sir Frau. Drake, who they understand has gone to sea; when they are gone, the coast will he clear of men-of­war, till other ships of the King are built. ‘They go but weakly provided, and have stayed 14 large merchantmen bound for Seville, to keep them company till they arrive, at Lisbon, when those there....... (again there are three lines missing from the bottom of the page).

...........grief to them. Shatteo Martin was beheaded 20 July; his body lay on the scaffold 24 hours, when it was buried; his head stands most honourebly on one of the gates of the city where he should have brought in the Spaniards, and the rest of his mates’ heads and quarters in the like order; they used him royally, bare­headed, he with the hangmen were in a cart, and a rope about his neck, and so was carried through all the chief streets in the city, with 300 or 400 arquebusiers waiting on him. A great quantity of letters were found in his house, from the Viceroy of Navarre and Don Juan d’Idiaques, the Kings chief secretary, as from the Cardinal; some were in plain writing and others in cipher, and he had burnt many. He and his mates had laid their plots for betraying the city. He was the means that brought me in disgrace with the Lord Treasurer and Mr. Vice Chamberlain, although I have always served my Prince loyally. There are more consorts of Shatteo Martin’s who are not yet taken, and some have fled.

On 19 July, Joseph Jackson went to the frontiers of Spain, with letters out of England to Rollestone, who met him on the French shore, where they were both taken prisoners by a gentleman of the country, but were set at liberty two or three days after. I understand they both much depend on my Lord of Essex, by Mr. Bacon’s means, but if his Lordship knew what knaves they are, he would not trust them. Rollestone has spoken villainous words of Her Majesty. He has a stipend out of England, which Jackson pays him. I have never had anything, and am grieved to see strangers and traitors made so much of, and receiving such large stipends; but a friend In the Court is better than a pound in a man’s purse. I hope Her Majesty’s favour; I intend to see her shortly, and will leave as soon as the ships have left the Passage. The Prince of Ascole has not as yet found his accusers, and in the end all will be nothing for Don Pedro de Medeles and other nobles are in the dance. Nothing passes in England but the Spaniards have intelligence of it, which is sent by some Dutchmen in London to Middleburg, and thence to Antwerp as merchants’ letters. All speed is used for despatching the King’s ships lying in the Passage, as well as those at Lisbon.

Following the raid by the Spaniards they put on shore English prisoners that they had taken on their voyage over.  

Friday July 25 1595.

88. Examinations of Englishmen, taken by the Spaniards, and landed in Mounts Bay, out of the four galleys of Bluett, before Sir Fras. Godolphin and Thomas Saint Aubin, viz., -

Barnaby. Loe, of Ipswich, mariner. Was taken with his ship three weeks since near Brittany, by Peter Seviore, and carried into Bluett. Seviore’s fleet then consisted of seven ships, the admiral being a galleon with 32 cast pieces. The vice-admiral was a ship of 140 tons, and carried 20 pieces pf brass ordnance; he had brought 500 soldiers, with a store of treasure for the soldiers’ pay, &n, from Passage to Bluett, and then returned with his fleet, to be general of a navy of 100 sail bound for Lisbon, but where else he knows not.

The shipping at Bluett consists of four galleys, whereof Charles de Messe is general, and three or four other men-of-war, of 100 to 100 tons burden, which carry but small ordnance, but are full of soldiers and mariners. Each of these galleys carries five pieces in its prow, and 590 men, and for this voyage had 400 soldiers out of Don John's regiment, besides 200 others; they can land 150 men at a time with their eight pinnaces and gondells, and can row 10 leagues a day, against a good gale of wind.

With note by Sir F. Godolphin. These prisoners further confessed that these galleys stopped an Irish bark, but only took one butt of wine from her, which they paid for, and used the men very favourably, so that it appears there is a mutual affection between them and the Irish. I gather by the desire these Spaniards have to Scilly, that if they can possess it, they will keep their galleys there under the fort; from their present attempt I observe that the principal want is two good pieces to beat them from the road, and a better store of powder. bullets and match, with some skilfill and valiant leaders, which will be needful in all places where the Spaniards may do hurt in their landing.

July 25.

34. Copy of the exainination of Barnaby Loe. [1 3/4 pages .)

Sunday July 27 1595.

36. Examination of John Ashley of Dartmouth, merchant, before Robert Martin, mayor. Came from Roscoe, 26 July. A French bark arrived there reports 200 Spanish ships and galleys to be riding at anchor at Ferrol, bound for England, where they intend landing 2,200 men; three other Spanish ships also arrived at Ferrol from Ireland, and delivered munition, powder, shot &c. to the enemy; they would all be ready to sail within 15 days.  

Monday July 28 1595. Plymouth

41. Sir Thos. Baskerville ,to the Council.  Notwithstanding the enemy has retired, and their numbers were so small that there was no occasion for assembling the forces of Devon and Cornwall in camp’ yet I will not fail to follow your commands, in going thither to see how the country is armed, to view the towns upon the sea coasts, to see what number of able men they are furnished with to resist the like attempts, and to advise them as to their better defence.

If any captain of judgment had been there to conduct the people, with only 200 men, and had accosted the enemy in flank, the country would have been saved from spoil and fire, and without any loss; had they attempted it whilst the enemy followed the spoil in the sacking of the towns, their disorder would have undoubtedly overthrown them.

Quakers of the Lands End Meeting

In 1656 George Fox the founder of the Quaker movement entered the lives of the people of West Cornwall. Below we give some of the story of how this happened and what followed. 

When we came to Ives, Edward Pyot's horse having cast a shoe, we stayed to have it set; and while he was getting his horse shod, I walked down to the seaside. When I returned I found the town in an uproar. They were haling Edward Pyot and the other Friend before Major Peter Ceely, a major in the army and a justice of the peace. I followed them into the justice's house, though they did not lay hands upon me."  Quaker link   

These words record the arrival of George Fox the founder of the Society of Friends and two colleagues to the Town of St Ives in Cornwall in the year 1656. The Society ( otherwise known as Quakers ) was growing in numbers and many of the establishment saw it as a threat. Fox argued that to anyone could contact God at anytime. He said that people did not need to go to church or have the guidance of a priest. This was seen as seditious especially as he also argued that the bible stated that people should not swear allegiance to anyone or anything other than God. Members of the sect refused to pay their tithes which were used to pay for the priest. 

Many local magistrates were determined to put an end to Fox's and his Society of Friends and Major Ceely of St Ives was amongst these. Fox had written an open pamphlet to the people of the seven parishes of the Lands End. This had been circulated before his arrival so the population were expecting him and his friends. In his journal Fox records the following:- 

"When we came in, the house was full of rude people; whereupon I asked if there were not an officer among them to keep the people civil. Major Ceely said that he was a magistrate. I told him that he should then show forth gravity and sobriety, and use his authority to keep the people civil; for I never saw any people ruder; the Indians were more like Christians than they.

This first visit of George Fox to St Ives in 1656 ended with him and his two friends being taken to Launceston Jail, (which was in the castle) here they remained for nine weeks. Fox wrote the following about the Jail:

"The place was so noisome that it was observed few that went in did ever come out again in health. There was no house of office in it; and the excrement of the prisoners that from time to time had been put there had not been carried out (as we were told) for many years. So that it was all like mire, and in some places to the tops of the shoes in water and urine; and he would not let us cleanse it, nor suffer us to have beds or straw to lie on.

At night some friendly people of the town brought us a candle and a little straw; and we burned a little of our straw to take away the stink. The thieves lay over our heads, and the head jailer in a room by them, over our heads also. It seems the smoke went up into the room where the jailer lay; which put him into such a rage that he took the pots of excrement from the thieves and poured them through a hole upon our heads in Doomsdale, till we were so bespattered that we could not touch ourselves nor one another. And the stink increased upon us; so that what with stink, and what with smoke, we were almost choked and smothered. We had the stink under our feet before, but now we had it on our heads and backs also; and he having quenched our straw with the filth he poured down, had made a great smother in the place. Moreover, he railed at us most hideously, calling us hatchet-faced dogs, and such strange names as we had never heard of. In this manner we were obliged to stand all night, for we could not sit down, the place was so full of filthy excrement.

The first report of Quakers at Sennen appears in the a book by Norman Penney, " The Record of Sufferings of Friends in Cornwall ". Mr. Penney transcribed a record kept by Thomas Lower the step son-in-law of George Fox. Thomas Lower reported that in 1657 John Ellis, whose home was at Brea Farm on the Sennen- St Just boundary was summoned before the local justice Peter Seeley (Ceely) and charged with failing to raise his hat to Seeley and James Launce. The argument was that, as appointees of the government, Seeley and Launce should be shown respect by people raising their hats when meeting them. George Fox reported a similar instance in his biography and just as in his case, John Ellis was taken to the " Doomsdale " at Launceston for refusing to remove his hat. This was to be his first of many visits there. The year was 1657 and on his release he returned home to Brea Farm where he and others had set up a group of Friends or Quakers.

It was the Quakers practice not to pay the tithes or cost of repairs to the church (Steeple House) and as a result they were often beaten and had their property removed. A record of these happenings was kept in the " Book of Sufferings " and a number of the entries are produced below.

1657:

John Ellis had a horse taken from him by Thomas Quarum and Richard Whiteforde who farmed the tithe of the priest of Sennen ( Joseph Hull ).

Nicholas Jose had taken from him at harvest time 39 sheaves of rye for failing to pay his tithe. This was done by officers acting for priest Hull and no warrant was produced.

1658.

As Nicholas Jose was traveling along the highway he was attacked by Thomas Treave the elder of Sennen. Treave beat him with roapes and threw stones at him resulting in Jose being injured. Jose later reported the attack to Michael Richards and John Saundry the local constables but could not get them to act.

James Myers was beaten up by parson Hull whilst the parson's wife held him.

In 1660 parliament invited Charles I son to return as king. Cromwell had been dead for two years. Under King Charles II the Church of England regained some of the power it had lost under Cromwell. It  it was deemed an offence to hold Society meetings but Friends continued to meet at each others homes. If the authorities caught them they were arrested and faced imprisonment and the " Book of Sufferings " records the following: 

1660.

On the 29th of February 1660 the home of George Reed was raided by the constables and the following arrested. George, John and Tobyas Read and John Tonkyn of Sennen. They were taken before Walter Vincent and John Vivian, Justices at Truro who committed them to Launceston jail where they remained for around 7 -8 weeks.

1662

On the 27th of August 1662 A Captain Jones arrested the following at a meeting at the house of Nicholas Jose:-

Nicholas Jose, George Reed, William Roberts, Edward Auger, John Reed, John Mathew, Sampson Jeffrey, Richard Hunt, Degory Vingoe, John Tonkyn.

Also arrested where 5 women:- 

Johan Penwarden, Mary Penwarthen, Jane Wilkey, Anne Treeeve and Blanch Bosistowe.

By 1662 there were around 1,300 Quakers in prison and Justice William Godolphin added to the number by sending all the above to Launceston jail. They appeared before the Judge at the next assizes. Four of them  Nicholas Jose,  George Reed, William Roberts and Edward Auger were indicted and fined 40s each and committed to prison until this was paid. The rest were also committed until they could find sureties for their good behavior. All of these latter group were held for three x assizes without any charge being laid against them and they each served almost two years in prison. The other four who had been fined were kept in prison for five and a half years.

There were those who saw the persecution of the Quakers as a means of enriching themselves. Hugh Jones was a  local Sennen Justice who lived at Penrose Manor. He would fine Quakers and then remove  goods worth much more than the amount of the fine. He would then either pay the fine to the court and pocket the difference or in the case of goods which had been confiscated pay the fine and keep the goods. Here are some instances of this practice.

1670.

Taken from John Wallish by Richard Warren and Martyn Millarde constables and Nowell Roberts and Mathew Humphrys wardens off the parish. Who came on the 6th day of the 4th month 1670 and distrained by a warrant from Hugh Jones, called a justice, two milk cows, two oxen and three heifers to the value of £20 for a fine for attending a meeting though John Wallish was a prisoner at Launceston at the time.  

Also taken from Jane Wallish by the aforesaid officers for her being at the same meeting one milk cow worth £3 4s for a fine of 5s imposed upon her. 

Also William Roberts for attending the same meeting had four milk cows, sixteen sheep and two rearing calves taken away on a warrant from Hugh Jones.

Also taken away from George Reed of the parish of Sennen by John Mathew and Nich: Wallish constables and John & Thomas Terreeve wardens by a warrant from Hugh Jones for his permitting the aforesaid meeting to take place in his house and for being present at the same, 3 Milk cows and one horse being worth £12

Taken from Nicholas Jose for attending the same meeting One brasse pan and one chair worth £1 for a fine of 5s. Jose was also in prison at the time.

Taken from Thomas Richards (also in prison) one brasse pot worth 8s.

So from this one meeting Hugh Jones had secured ten milk cows, two oxen, three heifers, one horse, two rearing calves, one chair, one brass pan and one brass pot.

The persecution of the Quakers by Hugh Jones continued and in 1677 he sent George Treweege to collect goods to the value of £25 12s 6d from the shop of Nicholas Jose, all taken as a fine for the non-payment of his tithe. Jose owned one and a half acres of land. Each year Jones sent his clerk at Harvest time to take sheaves of corn from Jose and other Quakers  

In 1685 there was a pardon for all Quakers but in the two years prior to this Hugh Jones had sent a number of Sennen Quakers to prison:

1683

John Mathews, Isaac Chappell, John Tonkyn, Richard Richards, Jone Olivy and Wilmott Richards sent by Hugh Jones, Justice, for attending a meeting to Launceston Gaol. They came before the infamous Judge Jeffreys. After careful consideration he discharged the prisoners.

1684

Again Justice Jones imprisoned John Mathew, Richard Richards, Jenkin Vingoe, John Tonkyn and Samson Olivey for unlawful assembly in Sennen. Judge Montague set them all free.

In 1685 James II came to the throne and the Society of Friends was recognised by the state. The hard won rights to worship God as they choose had led to the deaths of many of them as a result of their time in prisons such as Launceston. Now they had the law on their side Justice Hugh Jones found other ways to continue his harassment of members of the Lands End meeting. William Bottrell the nineteenth century historian records this story in the third volume of his "Stories and Folk-Lore of West Cornwall":-    

"As the notion of the transmigration of souls is not at all new to Cornish people, you may imagine that, in some former state of existence, you lived out west about the time that old Justice Jones resided in Penrose, and was long the unquestioned tyrant of that part of the country. In complaisance with the good pleasure of the justice, many old men in the parish, even farmers, did the work on his farms of Penrose and Brew, for no other payment than his worthless promise that their sons should not be impressed and sent off to serve the king on board a man-of-war. It seems that in the time of this ancient edition of Colonel Peard, the magistrates were entrusted with warrants which empowered them to draft off whomsoever they pleased for the king’s service, and to gratify their ill-will they had only to intimate to the press-gang that the disliked were eligible men.

  Old Jones’s usual mode of proceeding was to compel all the laboring class to go to church every Sunday (in case of non-attendance these guardians of the law might also fine or imprison). The justice would be first to leave the church, and would remain in the churchyard (where those who feared him were collected to learn his pleasure) until he had intimated what work he wished to have done, and by whom, during the week. When he wanted any extra hands during the week, as was often the case in harvest, furze-carrying, and other times of work requiring quick dispatch, he would hoist a flag on a flag-staff which used to be placed in a large holed stone, which was perforated for that purpose, and built into the top of the angle found by the green court and garden walls. It was a common saying that not to give anyone sufficient wages was like old Jones’s payment, of a kick in the rear, which many, who neglected their own harvest work to save the old justice’s corn, richly deserved. But he was not long allowed to domineer over the poor folks of the west. Many of the old families belonging to the parish among whom the Vingoe's of Treville, were the most important, did all they could to check his proceedings. This ancient Norman family, who had held Treville ever since the Conquest, and had been the wine-tasters to unknown Norman chiefs for equally unknown ages, regarded old Jones, for all his riches, as nothing but an upstart stranger in the west; yet they did not succeed in bringing the justice to act in a reasonable way until a. smuggling crew came to their aid. Most of the young men of the west country (many of them farmers’ sons) belonged to this band, as well as two young men of Morvah - a Daniel and a Ustick, who were related to the Vingoe's, and might be styled gentlemen. Their head-quarters were at Priest’s Cove and Pendeen, as best suited their convenience. One fine day in the harvest, when old Jones had summoned folks from all over the parish to save his corn, the smugglers, taking the law into their own hands, marched down to Penrose well-armed, took the old justice and his man (as big a rogue as himself) from the house, hung them head downwards to a tree in the town-place, and gave them the bastinado until they were within an inch of giving up the ghost; then made the old sinner give them money to treat the men, and sent them off to pass a jovial day, “One and All,” at the First and Last. Before the smugglers left, they told the justice that, if he ever attempted to practice any of his old tricks again, they would come some fine morning when he least expected, and take him off to his cousin Davy Jones’s locker, and from this time he had such a wholesome fear of the smugglers that he seldom left his den, nor anymore interfered in the neighborhood. "

Whether William Bottrell's story is fact or fiction we do not know. The Jones family left the Sennen area shortly after the death of Hugh Jones in 1715 with one son James setting up a shipping business in Plymouth.

Known Quaker families from Sennen:-

Chappell, Ellis, Jose, Mathews, Myers, Olivy, Reed , Richards, Stevens, Tonkin, Vingoe, Wallish, Williams.

A number of weddings took place amongst the Quaker community 

Ref. Cornwall Records Office SF 84 page 181.

Ref. Cornwall Records Office SF 232. recorded in Marazion Quarterly Meeting Book.

Burials at the Quaker Burial Ground, Brea.

THE CORISHMAN AND CORNISH TELEGRAPH. 

OCTOBER 29 1919 

Levant Miners Crushed.

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COLLAPSE OF MAN ENGINE

IN SHAFT 

THIRTY ONE MEN KILLED

THRILLING STORIES OF RESCUE AND ESCAPE

Men wait for news on the day after the disaster.

The shock and horror following the news that three Levant miners had been killed in the shaft on Monday, has changed to horror and dismay as the death toll has mounted each day.

A certainty that twenty men have been crushed to death and that eleven missing men have probably shared their fate - short of a miracle happening - makes it more terrible even than the Wheal Owles disaster, when in January, 1893, twenty men were drowned by holing into a pool of water in a neighboring mine.

The tragedy was the work of an instance. Something snapped - perhaps an iron cap or bolt - and what as been described as a living pillar of men, dropped down the man engine shaft, crushing many to death, mangling more with debris of breaking wood and metal - the beam of the man engine, the ladder ways in the side of the main shaft, and the platforms cut in the side of the shaft.

Imagine square wood beams 40 feet long, braced together in long stems and held perpendicularly 1,800 feet in height in a mine shaft.

Jutting out of this beam which moves up twelve feet and then down twelve feet like the Cornish pump which raises the water and drains the mine, are steps. On each step was a man, and from 130 to 150 were standing as a human pillar on this structure, or waiting on the side platforms to take the next step, as they ascended from their work. About twelve had stepped off in safety on reaching the surface.

When the man engine ascends and is at the top of the stroke as on Monday (the men having completed their day's work about 2-30 p.m.), the machine was practically full of men, each one, as it were standing above the head of the other on the projecting step. An instant later all these miners would have stepped off and paused on the side platforms, or sollors, for the next up lift of the engine. That instant meant life or death to thirty or more men.

The scene was indescribable. The rod released from its top cracked in several places, and the structure crashed down in a mass of debris. As its foot was at the bottom of the shaft it could only have dropped the twelve feet if it had not snapped in other places. The worst chokage was in the upper part of the shaft.

Our representatives on the spot on Monday and Tuesday gleaned the facts with great difficulty, because of the blockade and uncertainty. But they have interviewed survivors and witnessed the intense anxiety and grief  of relatives and the heroism of the relief parties, which include one miner who escaped by a leap in the shaft and remained all day down the mine helping to extricate his buried and maimed comrades.

One entombed miner ( Leonard Semmens) was a live on Wednesday but his dead body was recovered on Thursday morning.

Terrible as this disaster is, in point of numbers, it still falls short of the record Cornish mining tragedy - The drowning of 53 men by a waterspout which flooded the shafts of East Wheal Rose in 1847.

At Dolcoath in September 1893 R. H. Davies was rescued after 40 hours entombment his seven companions being killed. It was hoped at first that some of the now missing Levant men would be extricated alive, but as the days pass, it seems impossible that any one could live in that narrow hole chocked with debris. If men are cut off in a level by falling ground they have a chance of life by rescuers boring through the ground and passing food and drink through pipes; but apparently at Levant all the missing men were on the steps at the time of the crush.

The Home Secretary, Col. Robyns, a lord of the mine Sir Clifford Cory M.P., and Mt Ben Tillett M.P., Secretary of the Dockers Union, to which most of the Levant miners belong, have sent messages of Sympathy with those bereaved and injured in this terrible time of suspense and grief.

His Majesty's Inspector, Mr Boydell, is co-operating with the executive on the spot. Levant is one of the oldest working mines in the county, and was the last to use the man-engine, which has been regularly inspected and the materials renewed at various times. It is also the last of the mines worked on a cost-book, or in-limited liability system.

Levant is perched on the edge of the cliffs, and its tin and copper are raised from a mile and more under the sea bed of the Atlantic. It was managed for many years by the late Major Richard White up to the time of his death; and the late Mr Francis Oats was the chairman. Major Freethy Oats succeeded his father. The committee include Mr T Robins Bolitho, Mr J C. Tregarthen, Mr Henry Olds, and Mr Harry Rowe of Camborne.

The mine was on the brink of being reconstructed and a new vertical shaft with gig for lowering and raising men, formed part of the scheme.

Hundreds of Cornishmen in foreign and colonial mining camps will read with unspeakable sorrow of this calamity in the village of Pendeen to old comrades and to a mine in which they worked in by gone days.

The one bright spot is the splendid spirit of the staff, men, clergy, the Nonconformist helpers, and the executive and men of the neighboring mine in this hour of trial. It will probable be found that several have won the King Edward Medal for Bravery; and the endurance of such a man as Captain Carter, who has remained at his post three days without sleep, speaks for itself. Captain Ben Nicholas, the manager, has directed operations from the start, supported by his chief Major Oats, the agent and neighbours; and ambulance men from the Camborne district also rushed to the rescue.

The full tale has not yet been told; but we give our readers the tragic story as it has been gleaned by our staff. 

After the flooding of Wheal Owles, "The Cornishman" first published and supported the suggestion of the late Mr Joseph Martin H.M. Inspector of Mines, that a County Miners Benevolent Fund should be provided. Thousands of pounds were promptly subscribed.

Since then the Government placed the burden of liability on the employers, who usually insure the Companies, and bereaved relatives are not dependent upon the sympathy and generosity of the public.

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    HOW THE ENTOMBED MINERS WERE FOUND   

From an early period on Monday night the one absorbing topic at the mine was the prospect of rescuing the entombed miner, who was known to have been alive when the first imprisoned men were rescued, and for whom deliverance such strenuous efforts had unremittingly been made.

Up till almost the last moment, it was believed that the poor fellow in question was Leonard Semmens, but the sequel proved that surmise was wrong and he turned out to be Nicholas Hocking Thomas, aged about 20 from Pendeen.

Without a pause night or day the endeavors to rescue him were almost frantically pursued, and everything that skill, courage and enthusiasm could accomplish was done to effect a rescue. But the work was difficult and dangerous - dangerous not only to those who were conducting the operation, but also to the man himself unless due precautions were taken to prevent the debris falling away.

The volunteer party from East Pool (Camborne) were among those who were conducting this work, and the fact that groans could be heard coming from the man as late as two o-clock on Wednesday afternoon spurred them on in their efforts. From that moment, however no sound was heard proceeding from him. But the work never relaxed, and at about 8-30 on Wednesday night, they found him near the addit, in a standing position on the "sollar" as the platform at the side of the shaft is called.

Dr. Richmond was in attendance but the poor fellow breathed his last before he could be taken to the dry.

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LUCKY ESCAPE

Our representative had an interview with Mr John Grenfell; (son of John Edward Grenfell, one of the shift bosses who unfortunately was killed.) Mr Grenfell himself was amongst those who had stepped off the man-engine before the accident happened. He also said that all the boys had been saved in this manner and explained technically why this should have been so. He considers that between 40 and 50 escaped thus, and therefore, about 100 men would have been left on the man engine when the irons snapped.

Mr Grenfell said that two steps beneath him on the man-engine was mr Howard Carbis, perceiving the sudden descent, leaped for the level, which he succeeded in reaching and thus saved his life.

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A PLUCKY MINER

In the course of a short conversation with our representative. Mr Grenfell was induced to give a few particulars which came  under his personal observation at the time. He spoke with the utmost reserve, and maters reflecting on his personal courage and effects could only be got from him by pumping.

For instance one who was present at the interview and was in possession of the facts said that "Mr Grenfell was the first man to go down to the assistance of his colleagues". 

"No",  replied Mr Grenfell, with most becoming modesty, "If you put in anything, say that William Oats and John Grenfell where the first two who went doen after the accident, from the surface."

Again it was only when someone suggested that Mr Grenfell was minimising his share in the work, did it emerge - and then only by confirmation of a statement made - that he was lowered down by rope.

" But there were many others by to help" added Mr Grenfell "and we were able to send up Thomas Maddern. After that the rope was again sent down and I was lowered another 36ft. A lot od debris came down around me, but here I found Jos. Hosking, who was shouting out for light and assistance.

When he had been sent up I found I could not do anything more for those below, owing to the chokage in the shaft; even though I could hear someone groaning. This must undoubtedly have been Nicholas Hocking Thomas, who was rescued under such dramatic conditions on Wednesday Night.   

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A TYPICAL RESCUE

Early on Monday night one man was discovered in the shaft tightly pinned in by timber, which had caught him against his leg and arm. Efforts were at once made to rescue him, but this work took three or four hours. Meanwhile it was discovered that there were three or four others some distance above, whose release depended upon that of the man below. Eventually the first man was got out, badly injured, and then came the turn of the others. These had been more lucky. They had escaped practically unhurt, and two of them walked to the 'dry' changed their clothes and walked home.

As has been stated the majority of the missing men - 25 were said to be unaccounted for- are near the mouth of the shaft. About 20 were brought up during the night. 

It is stated that no men who were below the 140 fathom level were killed.

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A MARVELOUS ESCAPE

A graphic description of the accident, and its terrible consequences was supplied by Robert Penaluna, a young St Just miner who was on the man-engine at the time of the breakage.

"I was coming up on the man engine" he said "three steps below the 150 fathom level. The engine was full of men. We had travelled up part of the way between one sollor and another when the engine dropped a little put then picked herself up again. Then she fell away to the bottom. I was thrown on my chest upon the sollor. My chum on the next sollor below (Charlie Freestone, aged 25 of St Just) had his feet caught between the step on which he stood and the sollor, and was swung upside down. "

" I was not hurt except that a piece of timber struck me on the leg. For about three hours I was down there before I could come up. Then i walked up the ladder through the pumping engine shaft, to the surface. Before that I picked up Freestone, who was suffering from shock, and dragged him through a manhole on to the sollor upon which I was standing. He fainted in my arms. We got him back to the 150 level shaft and men of the afternoon shift helped to drag Freestone to the surface with ropes. When the engine broke it was a tremendous crash for in dropping she knocked away timber and everything else in her path. The engine rod on which we were traveling shook violently. The smash gave a terrible shook to us all, and everybody lost heart and nerve entirely. The screams of some of the men were awful, as they gripped the rod like grim death. A number of them had the presence to the nearest place, and saved themselves by the skin of their teeth.

I wouldn't go through an experience like that again for the world, " concluded Penaluna.

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BOYS TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE

 Willie Lawry, a bright young lad, and son of Mr Richard Lawry of Queen Street, St. Just, who started work underground only about three weeks ago had a very narrow escape. He was fortunate in escaping serious injury, but was suffering from shock when taken home in the Penzance ambulance car. In describing his experience he said one man lay across him dead, and the body had to be removed before he could be rescued.

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THE LAST BODY RECOVERED

The body of the last of the victims, Edwin Trathen, was discovered on Saturday morning and brought to the surface from the 80 fathom level.

The deceased was superintendent of Bojewyan Sunday School and organist. He was also a class leader. Within about twelve months no fewer than four funerals have left Mr Trathen's home his wife having died about a year age.

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THE MAYORS FUND

In response tp the appeal of the Mayor of Penzance (Ald. George Poole) the following amounts have been received.

The Mayor                                                                £10 10s 0d.

Webber & Roberts                                                    £ 5    5   0

Employees of do.                                                       £ 2    5   0

H. H. Cannon                                                            £  5    0   0

Sister McClement                                                       £ 1    0   0

C. Watts & Co. Plymouth                                           £ 2    2   0

J. Baldwin Haddon                                                      £ 5    0   0

Stewart B Haddon                                                       £ 1    1   0

Thomas Richards, Bellair Madron                                 £ 5    5   0

R. B. Axworthy                                                            £ 5    5   0

T.H. & J.B. Cornish                                                     £ 5    5   0

The "Western Morning News" fund on Tuesday tottaled nearly £1,200

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WHY THE FUND IS NEEDED

The following is the official list of the dead and their dependents. Age where known in brackets.

MEN WHO WERE INJURED