A CREW member of the world's oldest operating wooden sailing ship, the
Maria Assumpta, died and two other were missing after she ran aground
and sank off the Camel estuary, north Cornwall, yesterday.
The body of a 50-year-old man was picked up from the sea after a
massive operation involving lifeboats, helicopters and local fishing
craft.
Eleven other crew members were recovered. A Falmouth coastguard
spokesman said hopes of finding the other two of the 137-year-old square
rigger's 14 crew were ''receding with each hour''. They could have
survived, but he suspected that they had gone down with the ship.
The 125-foot vessel broke up and sank in seas which pounded the rocks
off Pentire Point. Six survivors were brought to the top of the cliffs
by a winch operated by coastguard teams and five others were taken
aboard a fishing vessel, the Helen Clare.
A rescue helicopter from the Royal Naval Air Station at Culdrose and
lifeboats from Padstow, Port Isaac and Rock were on the scene, said
Falmouth coastguards.
The 127-ton Spanish-built brig originally operated on the
transAtlantic trade routes, and was maintained by a historical society
in Kent.
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