Ledger Stone 7
~ Marble ~ A semi-circular shaped top with convex shoulders, light pink in colour. Hidden under the alter in the south west aisle it has been protected from wear.
~ Orientation ~ East/West ~ South Aisle ~ 86 x 50 cm // 2’10” x 1’8″
- Captain Robert Elder – 1786
- Parish Records show
- Buried 5 Jan 1786
Commander of the Ship
TREGOTHICK, which was
wrecked on this Coaƒt
in a dreadful ƒtorm on the 4th
day of January 1786.
His afflicted widow hath caused
this ƒtone to be erected to his memory
stone citation
Plymouth Pool Harbour on the 3rd & 4th January 1786.
On the 3d Inƒt. at Night, and the 4th in the Morning, we had the fevereƒt Gale of Wind ever remembered by the oldft Man living, the Wind from SSE to South. The Damage done amongƒt the Shipping in the Pool is almost incredible. ..Boats totally deƒtroy’d amount to a very great Number; in short, the Pool was an entire Scene of Wreck. ..The Trecothick, losƒt near Looe, and only four Men saved.
New Lloyds Marine List, London, 10 January 1786
That, on the 4th Inƒtant, the Ship Trecothick, Captain Elder, bound to the Grenades, was, in a violent Hurricane, wrecked on a Ridge of Rocks off Talland Sands, between the Ports of Looe and Fowey in the County of Cornwall, and that the Captain and Twelve of the Crew were unfortunately drowned.
The London Gazette, Admiralty-Office, 12 January 1786
The Tregothick, a trading ship heading for the West Indies, ran ashore in January
Paul Lightfoot, Archivist – Polperro Family History Society
1786. Captain Elder, his son and eleven seamen died. Neither of these wrecks
is visible and even divers have difficulty locating them.
Talland Church Headstones 
Leave a comment