Tean, Isles of Scilly - August 24, 1996

SWORDFISH II at anchor after dropping off passengers to explore Tean.

Tean, Isles of Scilly - August 24, 1996

Remains of the ancient St Theona's Chapel on Tean.

Tean, Isles of Scilly - August 24, 1996

Remains of the ancient St Theona's Chapel on Tean.

Tean, Isles of Scilly - August 24, 1996

View from Tean towards St Martins and the St Martin's Hotel.

Tean, Isles of Scilly - August 24, 1996

During the 1990s the launch SWORDFISH II used to offer extended day trips. Unlike the other wooden launches it was equipped with a passenger cabin and upper deck. One of the highlights of the trip was being dropped off for lunch on one of the uninhabited islands. Here I have just disembarked on Tean. Sadly after the owner left the islands SWORDFISH II was sold and was subsequently damaged beyond repair in bad weather. Its bow being converted to a shelter on the coastal path near Old Town, St Mary's.

Round Island Lighthouse, Round Island, Isles of Scilly - August 24, 1996

Camber Rocks landing for Round Island Lighthouse photographed from SWORDFISH II

St Helen's, Isles of Scilly - August 24, 1996

St Helen's Islolation Hospital St Helen's Isolation hospital, also known as the Pest House, was a quarantine station built in 1764 to house plague cases from visiting ships calling at Old Grimsby and St Helen's Pool. It was constructed after an Act of Parliament in 1754 decreed that any plague-ridden ship north of Cape Finisterre heading for England should anchor off this island. The station included the building of an isolation hospital as well as a slipway and an extensive quay to serve it. The pest house was still open to receive patients from quarantined vessels. The hospital building is a rectangular, roofless building, 7 m by 5.5 m externally with a two–roomed extension on its east side. The walls of the building are 0.6 m wide and 3 m high,and are constructed of mortared rubble with other details picked out in larger stones. The building has recently been repaired and stabilized to prevent its collapse with the help of English Heritage funding through the Isles of Scilly (IOS) Grant Scheme, administered by Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Community Grants Programme (CIOS). There is also a graveyard associated with the pest house which is known to include the grave of a 27-year-old naval surgeon who was sent to treat the sick and died within a week himself, and various passengers from Africa and Asia who also died at the station.

Annet, Isles of Scilly - April 1995

Shags at Annet Head, Isle of Annet, Isles of Scilly.

Annet, Isles of Scilly - April 1995

Heavy swell off Annet

Annet, Isles of Scilly - April 1995

Heavy swell off Annet

Round Island Lighthouse, Round Island, Isles of Scilly - June 04, 1993

View of Round Island and Round Island Light House. Prior to 1887, St. Agnes Lighthouse safeguarded vessels in the southern approaches to the Isles of Scilly and Bishop Rock Lighthouse did the same to the west. But the unlit dangerous northern limits were hazardous, especially in fog. Accordingly, a lighthouse was built on Round Island, a small granite islet six miles north east of Bishop Rock and two and a half miles north of St. Mary’s. The top of Round Island forms a platform on which Trinity House built a lighthouse and dwellings in 1887 in difficult conditions; the sheer rock face made the unloading of building materials almost impossible. The work was carried out by William Tregarthen Douglass of the famous Douglass lighthouse-building dynasty. Today the only access, apart from by helicopter, is by a flight of steps cut into the solid rock. The lighthouse was automated in 1987 and is now monitored and controlled from Trinity House’s Planning Centre in Harwich, Essex.

Round Island Lighthouse, Round Island, Isles of Scilly - June 04, 1993

View of Round Island and Round Island Light House. Prior to 1887, St. Agnes Lighthouse safeguarded vessels in the southern approaches to the Isles of Scilly and Bishop Rock Lighthouse did the same to the west. But the unlit dangerous northern limits were hazardous, especially in fog. Accordingly, a lighthouse was built on Round Island, a small granite islet six miles north east of Bishop Rock and two and a half miles north of St. Mary’s. The top of Round Island forms a platform on which Trinity House built a lighthouse and dwellings in 1887 in difficult conditions; the sheer rock face made the unloading of building materials almost impossible. The work was carried out by William Tregarthen Douglass of the famous Douglass lighthouse-building dynasty. Today the only access, apart from by helicopter, is by a flight of steps cut into the solid rock. The lighthouse was automated in 1987 and is now monitored and controlled from Trinity House’s Planning Centre in Harwich, Essex.

Round Island Lighthouse, Round Island, Isles of Scilly - June 04, 1993

View of Round Island and Round Island Light House. Prior to 1887, St. Agnes Lighthouse safeguarded vessels in the southern approaches to the Isles of Scilly and Bishop Rock Lighthouse did the same to the west. But the unlit dangerous northern limits were hazardous, especially in fog. Accordingly, a lighthouse was built on Round Island, a small granite islet six miles north east of Bishop Rock and two and a half miles north of St. Mary’s. The top of Round Island forms a platform on which Trinity House built a lighthouse and dwellings in 1887 in difficult conditions; the sheer rock face made the unloading of building materials almost impossible. The work was carried out by William Tregarthen Douglass of the famous Douglass lighthouse-building dynasty. Today the only access, apart from by helicopter, is by a flight of steps cut into the solid rock. The lighthouse was automated in 1987 and is now monitored and controlled from Trinity House’s Planning Centre in Harwich, Essex.

Round Island Lighthouse, Round Island, Isles of Scilly - June 04, 1993

View of Round Island and Round Island Light House. Prior to 1887, St. Agnes Lighthouse safeguarded vessels in the southern approaches to the Isles of Scilly and Bishop Rock Lighthouse did the same to the west. But the unlit dangerous northern limits were hazardous, especially in fog. Accordingly, a lighthouse was built on Round Island, a small granite islet six miles north east of Bishop Rock and two and a half miles north of St. Mary’s. The top of Round Island forms a platform on which Trinity House built a lighthouse and dwellings in 1887 in difficult conditions; the sheer rock face made the unloading of building materials almost impossible. The work was carried out by William Tregarthen Douglass of the famous Douglass lighthouse-building dynasty. Today the only access, apart from by helicopter, is by a flight of steps cut into the solid rock. The lighthouse was automated in 1987 and is now monitored and controlled from Trinity House’s Planning Centre in Harwich, Essex.

Men-a-vaur, Isles of Scilly - June 04, 1993

from launch, showing passage between the rocks

Men-a-vaur, Isles of Scilly - June 04, 1993

from launch, showing passage between the rocks

Men-a-vaur, Isles of Scilly - June 04, 1993

Men-a-vaur viewed from a launch, Round Island, extreme left.

Illiswilgig, Isles of Scilly - June 04, 1993

Illiswilgig viewed from a launch

Maiden Bower, Isles of Scilly - June 04, 1993

Maiden Bower viewed from a launch

Maiden Bower, Isles of Scilly - June 04, 1993

Maiden Bower viewed from a launch

Annet, Isles of Scilly, May 26, 1992

Annet (Cornish: Anet, kittiwake) is the second largest of the fifty or so uninhabited Isles of Scilly, 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) west of St Agnes with a length of 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) and approximately 22 hectares (54 acres) in area. The low-lying island is almost divided in two by a narrow neck of land at West Porth which can, at times, be covered by waves. At the northern end of the island are the two granite carns of Annet Head and Carn Irish and three smaller carns known as the Haycocks. The rocky outcrops on the southern side of the island, such as South Carn, are smaller. Annet is a bird sanctuary and the main seabird breeding site in Scilly.