The MV Secil Japan was a cargo vessel of 2625 gross tons. She was 90.5m long with a beam of 15.2m and draught       of 7.6 m and her single diesel engine gave her a speed of 11 knots. The image of the ship underway above can be purchased from “Ships Underway”

She was built in Japan by Imai Seisakusho Kamijima and was launched in 1982 and was owned by Eternal Line S. A., of Panama where she was registered.

On the 12^th March 1989 MV Secil was on route from Aveiro to Liverpool when she encountered a steering problem and eventually went aground near St Ives on the North Cornish coast in a cove called appropriately “Hells Mouth” seen on the left.

Being exposed to the Westerly   gales of 1989 ,she soon broke up and sunk into the sand.

Today there is very little of the ship visible but the images below show what she looked like both on ,and below the surface in August 1989. The imags also show how the bow and stern sections separated just in front of the wheelhouse. Photos Steve Clarkson