The watchkeeper on duty at the lookout alerted the Coastguard one dark night in December 1979 as soon as he realized there was a ship standing into danger. Maroons were fired to warn her off as the 296 ton German cargo ship HEYE-P drifted dangerously towards the rocks. The Prawle Point Coast Rescue Company reinforced by the Start Point Cliff Team - headed by Jonathan Ansell - were called immediately, arriving on the scene equipped with breeches buoy gear. The Salcombe lifeboat, Baltic Exchange, (now Baltic Air) raced to assist and a naval Sea King helicopter from RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall was scrambled.

Despite all efforts and in heavy seas whipped up by a SW force 8-9 gale, the HEYE-P crashed into the rocks on Prawle Island just before midnight on 16 December. With her back broken, and stuck on a ledge it was impossible for the lifeboat to get to her because of the huge swell and off lying rocks.

Prawle Point Island

The rescue teams and the lifeboat managed to get rocket lines over the ship but the crew of three didn't relish a rough trip across rocks in a breeches buoy, once they knew a helicopter was on its way.

But it was a hazardous lift. The first time the Sea King hovered, a huge sheet of water hit the ship and drenched the helicopter, blinding the pilot. It was too dangerous to send a man down so a strop was lowered to winch up each of the crew, the plane moving away from the scene each time for safety.

Thanks to the efforts of many, the crew were all saved. The 155' HEYE-P was carrying china clay from Par in Cornwall to Holland. She now lies across three other wrecks below the lookout and part of her stern can still be seen at low tide.

The remains of the Heye P