A local historian has shared a part of his research detailing shipwrecks that occurred between 1817 to 1912 and a captain who 'was a bit of a character.'

In his research, Robert Felce from Mullion came across the "true to life character" of Captain Samuel Downing Tiddy, Captain of the Lyonnesse - a forerunner of the Scillonian.

Born in 1843, and a resident of St. Marys, Tiddy captained The Lyonnesse, owned by West Cornwall Steam Ship Company, for 12 years and made regular passage between St. Marys on the Isles of Scilly and Penzance in order to bring daffodils and other cargo to the mainland.

Speaking to The Packet about his research, Robert said: "Captain Tiddy was a bit of a character, he was a very large old sea captain and he knew what he was doing.

"He was involved in sinking a Russian naval ship, not intentionally, but they'd had a collision.

"The Russians arrested him and put him before the court, telling him he had to pay recompense of some ridiculous amount of money, which no doubt he hadn't got.

"So, he came back to England and they left him alone.

"He got a job with the steam ship company which ran from Penzance and the Scillys where he and his family lived, and he was involved in all sorts of incidents as his was the largest steam ship that lived in St Mary's."

In February of 1912, a gale hit the coast over Mounts Bay and Tiddy decided that The Lyonnesse should be moved to the floating dock for safety and went to the ship's bridge in order to take charge.

However, as he got there Tiddy was drenched by a large wave that swept over the pier and reportedly struggled to catch his breath.

Noticing that he hadn't received any orders, Second Mate Samuel Warren asked Tiddy if there was anything he could do to help, to which Tiddy replied: "No I shall be alright in a minute. It always comes over me like this."

Warren took over the wheel and called for the Chief Mate Mr Mackell, who arrived to find Tiddy leaning over the rail on the bridge in a state of collapse.

The two men placed the captain in a chair, propped him up with pillows and summoned a doctor who, upon his arrival, found that Tiddy had been dead for several minutes with an inquest later revealing he had suffered heart failure.

Up to his death, Tiddy had been the Captain of the Lyonnesse for over twelve years and his wife would go on to live a further 16 years after his death.