King Harry Ferry, Cornwall tragic tale of pub landlady

In a post on Facebook, Keith Pope recalled in the late 70s how the car with the landlady of a popular local pub and her two dogs inside "shot through the gate".

One of the crew Roy Fox jumped in to save her from the car by pulling her out through the driver's door while the car, a black Mercedes, was still afloat. Unfortunately he was unable to rescue the dogs before the car sank.

The Mercedes is brought ashore (Image: Keith Pope/Facebook)

For his actions Mr Fox was awarded a bravery medal by The Royal Humane Society. Mr Pope recalls that within a year of being rescued, tragically, the landlady became ill and died.

This meant that her husband had to leave the pub because the brewey wouldn't allow the pub to be run by a single person. Sadly he ended up taking his own life.

Posting on 'Falmouth for Orders' Port news Facebook page Mr Pope recalled: "The lady was the last car on St Mawes side, so last off the other.

"Somehow selected wrong gear and shot straight through the gate. The car stayed afloat long enough for a brave ferryman to dive in and help the lady through the driver's door window. Before sinking unfortunately with her two dogs.

"Being late in the day and winter it was dark when we arrived.

"We were asked not to recover the dogs as it would be too upsetting. So getting to the upturned car in the black was challenging. 

"We fitted strops and waited until daylight to haul the car back up the slip. But, for me The tragedy was that within a year or so the lady became ill and passed.

"Being a landlady of a famous local pub the rules of the brewery at that time was no single person was allowed to run a pub on there* [*their] own.

"So the landlord was asked to leave, only for him to take his own life. I knew both of these people at that time. How sad."

It is not the only a car has gone into the water with tragic consequences.

In March 2013 a woman from Devon died after the car she was a passenger in rolled into the River Fal whilst waiting for the ferry on the St Mawes side.

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An inquest heard that David Pewter, 76, was waiting for a ferry with wife Ann, 74, and their two beloved pet dogs when he climbed out to take photos.

Ann was sitting in the passenger seat of their Mazda when the vehicle rolled down the slipway and sank in the 25ft deep River Fal nearTrelissick, Cornwall.

The runaway Mazda floated for several minutes as his wife clambered on to the back seats to reach their dogs rather than climbing out to safety.

But the car sank and she never got out, despite the best efforts of local man Matt Vernon from Falmouth who dived down with just a mask and snorkel to try and rescue her.

The inquest in Truro heard that Mr Pewter had put the handbrake on to two out of six notches - not hard enough to keep the vehicle from rolling down the slope.