Qualla: The Brisons https://qualla.com/brisons en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:10 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/b/g/v/brisons-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: The Brisons https://qualla.com/brisons The Brisons: Introduction https://qualla.com/brisons/ Photo credit Tom Corser, CC BY-SA 3.0. In 1851 the 250-ton brig New Commercial struck the ledge between the Great and Little Brisons and broke apart in the Atlantic swell. A rescue was attempted from the shore, but only two of the crew survived. The disaster shocked Cornwall. Two years later, in 1853, the National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, the body that would soon become the RNLI, opened a lifeboat station at Sennen Cove. It is still there. It still launches into the same seas that killed the men of the New Commercial. Every rescue boat that has put out from Sennen for more than 170 years can trace its existence back to the rocks called the Brisons.

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Image: Tom Corser | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/b/g/v/brisons-wp/gbgv-the-brisons-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full The Brisons: The Breaker Islands https://qualla.com/brisons/ Photo credit Tom Corser, CC BY-SA 2.0 uk. The name is French sailors' usage. Brisant in seamen's French meant a reef or a breaker, and Cornish fishermen kept the term: the Brisons are the breaker islands, the rocks where the Atlantic swell comes apart. They are not large. The taller of the two pinnacles stands 27 metres ...

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Image: Tom Corser | CC BY-SA 2.0 uk

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/b/g/v/brisons-wp/gbgv-the-brisons-the-breaker-islands.mp3 0:06 2 full The Brisons: De Gaulle in His Bath https://qualla.com/brisons/ Photo credit Tom Corser, CC BY-SA 2.0 uk. Look at the Brisons from the right angle on the cliff at Cape Cornwall, and the two peaks become a man lying on his back: a long nose, a heavy brow, a chest sloping into the water. The local nickname is unflattering and exact. The villagers call it General de Gaulle in his bath, ...

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Image: Tom Corser | CC BY-SA 2.0 uk

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/b/g/v/brisons-wp/gbgv-the-brisons-de-gaulle-in-his-bath.mp3 0:06 3 full The Brisons: Birds on the Rocks https://qualla.com/brisons/ Photo credit Tom Corser, CC BY-SA 2.0 uk. Almost nobody ever sets foot on the Brisons. The West Cornwall Ringing Group landed there in 2016 and discovered something remarkable: at least two European storm petrels were calling from crevices in the rock at night, which strongly suggests breeding. If confirmed, the Brisons ...

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Image: Tom Corser | CC BY-SA 2.0 uk

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/b/g/v/brisons-wp/gbgv-the-brisons-birds-on-the-rocks.mp3 0:06 4 full The Brisons: The Annual Swim https://qualla.com/brisons/ Photo credit Eryka Hurst, CC BY-SA 2.0. Once a year, the Brisons become a starting line. The Cape Cornwall Swim is held every summer as part of an annual community sports event based at Priest Cove. Swimmers are boated out to the rocks, dropped into the water, and race a mile back to the beach. The course threads past ...

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Image: Eryka Hurst | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/b/g/v/brisons-wp/gbgv-the-brisons-the-annual-swim.mp3 0:06 5 full