Technical
Official Number: 180339
Yard Number: S629
Completed: 1950
Gross tonnage: 289
Net Tonnage: 98
Completed: 1950
Length: 131.0 ft (143.6 loa)
Breadth: 25.1 ft
Depth: 12.1 ft
Built: Henry Scarr Ltd, Hessle
Engine: 4 stroke 7-cyl oil engine by Mirrlees, Bickerton & Day Ltd, Stockport
History
28.06.1949: Launched by Henry Scarr Ltd, Hessle (Yd.No.S629) for The Great Western Steam Fishing Co Ltd, Aberdeen as BONNYBRIDGE.
03.1950: Completed. Registered at Fleetwood (FD33). Basil Arthur Parkes designated manager. Fished initially as a liner as James Robertson & Sons Ltd, Fleetwood unable to supply trawl winch due to material shortfall. Lining at Labrador with part Faroese crew.
2.1951: Sold to Northlantic Fisheries Ltd, St. John’s, Newfoundland (Job Brothers & Co Ltd, managers). Fleetwood registry closed. Registered at St. John’s as BLUE WAVE (61).
1951: Sold to Bonavista Cold Storage Co Ltd, St. John’s, Newfoundland. Fishing out of Grand Bank, Burin Peninsula, Newfoundland.
09.02.1959: Homeward to Grand Bank from fishing grounds with approximately 850 10stone kits of fish (Sk. Charles Walters); sixteen crew all told. In the early hours with winds gusting 80mph and temperatures of -28°C, started to ice up. At about 3.30am when some 62 miles SE of Cape St. Mary’s, Newfoundland sent out a distress call after developing a heavy list from ice build up on deck and superstructure. Motor vessel BELLE ISLE II (1529grt/1944) (Capt Joseph Primm), five miles away responded and altered course to the given position also transmitting the position which was picked up by Cape Race WT Station. At 4.00am arrived in the area along with the Burgeo motor trawler TRITON (178grt/1936) (Sk. Bill Vardy) but no trace of the trawler. Within the hour several RCAF and USAF aircraft which had been searching some 180miles NE of Gander, Newfoundland for the missing Icelandic steam trawler JÚLÍ (GK21)*, arrived on the scene along with three + merchant ships but the search was hampered by heavy fog and snow.
10.02.1959: Company motor trawlers FORTUNE STAR (194grt/1946) and LUCKIMEE (200grt/1946), in part directed by aircraft, picked up two empty dories, a lifeboat, hatch cover and a flagstaff off Cape St. Mary’s, close to the last position the trawler had transmitted. Presumed capsized and foundered, overcome by icing and stress of weather. All crew lost. St. John’s registry closed
Lost: All from Grand Bank or Fortune, Newfoundland. Sk. Charles Walters, Herbert Price, John Walters, Arthur Kearley, Otto Dodge, Garfield Prior, Samuel Dodge, Michael Price, Reginald Baker, James Fizzard, Roy Baker, John Hillier, Abe John Barnes, John F. Barnes, George T. Miller, and Philip Fizzard.
Note: The BLUE WAVE was known to be a sluggish vessel in heavy weather and would lay over taking time to right herself.
Note *: The JÚLÍ was presumed to have foundered on or about 08.02.1959 in the same weather conditions that overcame BLUE WAVE; thirty crew lost. Icelandic trawlers on the Newfoundland grounds left for home and others on passage turned back.
Note + – US Coastguard Cutter CAMPBELL, motor fishing vessel PENNYLUCK (199grt/1951), ocean liner RMS SYLVANIA (21989grt/1951).
Click to enlarge images
M.T. Bonnybridge FD33
Picture courtesy of The David Slinger Collection
M.T. Bonnybridge FD33
Picture courtesy of The David Slinger Collection
M.T. Bonnybridge FD33
Picture courtesy of The John Stevenson Collection
M.T. Bonnybridge FD33
Picture courtesy of The Osta Collection
M.T. Bonnybridge FD33
Picture courtesy of The Osta Collection
M.T. Blue Wave
Picture courtesy of The Robert Stoodly Collection
Captain Charles Walters
Picture from the Internet
Changelog
12/09/2016: Page re-published due to site problems.
23/02/2020: Updated information.
09/10/2020: Updated history and added images.
19/10/2020: Added an image.