Monthly Archives: December 2016

mfv Ann Thomas – FD51

Technical

Official Number: A12311
Gross Tonnage: 25
Length: 16 m
Breadth: 5 m
Depth: 1.98 m
Built: 1969, Denmark
Owner: Thomas Kirk, Fleetwood

History

1969: Built new for Thomas Kirk, Fleetwood.
10.1973: Sold to R.H. Alton, North Shields.
1989: Re-named DUNEDIN, registered at Leith (LH122), Owner unknown.
21.10.1993: Re-Registered as LAURNIC LH122
1994: Owner T. Batchelor, Edingburgh.
26.03.2002: Scrapped.

Click to enlarge images

mfv Ann Thomas FD51

mfv Ann Thomas FD51
Picture courtesy of Neil Geddes

mfv Ann Thomas FD51

mfv Ann Thomas FD51

Changelog
05/12/2016: Page re-published due to site problems.
12/02/2017: Added image.

M.T. Stephil – A41

Technical

Gross Tonnage: 48
Net Tonnage: 48
Length: 73 ft
Breadth 19′ 6″
Depth: 10 ft
Built: Richard Dunston Ltd, Thorne, 1968
Engine: Lister Blackstone turbo charged model ERS4MGR. Diesel 330bhp, 750 Rpm

History

1968: Completed by Richard Dunston Ltd, Thorne, for Stephil Trawling Company LTD, Lancashire, as STEPHIL.
31.10.1970: In Morecambe Bay, steering gear disabled. Weather deteriorating rapidly and STEPHIL began drifting and became fouled in her nets. Mayday sent.
CRAIGMILLAR, (Sk. Richard Farrer) and LONDON TOWN (Sk.Charles Pook) responded and CRAIGMILLAR made five attempts to tow the STEPHIL back to port but the foul weather broke the towline time and time again. Meanwhile, LONDON TOWN kept a vigilant eye on the situation.
STEPHIL crew launched RFD and boarded CRAIGMILLAR before STEPHIL stranded on Walney Island.
Efforts were made to secure the vessel but she was swept away and sank.
1972: Wreck raised by the floating barge TAKLIFT-1 (United Towing Co Ltd, Hull). TAKLIFT-1 moved the wreck to Wyre Light but it was discovered that the crane could not fit through the lockpits. STEPHIL was discovered to be too badly damaged by her stay on the bottom off Walney Island, that she was eventually taken to Barrow and broken up.
Crew: Skipper Ray Barkworth,Vic Barkworth engineer, Bill Edwards mate and Charles Hambly deckhand.

Note
As 90MPH gales lashed her island home, Peggy Braithwaite, Britain’s only female lighthouse-keeper, peered into the afternoon storm at the stricken vessel lying some miles away on the beach below.
From her vantage point atop Walney light she could make out the grim shape of the pocket-trawler which she later described as being “bounced on the beach by the waves.”
Later that November day in 1970, she saw the ship tugged relentlessly from her moorings, swept from the South Hawes shoreline, and deposited in the Barrow channel. The elements had won, and the tiny trawler sank from view. Fortunately however, Barrow harbor officials had taken bearings of her last position – a detail which was to be crucial in later developments.
The 40ft craft was one of a new-style miniature fishing vessel known in the trade as a ‘Sputnik’ trawler and used for local and Scottish coastal fishing. Her name – STEPHIL.
STEPHIL’s visit to Peggy Braithwaites back yard, so to speak, had been very brief. It had arrived on her shores after an 18-hour drama which had begun three days earlier on the last day in October of the year, 1970.
The STEPHIL had sailed early morning that Saturday but ran into two unfortunate events: One was that the steering gear broke down, the other was that the weather went from bad to worse and then to near hurricane conditions.
There were four Fleetwood men on board: Skipper Ray Barkworth with his brother Vic as engineer, Bill Edwards as mate and Charles Hambly as deckhand.
As the seas grew mountainous, STEPHIL – uncontrollable – became enmeshed in her own net and began drifting 25 miles across Morecambe Bay. All attempts to free the propeller failed and with the vessel tossing like a cork the Skipper radioed for help. As always in these circumstances the fishing fraternity lost no time in providing assistance.
Out of the tempest came another pocket-trawler CRAIGMILLAR and a near-water trawler LONDON TOWN.
Reports say that CRAIGMILLAR, with Skipper Richard Farrer aboard, made five attempts to tow the STEPHIL back to port but the foul weather broke the towline time and time again.Meanwhile, LONDON TOWN under control of Charles Pook, kept a vigilant eye on the situation. If the CRAIGMILLAR got into difficulties too, he would have a real mess on his hands.
All the time the little circus of ships and wind and wave were bearing relentlessly towards the shallows of Walney Island beach. Shallower water meant crashing waves.
Although reports say that Barrow Lifeboat was launched and that the Liverpool Lifeboat was underway, there was actually no time to lose and the gallant men who provided our fish had to make some swift decisions.
Recently I was able to track down one of STEPHIL’s crew, three of whom were young men at the time but whom I knew would now be in there fifties and sixties – if still alive.
Bill Edwards, mate of the STEPHIL those near thirty years ago, was still living on Hathaway Road. I showed him one of the pictures accompanying this article and asked him if the photo meant anything to him. Bill had never seen the illustration before but it took only seconds before he said, “It’s the STEPHIL!”
I asked Bill about those last moments as the storm-tossed trawler drove towards Walney’s treacherous shore. “We were in shoal waters,” said Bill, remembering vividly. “If the ship drove ashore and rolled over, we would be inside and that would have been the end. I could hear the Skipper talking on the radio to Dick Farrer on the CRAIGMILLAR. Whether he realized it or not, I told him in no uncertain terms that we needed to get the hell out of it and I went on top of the bridge to get the life-raft ready.”
With some agility the four crew-members clambered into the life-raft (a Beaufort six-man re-flatable dingy, often referred to as an RFD) and they made the tortuous trip across 200 yards of heaving seas towards the CRAIGMILLAR.
“It was a credit to seamanship,” Bill recalled. “Jake Hogg, bosun on the Craigmillar, had fastened a heavy shackle to a length of twine and he hurled it, spot on, across the life-raft. Of course, we lost no time in grabbing it and, hand over hand, via a heavier rope attached to it, we made are way towards the safety of the CRAIGMILLAR.”
With skill, Dick Farrer got the CRAIGMILLAR around to them and they were hauled aboard on the lee side. It was half-an-hour to midnight as the brave rescue vessels battled their way to the safe haven of Fleetwood port.
Meanwhile, the ill-fated STEPHIL drove hard onto Walney Island to lie stranded, west-by-south of Morecambe Bay lighthouse. During the days following, attempts were made to secure her to the land by ropes but come Tuesday 3rd November, 1970, the weather rose to gale-force winds and under Peggy Braithwaite’s surveillance, the tragic vessel was swept away and sank as described earlier.
As the months wore on, attempts were made to do something about the STEPHIL until finally, one sunny September day, two years later, a Dutch firm was subcontracted to deal with the sputnik at the bottom of the sea. With lines drawn under the vessel the mammoth 800 ton lifting rig TAKLIFT I brought STEPHIL back to light, from the darkness. Then they began the ticklish 25 mile tow across the bay towards Fleetwood.
The giant rig couldn’t get through the dock lock-pit and the STEPHIL, it was hoped, could perhaps be floated-in. The trawler, however, was quite unstable and the huge rig, with STEPHIL still strung like a puppet from the 120ft jib, had to make the journey 25 miles back to Barrow where she was surveyed but condemned to the scrap heap. A sad end for a top-of-the-range sputnik type trawler.
Bill Edwards told me he had to scroll to commemorate the day they did their ‘Evil Knevil’ (remember him?) from STEPHIL to CRAIGMILLAR in their RFD. Seemingly at the time these craft were rather in their infancy as regards suitability for their use in dangerous seas. Those who used them (or who were so unfortunate as to land up in a situation necessitating their use) were made members of the ‘Porpoise Club.’
Bill dug out his 28 year old certificate scroll and showed me. He smiled. “Somewhere I’ve got a tie, as well. It has a blue porpoise on it…

Click to enlarge images

M.T. Stephil A41

M.T. Stephil A41, launching
Picture courtesy of Adrian Street

M.T. Stephil A41

M.T. Stephil A41, Launching
Picture courtesy of Adrian Street

M.T. Stephil A41

M.T. Stephil A41, Launching
Picture courtesy of Adrian Street

M.T Stephil A41

M.T Stephil A41
Picture courtesy of The Ted Hammill Collection

M.T. Stephil A41

M.T. Stephil A41

M.T. Stephil A41

M.T. Stephil A41

M.T. Stephil A41

M.T. Stephil A41
Ashore at Walney.
Image courtesy of Dave Buckley

M.T. Stephil A41

M.T. Stephil A41
Ashore at Walney.
Image courtesy of Dave Buckley

M.T. Stephil A41

M.T. Stephil A41
Ashore at Walney.
Image courtesy of Dave Buckley

M.T. Stephil A41

M.T. Stephil A41
Ashore at Walney.
Image courtesy of Dave Buckley

M.T. Stephil A41

M.T. Stephil A41

M.T. Stephil A41

M.T. Stephil A41

Changelog
05/12/2016: Page re-published due to site problems.
31/12/2017: Removed FMHT watermarks and added an image.
11/10/2021: Added images.

mfv Cairngorm – FD353

Technical and historical information needed about this vessel. Please contact info@fleetwood-fishing-industry.co.uk

Click to enlarge images

mfv Cairngorm FD353

mfv Cairngorm FD353
Picture courtesy of Peter Green

Changelog
05/12/2016: Page re-published due to site problems.

M.T. Boston Whirlwind – LT454

Technical

Official Number: 203678
Yard Number: 466
Completed: 1962
LR Number: 504945
Gross Tonnage: 164.51
Net Tonnage: 60.53
Length: 93.5 ft
Breadth: 22.1 ft
Depth: 10 ft
Richards Ironworks Ltd, Lowestoft
Engine: 475bhp 5cyl National Diesel

History

1962: Completed by Richards Ironworks Ltd, Lowestoft (Yard Number 466) for Boston Deep Sea Fisheries Ltd. Registered at Lowestoft (LT454).
9.4.1962: Ran trials.
12.4.1962: Accepted.
25.9.1969 landed 2420 stones of fish at Lowestoft.This catch was the first ever landed at Lowestoft which was fully boxed and graded at sea.
1971: After seven days at sea, Skipper Ian Lace called owner’s office in Lowestoft to report he had 250 kit aboard. The next day he made a return call reporting she had a further 350 kit of mainly cod taken in 24 hours from the Middle Rough grounds.
BOSTON WHIRLWIND docked in Lowestoft the following day with fish room full and deck full of fish. Grossed £4,500,averaging around £8 a kit, a good return for 1971.
1979 Fully converted for use as a Safety Standby Vessel.
7.1986 Sold to Spanish owners,Parafleet Ltd.,Falmouth.
1996: Renamed SEA VENTURER.
2007: Broken up at Marin.

Click to enlarge images

M.T. Boston Whirlwind LT454

M.T. Boston Whirlwind LT454
Picture courtesy of David Slinger

M.T. Boston Whirlwind LT454

M.T. Boston Whirlwind LT454
Picture courtesy of David Slinger

M.T. Boston Whirlwind LT454 Picture courtesy of The JJ Collection

M.T. Boston Whirlwind LT454
Picture courtesy of The JJ Collection

Changelog
05/12/2016: Page re-published due to site problems.

mfv Albion – FD170

Historical information needed about this vessel. Please contact info@fleetwood-fishing-industry.co.uk
Information courtesy of Louise Mitchinson

Technical

Official Number: A12343
Yard Number: 138
Completed: 1955
Gross Tonnage: 15.2
Length: 12.2 m
Breadth: 4.64 m
Depth: 1.83 m
Engine: Gardner 150bhp/112kW
Built: Herd and Mackenzie Buckie
Engine: 150hp Gardener

History

1955: Built by Herd and Mackenzie Buckie for owners A. Finlayson in Nairn. Registered as INS 305.
1964: Registration changed to WK88
1968: Sold to ??, registration changed to CN45. Fishing from Campbeltown as a prawner.
1974: Sold to ??, registration changed to UL145. New wheelhouse was fitted not long before she was sold.
1988: Sold to ??, registration changed to LH170
1996: Sold to Fleetwood Owner/Operator G.Mitchinson, Fleetwood. Registered as FD170.
2008: Still fishing.

Click to enlarge images

m.f.v. Albion FD170

m.f.v. Albion FD170
Picture courtesy of The John Worthington Collection

m.f.v. Albion FD170

m.f.v. Albion FD170
Picture courtesy of The John Worthington Collection

m.f.v. Albion FD170

m.f.v. Albion FD170
Picture courtesy of The John Worthington Collection

m.f.v. Albion FD170

m.f.v. Albion FD170
Picture courtesy of The John Worthington Collection

m.f.v. Albion FD170

m.f.v. Albion FD170
Picture courtesy of The John Worthington Collection

mfv Albion FD170

mfv Albion FD170
Picture from the Internet

mfv Albion FD170

mfv Albion FD170
Picture courtesy of The Mike Heaney Collection

mfv Albion FD170

mfv Albion FD170
Picture courtesy of The Mike Heaney Collection

Changelog
05/12/2016: Page re-published due to site problems.
07/01/2019: Removed FMHT watermark. Image added.
12/07/2019: Added images.

M.T. Our Joanne – FD50

Technical

Official Number: A17467
Yard Number: B528
Completed: 1960
Tonnage: 50
Length: 22.22 m
Breadth: 5.97 m
Depth: 2.53 m
Built: 1960 by Fairmile Construction Co. Ltd, Berwick-upon-Tweed
Engine: Lister Blackstone EVSM4

History

1960: Built for W.J. Fishing Co. Ltd, Aberdeen as KAREN A416.
1971: Registered as KAREN PZ193 and owned by William Stevenson & Others, Penzance.
1985: Registered as OUR JOANNE GY7, Owner unknown.
1986: Registered as OUR JOANNE FD50, Owner unknown.
1989: Registered as OUR JOANNE GY7, Owner unknown.
1994: Ceased fishing, registry closed. Converted to a houseboat in Liverpool.

Click to enlarge images

M.T. Our Joanne FD50

M.T. Our Joanne GY7
Picture courtesy of Gary Johnstone

M.T. Karen A416

M.T. Karen A416
Picture courtesy of The Peter Green Collection

Changelog
05/12/2016: Page re-published due to site problems.
02/06/2017: Removed FMHT watermarks and added an image.

M.T. Tiemetje – M377

Information courtesy of Fokke Hoekstra Tzn

Technical

Length: 17.0 m
Breadth 5.05 m
Depth: 2.25 m
GRT: 46.8

History

Owned in Fleetwood by Mick Ryan.

1937: Built by Scheepswerf De Dageraad te Woubrugge. Registered at Urk UK118.
1937: In ownership of P. Hamers. Registered at Ijmuiden IJM23 as NELLY.
1955: In ownership of F. Hoekstra Ezn. Registered at Urk as WILLY UK118.
1961: Nieuwe motor Kromhout 120 pk
1962: Re-engined with a Caterpillar 150 pk
1969: In ownership of Gebr.Van de Berg. Registered at Urk as HENDRIKJE UK118.
1971: In ownership of Fa. Hakvoort. Registered at Urk as TIEMETJE UK118
1972: In ownership of C. Lont and registered at Wieringen WR118. Used for recreational sport fishing.
1975: Sold to the United Kingdom and registered at Milford M377.

Fate?
I was 10 years old when my grandfather F Hoekstra Ezn, sold the UK118 in 1969, the (first!) radar installation was new, to van de Berg brothers. I stood between them on Lake Yssel for the last “Hoekstra” journey. In 1963 I helped my father painting on board on the West Warf. My father was the engineer and he was very proud in 1962 with my first englisch word. “What is the name of your fathers ship engine?” ‘Caterpillar’.

Click to enlarge images

M.T. Tiemetje M377

M.T. Tiemetje M377
Picture courtesy of The David Slinger Collection

mfv Tiemetje M377

mfv Tiemetje M377
Picture courtesy of The John Worthington Collection

Changelog
04/12/2016: Page re-published due to site problems.
25/12/2018: Removed FMHT watermark and added an image.
03/06/2023: Added history.

mfv Naom Uinsiona – BS85

Information courtesy of Glyn Woods

Technical

Official Number: 159817
Net Tonnage: 9
Length: 42 ft
Engine: 88hp

History

1938: Built at Arklow by John Tyrell & Sons and registered as D105, owner J. Gallagher, Killala.
c1970: Registered as BS85, owners Michael & Roy Davies, Pwllheli.
1980: Owner R. Hatton, Chorley.
1983: Owner Joseph B. Hampson, Oldham.

Click to enlarge images

mfv Naom Uinsiona BS85

mfv Naom Uinsiona BS85
Picture courtesy of Frank Pook

Changelog
04/12/2016: Page re-published due to site problems.

M.T. Zegan – LR281

Technical and historical information needed about this vessel. Please contact info@fleetwood-fishing-industry.co.uk
Information courtesy of Patrick Welvaert

Technical

Engine: 125hp Bohn & Kahler

History

1957: Completed at the Haerinck shipyard Zeebrugge as the Z.508 ZEGEN for owner Verbeke Jozef & wife Lovotti Dolores.
13/01/1968: Removed from the Belgian fishing vessels register on Sold to the UK.

Click to enlarge images

M.T. Eureka Z558

M.T. Eureka Z558
Picture courtesy of Patrick Welvaert

M.T. Eureka Z588

M.T. Eureka Z588
Picture courtesy of Patrick Welvaert

M.T. Zegen Z508

M.T. Zegen LR281
Picture courtesy of Patrick Welvaert

M.T. Zegen Z508

M.T. Zegen Z508
Picture courtesy of Patrick Welvaert

M.T. Zegan LR281

M.T. Zegan LR281
Picture courtesy of Frank Pook

Changelog
04/12/2016: Page re-published due to site problems.
31/12/2017: Removed FMHT watermarks and added images.