AVONSTREAM M75

As EVA WALES FD85 (1915-34)

Courtesy of Fleetwood Maritime Heritage Trust and The Bosun's Watch

Official No:   136900   Port Number and Year: 1st in Fleetwood, 1915 (FD85)                                                                               4th in Aberdeen, 1928 (A327)                                                                               7th in Milford, 1945

Description: Steel side trawler; steam screw, coal burning. Ketch rigged: foresail, mainsail and mizzen

Crew: 9 men

Registered at Milford: 3 Aug 1945

Built: by Goole Ship Building & Repairing, Goole, in 1915.  (Yard no. 167)

Tonnage: 250.6 gross  100.63 net

Length / breadth / depth (feet):  125 / 22.75 / 12.15

Engine: T 3-Cyl. 77 hp. 10¼kts. Engine: 1915 - Lidgerwood & Co., Coatbridge, Glasgow. Boiler: 1915 - Charles D. Holmes & Co., Hull

Owners:   As EVA WALES FD85 12 Jan 1915: Thomas James Wales, Swansea & Red Rose Steam Trawlers, Fleetwood Manager: Joseph A. Taylor.   1924: Red Rose Steam Trawlers Ltd, Fleetwood Managers: New Docks Steam Trawling Co.   1928: North Star Steam Fishing Co Ltd, Aberdeen Manager: J. A. Harrow 1934: Renamed AVONSTREAM (A327).   1939: Boston Deep Sea Fishing & Ice Co Ltd, Fleetwood Manager: Basil A. Parkes, Cleveleys.   As M75 3 Aug 1945: Manor Steamship Co Ltd, Milford Haven Manager: Reginald L. Hancock.   3 Apr 1946: Haven Trawlers Ltd, Milford Haven Manager: Robert P. Lewis.   21 Apr 1953: Haven Trawlers. (22/64) Milford Haven Coal Supplies, Docks, Milford (21/64) William Henry Kerr (21/64) Manager: Robert P. Lewis.   9 Feb 1954: Milford Fisheries Ltd, Milford Haven (22/64) Milford Haven Coal Supplies, Docks, Milford (21/64) William Henry Kerr (21/64) Manager: Owen W. Limbrick.

Landed at Milford: 3 Oct 1945 - 25 Oct 1952; 12 Jan 1954- 6 Sep 1955

Skippers:

Notes:  Jan 1915: Requisitioned for war service and converted for minesweeping duties, fitted with hydrophones (Ad.No.966). 1 x 12 pdr. 1 Sep 1939: Requisitioned for war service as an examining vessel. 4 Jan 1940: Converted for minesweeping duties (P.No. FY.1529). [See photograph below.] Jul 1945: Returned to owners.

Cert. Cancelled & Milford Registry Closed: 19 Sep 1955.  Broken up in Belgium.

 Accidents and Incidents

From the West Wales Guardian of Friday 18th January 1946:

 

    ...........  A comprehensive booklet "A Fisherman's Charter", written by Cllr. J. H. Thomas, secretary of the Skippers and Mates Section of the T. & G.W.U, and circulated amongst all fishermen at Milford, sets out in detail the men's complaints and asks for a fair deal for those who go down to the sea in ships to engage in a constant struggle with nature in the hardest and most dangerous job there is.  .............

    It is also suggested that new ships are vital to improve the standard of labour, and this is a Government responsibility, to be met by long-term loans. Today, only one trawler fishing out of Milford, the Avonstream, owned by Messrs. Hancock, is fitted with a bath and also with a steam-heated drying room for the crew's wet clothes.  In addition, the crew's quarters are below deck.

    "Bigger and better ships", is the cry of the fishermen, whose claims must be considered if the industry is to be established in the important place it deserves in Britain's post-war economy.

 

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From the West Wales Guardian of Friday 7th June 1946:

 

    On Wednesday, five local trawlers, the Duchess, Lephreto, Avonstream, Ellesmere and Cotswold (the last named a 140 footer, recently arrived for A. J. Tilbrook) were held up owing to a shortage of deck crew, a state of affairs which has reached alarming proportions.  The present dearth is chiefly due to the departure of many East Coast fishermen, who have opted to return to their home ports, chiefly Hull.