BLANCHE H929

 

John Stevenson Collection

Official No:  124735   Port and Year:  Hull, 1907 (H928)

                                                               Grimsby, 1945 (GY133)

Description: Steel side trawler; single screw, coal burning.  Wheelhouse aft. Ketch rigged

Crew:  10

Built: 1907, Cook, Welton & Gemmell, Beverely.  (Yard no. 128)

Tonnage:  173 grt  68 net.

Length / breadth / depth (feet): 108.5  / 21.6 / 11.5

Engine: T 3-Cyl. 45 rhp.  Amos & Smith, Hull.

Owners:

 

As H928

1907: Hellyer  Steam Fishing Co., St. Andrew's Dock, Hull

 

31 Jul 1917: Capt Q. Dick & Charles Curzon, Hull

 

1929: Countess Howe & Charles Curzon, Hull

Managers: Charles Curzon, Docks, Milford


1937: J. W. Kates, Hull.


As GY133

Dec 1945: Wendover Fishing Co., Grimsby


Jun 1946: St. Christopher Steam Fishing Co., 24 St. Mary Axe, London EC3

 

Landed at Milford:  1 Jun 1920 - 14 Aug 1932
Skippers: Rawlings (1925); Oscar Pipe (1927); William Thomas Pipe (1928)

Notes: May 1915: Requisitioned by the Admiralty and converted to a  minesweeper (Admy. No.1768)  1 x 6 pdr.

1919: Returned to owners.

Sep 1952: Broken up.

 Accidents and Incidents

From the West Wales Guardian of Friday 9th January 1925:

 

    Two of our trawlers had a rough time during the gale, and one of them, the 'Arctic Prince', had a narrow escape.  The trawler 'Blanche', the other Milford trawler, picked her up in Caldy Roads, helpless with a chain cable twisted around her propeller.  So perilous was her position that the Tenby lifeboat took off the crew, one being injured in the process, crushed between the trawler and the lifeboat.  Then the 'Blanche' (Skipper Rawlings), did a smart bit of work.  By good seamanship, he got fast to the 'Arctic Prince' after the crew had left, and time after time saved her from going on the rocks, and managed to tow her into Tenby, standing by her until her propeller was put in working order.  The two trawlers came into harbour on Monday after a rough fourteen days which will not be forgotten in a hurry.

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From the Fleetwood Online Archive of Trawlers ( http://www.float-trawlers.lancashire.gov.uk )

 

The trawler put into Fleetwood harbour in September 1929 and horrified Fleetwood fishermen because she was adorned with pigs' tails and trotters. Skipper William Pipe said he was trying to dispel senseless superstition that pigs and rabbits brought ill luck to ships. He hung tails and trotters on the vessel on every voyage. To date he had 22 tails painted red or green (port or starboard) depending where they were hung on the ship. The skipper said his boat was the most successful fishing out of Milford Haven.

 

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