HIT OR MISS   M120

Official No: 104119  Port Number and Year:  2nd in Milford, 1894 

Description: Iron side / beam trawler; steam twin screw, coal burning.  Long liner. Dandy rigged: fore and aft

Crew:  6 men

Registered at Milford: 27 Jun 1896

Built: 1896, by William Wolfe, Hakin

Tonnage: 20 grt  14.25 net.

Length / breadth / depth (feet): 51.6 / 14 / 7.5

Engine: 

Owners:

 

27 Jun 1896: William Wolfe, Docks, Milford

 

Landed at Milford:  13 Jun - 22 Nov1896; 3 Dec 1897 - 17 Jun 1898

Skippers: 1896: William Wolfe; James Smith, Griffiths, Wolfe;

1897: Wolfe;

1898:  S. Heather, Hardy, Beckett, McCarthy, Wolfe, Wills

Notes: William Wolfe, residing at High St., Gorseinon, also owned the steam trawlers NILE and ESSEX, and traded under the name of The Essex Steam Trawling Company from its start-up in 1918, with an outlay £7,200, until bankruptcy in 1925, when the firm was sold to Spanish buyers for £1,500.

Cert. Cancelled & Milford Registry Closed: 2 Dec 1899.  Vessel ceased fishing.

Accidents and Incidents

From the Haverfordwest and Milford Haven Telegraph of Wednesday 6th May 1896:

 

sensational launch.―  Last Wednesday evening thousands of people lined the docks in the neighbourhood of Hakin to witness the launch of a steam-boat which if it were but a mite compared with the great "Hannibal," yet took its baptism under more sensational circumstances. The steamer is named the "Hit or Miss," and was built by Mr Wm. Wolfe in his yard on the Hakin side of the docks. Her length is 561 feet, her beam 14 feet, and her depth of hold 71 feet. She is a twin screw and was designed by Mr Llewellyn as a "Long Liner," the first of the kind that has been built at the Haven.  In fact she is the first iron vessel launched at the docks. This itself would have sufficed to draw a big crowd to the launching ceremony, but the ever-enterprising owner had arranged for a launch, the like of which we have seldom if ever read of.  Mr Wolfe's yard stands at some height above the docks, and at high tide the water is not within several feet of the top of his boundary wall. Over this wall the vessel had to fall ere it gained the water, and as undoubtedly a considerable element of risk attached to so novel a launch, there was naturally much speculation as to the probable result.  With four workmen and a soldier on board, the "Hit or Miss" was slipped from her stays 183 feet distant, and as she rushed forward for her aerial flight the excitement of the multitude was intense.  She flew from the dock wall and landed five and a half feet below as prettily as a duck. The men on board reeled a little and the soldier lost his equilibrium in the exuberance of his cheering, but no accident occurred. The smart little vessel was thereafter moored to the dock wall where she will be fitted for sea.  She will be capable of sailing eight miles an hour.  Mr Wolfe is to be congratulated upon the success of his new venture, and we trust the little "Hit or Miss" will fully justify the hopes entertained of her.

 

 

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