KIRKLAND LO 282

Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum of Wales

Official No:  125744     Port and Year:  London, 1908

Description: Steel side trawler; coal fired. Ketch rigged

Crew:

Built: by Smith's Docks Co., North Shields, in 1908.  (Yard no.819)

Tonnage:   224 grt  86 net

Length / breadth / depth (feet): 120.5 / 21.6 / 11.5

Engine: T 3-Cyl; 57 nhp; by MacColl & Pollock, Sunderland

Owners:   1908: G. H. D. Birt & D. J. Davies, Docks, Milford

Landed at Milford: 26 Nov 1908 - 10 Aug 1914

Skippers: D. J. Davies (1908)

Notes: Aug 1914: Requisitioned by the Admiralty (No. 360) and converted to a minesweeper. 20 Aug 1917: Mined by U-80 (Kapitänleutnant Gustav Amberger) off the Fugla Skerry, Papastour, Shetland. [See below.]

 

Accidents and Incidents

From a local newspaper, possibly the West Wales Guardian of Friday 8th March 1912:  

 

     News reached us yesterday that the Glasgow steamer Osmunli, of 2,240 tons, loaded with coal and bricks, had been towed into Swansea by three Milford trawlers. the Halcyon (Belonging to Messrs. Brand and Co.); the  Kirkland (Mr. Birt and D. J. Davies, part owner and skipper); and the Cameo (Mr. Johnson's).  They had found the steamer on her beam ends and abandoned, and the crew, it is believed, had put into Padstow.    No details are as yet known.

 

From the Haverfordwest & Milford Haven Telegraph of Wednesday 13th March 1912:

 

    The Glasgow steamer "Osmanli", 4,000 tons registered, was towed into Swansea on Thursday by the steam trawlers "Cameo", "Kirkland" and "Halcyon", having picked up the derelict off Lundy Island on Tuesday.  Before the trawlers took her in tow the Lowestoft fishing smack "V & A" had sighted her in a heavy gale flying signals of distress, and put two men aboard of her, and another Lowestoft trawler, the "Bentar", took off her crew of 25, subsequently landing them at Padstow.

    The "Osmanli" was loaded with steam coal, and the ship and cargo are assumed to be worth about £35,000.  The vessel had a big list when brought into the King's Dock, Swansea. 

    The trawlermen expect a big reward by way of salvage. "The Osmanli was caught by a gale 20 miles off Trevose Head," said the mate of the Milford steam trawler "Cameo", which was at the bow of the steamer that was being towed in.  "I do not blame them, the crew, for leaving her, for she was in a very bad way, terrible seas making her quite helpless.  We, together with the Kirkland and the Halcyon, all three trawlers belonging to Milford, then got hold of her, and with the smack V & A in attendance, made for Swansea.  We had a fearful time.  We had not a bite or sup for 48 hours, and every hour we found that the boat would break away.  The weather was something awful, and heaven only knows how we got her in eventually.  The Master of the "Osmanli", Captain McDonald, was loath to leave his ship, but the boat was rapidly heeling over, and it was touch and go getting her to port, I tell you."

    The "Halcyon" appears to have been the first of the steam trawlers to get hold of the prize, then the "Kirkland" (Captain D. J. Davies), but so hazardous was the task that it was extremely fortunate that the "Cameo" (Captain George Cobley) came along at just the right moment.

    The Mate, whose story is told above, is Walter Dewsbury, Milford Haven.  The trawlers have now left Swansea and put to sea, and the crew of these vessels will anxiously await the prize award.

 

[ * Actually 2283 g.r.t 

In May 1912, Mr. Justice Bargreave Deane found that the value of the OSMANLI and her cargo was £7,845, and he awarded a total sum of £3,190, divided as follows:

PANTIRE (for saving 14 lives) £140;  E.M.W. (which saved 10 lives) £100; "G AND E" (whose mate and 2 hands took charge of the OSMANLI) £300; HALCYON, KIRKLAND and CAMEO (principal salvors) £800 each, apportioning £500 to each of the owners, £50 to each of the masters, and £250 to each of the crews; a pilot and 3 others received £100, the BEAUFORT £100 and the CONQUEROR £50.

    £800 is worth £52,748 today (measured by RPI) or £277,685 (by average earnings).  By the latter measurement, each of the trawler skippers would have received the equivalent of £17,355 today. ]

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Loss of the KIRKLAND:  The KIRKLAND and another trawler were escorting the oiler KREMLIN from the Swarbacks Minn anchorage in the Shetland Islands when between Ve Skerries and Papa Stour she struck a mine and sank immediately. The mine had been laid by U 80 (Kapitänleutnant Gustav Amberger).

[PRO ADM 137/3306].

 

Those lost were:

AXFORD, Ernest Trimmer RNR 302TS(D)
GARNISH, Charles Arthur Skipper RNR

HENDERSON, John G. , Engineman, RNR, E S 5019.
HYSLOP, William PO RN 174651
MALCOLMSON, Laurence 2nd Hand RNR 3194.C
MOUAT, Walter Deckhand RNR 13017.DA
PHILLIPS, Sidney Deckhand RNR 724DA
RISING, William Henry Trimmer RNR 1462TS (Q )
RODEN, Edward SigBoy RNR 749, SB (PO)
ROSE, George Deckhand RNR 321X>A (PO)
STEVENSON, Herbert Engineman RNR 450.ES

 

 

 

 

Back to Other Registrations I - P