MANORBIER CASTLE LO164

Official No:  108322    Port and Year:   London, 1898 (LO164)

                                                                 Swansea, 1906 (SA25)

                                                                 Aberdeen, c.1914 (A439)

                                                                 Grimsby, 1918 (GY1213)

Description: Iron side / beam trawler; steam screw, coal burning. Ketch rigged

Crew:

Built: 1898; by Edward Bros., North Shields.  (Yard no. 565)

Tonnage: 153 grt  58 net

Length / breadth / depth (feet): 105.5  / 20.8  / 10.9

Engine: T.3-cyl; 56 rhp;  by North East Marine Engineering Co., Sunderland

Owners:

 

As LO164

Mar 1898: Castle Steam Trawlers, Docks, Milford

Manager: G. H. D. Birt

 

As SA25

Aug 1906: Castle Steam Trawlers, South Dock Basin, Swansea

Manager: Crawford Heron

 

As A439

c.1914: T. Stephen,  Aberdeen.

 

As GY1213

Oct 1918: C. Dobson, Grimsby

 

Landed at Milford: 26 Apr 1898 - 16 Jul 1904

Skippers: 1898-99: Limbrick

1899: Murgatroyd; Horth;.

1900: Murgatroyd; Garnish; Newman; Taylor.

1901 - 02: Newman

1902 - 04: Cobley

Notes: Jun 1915: Requisitioned by the Admiralty and converted to a boom defence vessel, later accommodation ship.

1920: Returned to owners.

Dec 1921: Broken up.

Accidents and Incidents

The Times, Thursday, Dec 21, 1899; pg. 15; Issue 36018; col A
     Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division.
    

THE RYEVALE   

 

    This action was brought by the owners, masters and crews of the steam trawlers Skomer and Manorbier Castle to recover salvage for services rendered to the barque Ryevale, her cargo and freight, off the south coast of Ireland between November 5 and 9 of this year.  The Skomer is a steam trawler of 151 tons gross register, with a crew of nine hands, and with engines of 350-horse power indicated.  Her value is £5,500.  The Manorbier Castle is a steam trawler of 52 net register, with a crew of nine hands, and with engines of 3[??]-horse power indicated.  Her value is £5,500.  The Ryevale is a barque of 873 tons gross register, with a crew of 17 hands.  About 3 a.m. on November 3, when on a voyage from Shields to Callao with a cargo of coal, cement and other bulk goods, her main topmast and main top-gallant mast carried away, and her main yard became untrussed.  About 6 a.m. on the same morning the Skomer, which at the time was lying-to owing to bad weather about 125 miles to the southward of the Old Head of Kinsale, fell in with the Ryedale in her injured condition.  It was agreed that the Skomer should stand by the Ryevale and tow her to the nearest port.  The vessels were made fast, and about 1 p.m. the towage commenced, but the hawsers parted about 3 p.m. The Manorbier Castle had by this time come up in the course of a voyage from Milford Haven to the fishing grounds off the south coast of Ireland.  Both trawlers were then made fast to the Ryevale, and the towage again commenced.  The ropes twice parted during the night of November 6.  On the morning of November 7 the Manorbier Castle broke adrift, and the Skomer towed alone.  The Manorbier Castle then left for Queenstown for further assistance.  The Ryevale anchored about 9 a.m. on that day, being then about tem miles to the southward of Roche's Point.  The crew of the Ryevale went on board the trawlers.  About 11 a.m. on November 8 the Skomer took the master of the Ryevale to Queenstown, where new ropes were obtained.  About 7.30 a.m. on November 9 the two trawlers again took the Ryevale in tow and brought her to a safe anchorage in Queenstown by noon of that day.  The value of the Ryedale was £2,600, of her cargo £1,183 10s. 6d., and of her freight £442 6s. 7d., in all £4,225 17s.1d.

    Mr. Robson, Q.C., and Mr. Bateson, appeared for the Skomer; Mr. Aspinall, Q.C., and Mr. Sutton Timmis for the other plaintiffs; and Mr. Lang, Q.C., and Mr. Batten, for the defendants.

    mr. justice bucknill, in giving judgement yesterday, said that this was a very valuable service, indeed he had seldom heard of a case in which the work had been better done.  He did not believe that the crew of the Ryevale had shown any signs of cowardness, or that her master had any intention of abandoning her.  The services deserved a high award, and he would give the sum of £1,470, which he would apportion between the two trawlers by giving £840 to the Skomer (of which £700 would go to the owners, £40 to the master, £25 to the mate, and £75 to the crew) and £630 to the Manorbier Castle (of which £500 would go to the owners, £40 to the master, £15 to the mate, and £75 to the crew).  In each case the crew's shares would be divided according to the rating, and those who did the boat work would have half a share extra.

 

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The Times, Tuesday, Dec 15, 1903; pg. 6; Issue 37264; col F
     Shipping Disaster.

 

The Milford Haven steam trawler Weymouth Castle [ sic ] put into Milford yesterday morning and reported the loss of five of her crew and one of the crew of the Manorbier Castle, another Milford trawler.  The disaster occurred in Corunna Bay on Thursday evening.  The weather being too rough for fishing, five men from the Weymouth Castle and five from the Manorbier Castle went ashore in one boat.  Two hours later, when the boat was expected to return, cries were heard.  A boat put off from the Weymouth Castle, manned by Skipper Longthorpe and some others.  They found that the boat with the ten men had met with a heavy surf.  Seven were washed out of her, and one of these, the boatswain of the Manorbier Castle, swam ashore, and was taken off the rocks next morning.  The skipper, second engineer and a deckhand of the Manorbier Castle managed to keep in the boat, and were rescued.  The following is a list of the drowned: Alfred Brown, deckhand, Milford, married; William Seymour, boatswain, Brixham; Samuel Knight, third hand, Milford, married; William Holman, second engineer, Milford, married; and William Varley, trimmer, Milford, single, all of the Weymouth Castle; and Jack Garnett of Hull, formerly of Milford, third hand, of the Manorbier Castle.

 

[Note: Skipper Longthorpe was skipper of the WEYMOUTH; there was no trawler named WEYMOUTH CASTLE. ]

 

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From the Western Mail or a local newspaper of Wednesday 30th May 1906:

 

    On Sunday morning tidings were received at the port of Milford Haven that the steam trawler "Manorbier Castle", belonging to the Castle Steam Trawlers Ltd., Swansea, formerly of Milford Haven, had gone aground on the sands of Freshwater West on the Pembrokeshire Coast, in dense fog.      The vessel got broadside on to the shore at high tide and the ship's crew, perceiving their perilous position, flew distress signals.  They were subsequently rescued and brought ashore safely by the Angle lifeboat.  The vessel was left stranded and firmly embedded in the sand.

    On Monday, Captain T. M. Pickering from the Castle Steam Trawlers Ltd., visited the scene of the disaster.  This part of the coast is a particularly dangerous one, and local people are well aware  that many a vessel has become a total wreck at this spot.  There will be considerable difficulty experienced in trying to get the  "Manorbier Castle" off the beach.  Indeed the opinion is expressed that she will probably never be floated from her position.

    The skipper of the "Manorbier Castle" is a well-known skipper in Milford, who used to fish out of Milford before the firm transferred to Swansea.  He is Mr. Walter Smith.

 

 

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