From the Pembrokeshire Telegraph of Wednesday 1st May 1929:

 

    On Friday afternoon the steam trawler "Tenedos" was seen steaming up the Haven with her red ensign flag flying at half-mast, a very ominous sign of trouble.  A crowd of people soon noticed the distress signal and they waited anxiously to see  who the unfortunate family would be.  By this time the trawler had dropped her anchor off Hakin Point.  Soon a small boat went off to the "Tenedos'" to make inquiries, and returned with the sad tidings that the third hand, Mr William Sutton, had been killed in an accident on board ship.  Mr William Sutton was only 36 years old.  Not a local man, he hailed from the port of Fleetwood.

    At the inquest held on Saturday, the skipper of the "Tenedos" explained how the deceased had met his death.   Mr William Sutton had been working on deck when he got caught in the wire rope and was taken around the barrel of the winch. 

    The skipper of the "Tenedos" at the time of the accident was Mr. Albert Seeling.  The manager and part owner of the "Tenedos" is Mr Harry Eastoe Rees.

 

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Transcription of a letter in the Les Jones Archive

[NB - either the date of the letter, or the date of the newspaper report above, must be incorrect.]

 

 

April 29th, 1929.

 

Dear Sir,

"Tenedos"

William Sutton. Deceased.

 

    On the instructions of Messrs Rees & Howell, the owners of this vessel we attended the inquest held on Saturday evening last on the body of the above man, late third hand of the vessel.  Apart from the doctor the only witness called was the skipper of the vessel.

    It appears that at about noon on Thursday last the fishing gear of the vessel was being hauled on board, the steam winch being in operation as usual for that purpose. The skipper was in the first place controlling the  winch and the deceased was standing by one of the drums of the winch around which the warp connected with the fishing gear was being wound, and was coiling up the slack or loose end of the warp. The skipper then stopped the winch.  A moment or two later the skipper ordered the deceased to operate the winch in reverse.  The deceased did so for a moment or two and then on the skipper's instructions stopped the winch. The skipper then proceeded a few yards away from the winch to the spot where the catch of fish had been placed on the deck and a moment or two later heard the winch in movement.  He turned round and found that the deceased had by some means or another become entangled in the warp passing round the drum and was being carried round and round the drum, his head striking the deck in the course of each revolution of the drum. The skipper immediately ran to and stopped the winch and extricated the deceased from the warp. The deceased is believed to have been then dead.

    In the course of the hauling in of the fishing gear the warp became foul or twisted and it is believed that the deceased must have started the winch on the last occasion for the purpose of dis-entangling the foul and to have become caught up in the slack lying by the drum.

    The deceased although sailing as third hand held a skipper's ticket and had been going to sea in trawlers for fifteen or more years. Whilst it would have been wiser for the deceased to have sought the services of another man to operate the winch whilst he (the deceased) was dealing with the warp, it is not considered that the deceased's action on the occasion in question was altogether unusual.

    The jury were nearly all men conversant with trawling.  There was no suggestion on the part of anyone of the jury or of anyone else that there was any negligence on the part of anyone on board the vessel, or any defect in the plant or machinery, and the jury gave an unanimous verdict of "accidental death".

    The deceased left a widow to whom he was married for about four years.  We are unable to say if they had any family.

 

 

Messrs, H.L.Riseley & Sons, Ltd. 

Bristol.

 

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From the West Wales Guardian of Friday 4th January 1946:

 

    Messrs. Yolland & Llewellin, joint owners of the biggest trawling fleet sailing out of Milford, have dissolved the partnership after ten years of highly successful working, during which time the fleet has increased from one to twenty-two trawlers.  The dissolution took effect from January 1st, and in future Messrs. Yolland will trade under the name Messrs. Yolland Brothers, while Mr. J. C. Llewellin takes a number of trawlers under his own name.

 

    Yolland Bros.:

Castle Class:  Tenedos, Mikasa, Lorraine, William Mannell, Montano and George Adgell.

Strath Class: Craigmillar and Anne Melville.

Drifters: Allochy, Overfall, Poseidon, Invercairn, Primevere, Mint, Furze, Lichen, Calliopsis and Cassiopeia.

    The Montano left Milford on Thursday (yesterday) for Fleetwood, while the George Adgell arrives in Milford within the next fortnight from Aberdeen.  Both Strath boats are at Milford, but the drifters will fish from Lowestoft during the North Sea season, and will come round to Milford for the summer season.

 

John Charles Llewellin:

Castle trawlers: Cotsmuir, Lady Stanley, T.R. Ferens and Harry Melling.

    All the trawlers are away at the moment, the Lady Stanley at Hull and the others at Fleetwood, but they are expected to sail out of Milford in the near future.

 

    The fish merchants' business belonging to the firm in Fleetwood, Swansea and Milford will now be carried on by Yolland Brothers, while the merchants' business at Aberdeen has been taken over by Mr. Llewellin.

    Naturally interested to ascertain why such a profitable partnership should be dissolved, the "Guardian" made enquiries on Thursday.  We learned that Mr. Llewellin has suffered ill health for a number of years and wishes to cut down on his responsibilities.

    The sensational rise of Messrs. Yolland & Llewellin has provided one of the romances of the fishing Industry of Milford, starting as fish exporters in 1935, with Mr. J. C. Llewellin as their representative in Paris.  The firm had to turn their attention in 1937 to building up their fish merchants business in England because of the devaluation of the franc. 

    In 1936 Messrs. Yolland & Llewellin purchased their first trawler and not long afterwards embarked on an experiment which at the time was considered more than daring - "foolhardy", said the old hands.  They fitted out two trawlers to fish as a pair - the pareja - a Spanish method of fishing.  The earliest voyages, doubtless due to the inexperience of the crews in this type of netting, brought thin returns, but by-and-by these pairs began to make news, big news, for they started to smash fishing records.  What was then the youngest firm of owners had scored a big success, and confounded their critics.  Before the war started, the company had five pairs operating on the Irish grounds.  During the war the company worked with two old ships, the Gozo and Cairo, but disposed of these when their fleet of twenty-two trawlers were de-requisitioned in their turn after Government service.

    The partners in the firm of Yolland Brothers are Messrs. John J. Leslie and T. Stuart Yolland.

 

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From the West Wales Guardian of Friday 3rd January 1947:

 

    Apart from the 409 kits landed from the steam trawler Tenedos last Saturday, there have been no local trawlers in the week, the thinnest in the year as far as the market is concerned.  Today (Friday), the only ships in dock were the Caldy, 52 kits, and the Braes O' Mar, 82 kits, and the port this week had to fall back on frozen fillets of cod from Newfoundland and Iceland.

 

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From the West Wales Guardian of Friday 2nd July 1948:

 

    Milford's biggest trawler owners, Messrs. Yolland Brothers, have this week sold three of their Castle type trawlers, the Concertator, Tenedos and George Adgell, to Messrs. J. Marr & Co., Fleetwood.  All three vessels will leave the port in a few days, and the Milford crews will go with them to do one fishing trip out of Fleetwood.

    Great speculation has been aroused by the sale, but the Secretary of the firm, Cllr. V. T. Cleaver, told the Guardian, "It is purely a matter of policy.  With a fleet as large as ours, policy has to be continually revised, and this is just that."

    Mr. Cleaver was asked if this might be the beginning of further sales, and replies that he did not think this was so, as far as the immediate future was concerned.

    Asked about the position of the three crews when they completed the Fleetwood trip and returned to their home port, Mr. Cleaver said that their re-engagement was, of course, in the hands of the T.O.A. Seaman's Pool.  That Pool had a list of ships waiting to come to the port, which was at present full to saturation point, so he did not think it would be long before three new ships arrived to take the place of the old.

     

 

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