TRITONIA LT188

 

Before conversion to diesel (see below)

John Stevenson Collection

Official No:  149246    Port Number and Year:   Lowestoft, 1930.

Description: Steel side drifter trawler; steam screw, coal burning. Ketch rigged

Crew:

Built:  1930, by J. Chambers, Oulton Broad, Lowestoft.  (Yard no. 583)

Tonnage: 115 grt  52 net

Length / breadth / depth (feet): 92  / 20.1  / 9.4

Engine: T.3-cyl; 50 rhp; by William Burrell, Great Yarmouth. 1958: Oil, 6 Cyl; 50 bhp, 335 ihp; by Ruston & Hornsby.

Owners:

 

1930: Herring Fishing Co., Kessingland, Suffolk

Manager: R. J. Tripp

 

1934: S. J. Tripp, Lowestoft.

 

1944: Vigilant Fishing Co., Lowestoft

 

1954: Mitchell Bros. (Tritonia Ltd.), Lowestoft.

Manager: Arthur Charles Mitchell, Docks, Milford.

 

Landed at Milford: 1 Mar 1931 - 28 Mar 1939; 9 Mar 1954 - 30 Apr 1958

Skippers:

Notes: Nov 1939: Requisitioned by the Admiralty and converted to a minesweeper (P.no.FY.973)

Jan 1946: Returned to owners.

1976: Broken up.

Accidents and Incidents

The Times, Sep 15, 1934; pg. 7; Issue 46860; col F

 

STEAMER AND TRAWLER IN COLLISION

_______

One man drowned

    One man lost his life in a collision between the London Midland and Scottish Railway Company's steam Duke of Lancaster and the Lowestoft steam drifter Tritonia in Morecambe Bay early yesterday.  The missing man is J. Aldred, Lowestoft, second engineer on the drifter.

    The collision occurred shortly after 4 a.m.  The steamer, which was carrying passengers, goods, and mails, was bound from Belfast to Heysham.  The drifter had left Fleetwood for the fishing grounds in the Irish Sea a few hours before the accidents, in charge of her skipper, Mr. F. Sharman, Lowestoft.

 

    An alarm was raised, and it was not known until the men scrambled up on to the deck that Aldred was missing.  None of the crew saw him, but it is presumed that when the accident occurred he was thrown into the sea and in his fall struck something which knocked him unconscious, as no cries for help were heard.

    A close search of the sea was made by boats from both vessels, but no trace of Aldred was found.  The steamer then continued her voyage to Heysham, and the drifter returned to Fleetwood.  The drifter will have to undergo extensive repairs.

    Members of the drifter's crew stated that without any warning there was a crash and their boat heeled over at such a perilous angle that for a few moments they thought she would turn turtle.  When they rushed on deck they were amazed to see a large steamer a short distance away.  They could not account for Aldres's disappearance, as none of them saw him go.

    A message from our Morecambe Correspondent states that the crash of the two vessels coming into collision was stated to be the first indication which the Duke of Lancaster had that any other vessel was near.  The Duke of Lancaster immediately hove-to and lowered a boat, but its crew could find no trace of any person in the vicinity.

    The collision caused no alarm or confusion on board the steamer, and the passengers praised the captain, Mr. A. H. Tulley, and the crew for the smart manner in which the ship was put about and a boat lowered.  The Duke of Lancaster will have to be taken off the service for repairs.

 

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

 

From The Irish Times of Saturday 13th August 1955, p. 9:

 

£25 fine on trawler skipper

 

    A fine of £25, with confiscation of fishing gear, was imposed at a special court, in Waterford, on James Green, skipper of the trawler Tritonia, of Milford haven, which was arrested by the corvette Maeve, and charged with entering Irish territorial waters off Carnsore Point, Co. Wexford, for the purpose of fishing.

    A charge of fishing within the limits was dismissed [sic], and District Justice McCabe ordered that the gear be confiscated.  Janes Green, the skipper, said he thought that he was outside the limit and had no intention of evading the Maeve.

 

From the West Wales Guardian of Friday 19th August 1955:

 

    After he had refused a direction by Mr. Justice McCabe at a special court in Waterford, Mr. M. M. Halley, solicitor defending, pleaded guilty on behalf of Jack Greene, skipper of the Lowestoft-registered fishing trawler Tritonia, the property of Mitchell Brothers, Milford, to a charge of having entered within the exclusive sea fishing limits of Ireland, for the purpose of unlawful fishing on August 11th, a fine of £25 was imposed and order made confiscating the fish and trawler's gear.

    Mr. Halley pointed out that his client was on the red line of Close's Chart, which was a map of fishing grounds used in Britain.

 

After conversion to diesel

Barry Banham copyright photograph

 

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