ALEXANDRA  M2

Official No:  112465    Port Number and Year: 2nd at Milford, 1904                                                                                   -    at North Shields, 1908 (SN81)

Description: Beam trawler, steel; steam screw, coal burning.  Ketch rigged - mainsail and mizzen.

Crew:  9 men (1904).

Registered at Milford: 3 Mar 1904

Built: 1904 by Smith's Dock Co., N. Shields. (Yard no. 734)

Tonnage: 181.86 grt  33.56 net (1904); 69 net (1 Jan 1914).

Length / breadth / depth (feet): 110.5 / 21.0 / 11.6

Engine: T 3-cyl. 51 hp. 10 kts.  McColl & Pollock, Sunderland

Owners:   18 Mar 1904: James Thomas, 'Tredegar House', Great North Road, Milford.  Manager / Owner.   As SN81 2 Nov 1908: William Purdy, Fish Quay, North Shields. Managing owner.   1913: George R. Purdy, 11 Horseley Tce., Tynemouth. Managing owner.   1914: Purdy Steam Fishing Co. Ltd., Fish Quay, North Shields. Manager: George R. Purdy, 11 Horseley Tce., Tynemouth.                                                  28 Percy Park Rd., Tynemouth. (1920)   1922: G. R. Purdy Trawlers Ltd., Fish Quay, North Shields. Manager: George R. Purdy. (Same address.)   [Not listed in the MNL 1936; renamed or broken up by 1935. ]

Landed at Milford:  16 Apr 1904 - 20 Oct 1908

Skippers: Henry Dodd, Cert. 5287; age 40, born Grimsby, residing Greville Rd., Milford. Signed on 2 Mar, 11 Nov 1904; 17 Jan, 7 Jul 1905; 5 Jan 1906. W. Aldridge, 5849, 27, Newcastle on Tyne, 4 Brooke Ave., Milford; 29 Mar, 4 Jul 1906. H. Hewer, 6526, 29, Gorleston, -. 11 Dec 1906. John Warren, 1682. 5 Jun 1907 John Beck, 6604, 32, Caistor, -. 8 Jan 1908. Christopher Masterson, 5740, 30, Salisbury -. 31 Jan 1908. Thomas Wm. Corbett, 8156, 25, Cardiff, 3 Old Dock Yard, Milford.  7 Jul 1908. James McDonald, 7989, 24, Hull, -. 8 Sep 1908. E. Gilland, 4831, 23, London, -. 21 Oct 1908.

Notes:  Insured by James Thomas in 1906.  Value of trawler £5,500; insured for this sum. Aug 1914: Hired by Admiralty. (Admy No. 316). Armament: 1x6pdr. In service as minesweeper. 1919: Returned to owners.

Cert. Cancelled & Milford  Registry Closed: "Certificate cancelled and Register closed on transfer of vessel to Port of North Shields this 2nd November 1908.  J. W. Crocker. Reg."

 Accidents and Incidents

Copies of log book entries:

 

17.04.04

When six miles S of Mine Head on the east coast of Ireland, I sighted the 'Oceania' of Aberdeen flying signals of distress.  I went to her and found that the top of her cylinder had been blown off.  The Skipper asked me to tow him to Dublin, which I did, arriving there safely at four thirty a.m., 17.4.1904.

Henry Dodd (Skipper)

 

07.03.08

Towed the steam trawler 'St. Clear' two hundred miles W from St. Ann's, the wind was NW, took hold four p.m., 7th March, blowing hard.  Arrived at Milford midnight, 9th March.

Christopher Masterson (Skipper)

 

25.08.08

Towed the steam trawler 'Fuchsia' off rocks at Milford haven, and towed her into Milford Docks on Sunday.

James McDonald (Skipper)

 

13.09.08

Steam trawler 'Syringa' towed across gear of steam trawler 'Alexandra' about 250 miles W of St. Ann's Head.

T.W. Corbett (Skipper)

E. Firth (Mate)

______________________

 

From The Pembrokeshire Herald and General Advertiser of Friday 22nd April 1904:

 

A CASE OF SALVAGE.— The Alexandra, a steam trawler belonging to Mr James Thomas, on the 16th inst. towed the Oceana, an Aberdeen boat, which fished at Milford a short time, from 4 miles south of Minehead to Dublin, a distance of about 120 miles. The Oceana broke down by the top of her cylinder being blown off. 

 

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From The Pembrokeshire Herald and General Advertiser of Friday 20th January 1905:

 

MILFORD.

...................

The trawler "Alexandra" landed on Monday fish which returned £504. Her sister ship, the "Victoria," last week cleared £446 in one trip.  Mr James Thomas is to be congratulated upon his very productive trips. 

 

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From The Scotsman of Tuesday 2nd January 1906, p.6:

 

SHIPPING CASUALTIES AND NOTES

...........

    The crews of the schooners Elizabeth Ellen Fisher and Joseph Fisher, of Barrow, and the schooner James, of Llanelly, all loaded with coal from Newport, were landed at Milford Haven on Sunday by the steam liner Alexandra, having left their vessels during a furious gale.

    The Elizabeth Ellen Fisher and the Joseph Fisher were picked up and towed into Milford docks yesterday.

 

[ELIZABETH ELLEN FISHER ON 63934, 73 tons, built Rothesay in 1871, owner Thomas Fisher, Fleetwood; JOSEPH FISHER ON 54543, 79 tons, built Rothesay in 1866, owner John Fisher, Barrow; JAMES ON 18369, 64 tons, built Plymouth in 1837, registered Llanelly, owner owner Joseph Thomas, Haverfordwest.]

 

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From The Pembrokeshire Herald and General Advertiser of Friday 27th September 1907:

 

Racing into the Dock.

SKIPPERS SMARTLY FINED.

At the Milford Haven Petty Sessions on Wednesday, before Dr. Griffith and other magistrates, James McDonald, the skipper of the steam trawler Syringa, Milford, and Henry Hewer, skipper of the steam trawler Alexander [Alexandra], were charged with passing into the Docks abreast of another vessel contrary to the bye-laws of the Milford Docks Company.

McDonald pleaded guilty, but Hewer did not appear.

Captain Ward, the dockmaster, said the skippers were charged with coming into the dock abreast on Sunday night, September 15th. When the gates were opened there were about a dozen or fifteen steam trawlers lying about two or three cables out in the channel. Most of them were close together. When the gates were opened two or three came in. Then some others came in leisurely, and then two or three made a dash for the gates together. The defendants' two boats entered the gates abreast. He shouted to them to astern, which they did. One of them might have been a few feet ahead of the other just outside the gates, he could not say. There was an almost exactly similar case heard in that court a short time before, when a trawler pushed in between two others. They had tried in all weathers to prevent damage to the dock gates, but one of these fine summer nights the damage would be done which they had tried for twenty years to avoid. If the dock gates were carried away he did not know what the consequences would be.

The Chairman said the vessels could not have come all the way together. One must have been ahead.

Mr. Gaskell, another magistrate, agreed that one of the trawlers must have been first. Someone in Court shouted hear, hear, and there was loud applause.

The Chairman: Turn him out. I will not have these expressions of opinion in Court, and I am sure my brother magistrates will support me in that.

The Chairman said the magistrates had had those cases before them for a long time. There was great danger to vessels entering the dock abreast whether it was done intentionally or otherwise. In the interests of the skippers themselves, the owners, and everyone interested in the docks, the magistrates must discharge their duties when such offences came before them. The skipper McDonald, who had appeared in court, would have to pay a fine of £5 inclusive, and Hewer, who had failed to appear, although he was in Milford, would have to pay £5 and costs.

 

 

 

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