CYGNET LO131

Official No:  99694     Port Number and Year: 12th in Grimsby, 1893 (GY503)

                                                                                 -      -  London, 1896 (LO131)

                                                                                 -      -  Aberdeen, 1915 (A435)

                                                                                 -      -  North Shields, 1917 (SN330)

                                                                                 -      -  Yarmouth, 1919 (YH127)

Description: Steel side / beam trawler; steam screw; coal burning.  Yawl rigged.

Crew: 9 men (1893).

Built: by Mackie & Thomson, Govan; in 1893.  (Yard no. 65)

Tonnage: 141 grt  54 net. (15 Nov 1915: 138.2 grt; 59.13 net)

Length / breadth / depth (feet):   98.0 / 20.5 / 10.7                                              

Engine: T.3-Cyl; 35 rhp; by Muir & Houston, Glasgow

Owners:

 

As GY503

6 Jul 1893: The Great Grimsby Ice Co., Ltd, Grimsby.  

Manager: John O. Hawke, Fish Dock, Grimsby.

 

As LO131

Mar 1896: Hewett & Co. Ltd., Fish Market, Shadwell, London.

Manager: R. M. Hewett. 

                George M. Handscomb, Riverside, Gorleston, Suffolk (1903)

 

1906: Chas. T. Pannell, 60 Durley Rd., Stamford Hill, Middlesex.

                                       31 Bergholt Cres., Stamford Hill, Middlesex. (By 1912)

Manager: James Tidman, 228 High St., Gorleston, Suffolk.

                Edward Brand, Milford Haven (1911)

 

27 Nov 1913: Charles E. B. L Curzon, Docks, Milford.

[Home address: Watermouth Castle, Berrynarbor, N. Devon.]

 

A435

18 Aug 1915: William Hutchison, Aberdeen.

Managing owner.

 

As SN330

3 Mar 1917:  Richard Irvin & Sons, Fish Quay, North Shields.

Managing owner: Richard Irving, The Elms, North Shields.

 

As YH127

1919:  John T. C. Salmon, Bradwell House, Bradwell, Suffolk; & Others.

Managing owner: John T. C. Salmon.  

 

[ Thanks to Andrew Hall for information from the Aberdeen registers. ]

 

Landed at Milford:  6 Jan 1908 - 3 Aug 1915.

Skippers: E. Major (1909)

Notes: 

9 Jun 1915: In company with ELF, searched and brought bodies from the LUSITANIA into Queenstown.

29 May 1917: Requisitioned into the Fishery Reserve as CYGNET III.

1919: Returned to owner.

Dec 1927: Broken up.

Accidents and Incidents:

From The Pembrokeshire Herald and General Advertiser of Friday 24th December 1909:

 

MILFORD HAVEN.

 BREAKDOWN AT SEA.

    On Saturday evening last the steam trawler Cygnet, owned by Messrs. S. Brand and Co., of this port, towed a Belgian trawler, No. 5, Pecheries Ostendaisies [sic], in from sea. It appears that when on the fishing grounds, about 40 miles from the Smalls, the shaft end of the machinery gave out and No. 5 drifted at random until the arrival of the Cygnet.

 

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From the Haverfordwest & Milford Haven Telegraph of Wednesday 18th May 1910:  

 

    No small amount of interest was occasioned in dock on Thursday morning when the steam trawler "Cygnet" (Brand and Company) arrived and reported a strange catch at sea.

    Whilst heaving in the fishing trawl on Saturday morning, about fifty miles away, the crew were amazed and somewhat startled when the contents of the cod-end was opened, and a large size figure of a man dropped onto the deck.  He was dressed in uniform with a bronze face and top hat with cockade.  The figure was of an old period, but was in a remarkable state of preservation and was beautifully carved.  It was of course a source of attraction to many who saw it when it was landed.

 

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From The Pembrokeshire Herald and General Advertiser of Friday 27th May 1910:

 

COMPENSATION AWARD.

    William Warner, now an inmate of the Haverfordwest Workhouse, claimed compensation from Messrs. Brand and Co., trawler owners, Milford Haven, by whom he had been employed.

    It was stated by Mr. George Young, who appeared for the applicant, that the claim was for 17s 6d., half wages, per week owing to an accident which had rendered him permanently incapacitated.

    Warner said that while on board the Cygnet one of the respondents' trawlers on the 29th April he slipped between the fire-place and the missen [sic] mast, with the result that the bone of his skull was scorched. He added that his average weekly earnings was 37s.

    Dr. Williams described the applicant's injuries and said that ever since the accident he had been in a weak state. He might be able to do some light work, but he could not earn more than a few shillings a week.

    Mr. R. T. P. Williams for the respondents called George Manning, in the employ of Messrs. Brand, who said that the applicant told him he had a fit and fell on the stove. He said that he had had fits before. Warner's average weekly earnings was 31s.

    His Honour awarded the compensation at the rate of 15s. 6d. per week.  

 

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From the Haverfordwest and Milford Haven Telegraph of  Wednesday 17th December 1913:

 

    Mr. Brand and Co. have disposed of their smaller vessels, viz. Halcyon, Teal, Osprey and Cygnet, to Mr Curzon, the owner of the steam trawler Quebec, and they will remain in the port.  These vessels, known as the little London boats, have done remarkably well ever since they came to the port.

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From the Haverfordwest & Milford Haven Telegraph of Wednesday 9th June 1915:  

 

LOCAL TRAWLERS SEARCH FOR LUSITANIA VICTIMS.

    On Saturday morning the trawlers Cygnet and Elf returned to Milford Docks after being engaged in the gruesome task of searching the seas for victims of the Lusitania outrage. They have taken several bodies into Queenstown during these operations.

 

 

 

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