DAGON GY438

 

Courtesy of Milford and West Wales Mercury

Official No:  143502                      Port and Year:  Cardiff, 1920 (CF61)

                                                                                    Grimsby, 1927 (GY438)

                                                                                    Aberdeen, 1952 (A710)

Description: Steel side trawler; coal fired.  Ketch rigged

Crew: 12 men (1927).

Built: by Cook, Welton & Gemmell, Beverley, in 1920.  (Yard no. 369)

Tonnage:   282 grt  110 net

Length / breadth / depth (feet): 128.5 / 23.5 / 12.6                                                         

Engine: T 3-Cyl; 85 rhp.; by Charles D. Holmes & Co., Hull

Owners:

 

As  HATSUSE CF61

4 Mar 1920: Neale & West Ltd., Hope St., Cardiff.

Managers: Wilfred Neale, Morley H. Neale, & Joshua S. Neale. (Same address.)

 

As DAGON GY438

20 May 1927:  Consolidated Steam Fishing & Ice Co (Grimsby) Ltd, Grimsby.

(29 Sep 1927: Consolidated Fisheries, Auckland Rd., Fish Docks, Grimsby.)

Manager: Sir John D. Marsden.

 

3 Oct 1941: J. Marr & Son, Fleetwood.

Manager: Leslie James Marr.

 

25 Sep 1945: A. J. Tilbrook, Docks, Milford.

Manager: Arthur Ernest Rees, Neyland.  

 

As CASIMIR A710

11 Mar 1952: Devanha Fishing Co., Aberdeen

Manager: William Wood.

 

Landed at Milford: 6 Apr 1946 - 16 Jan 1952.

Skippers: J. Garnham (jnr.) (1948).

Notes: 

Hatsuse was a Japanese battleship built in the late 1890s.

Dagon is a fish-god in Hebrew.

Casimir is a personal name meaning "the one who reveals or establishes peace." (Wikipedia.)

8 Sep1934: Outward to Faroese fishing grounds stranded at Dundonnan Head, near Peterhead. Floated clear but ran aground again.

12 Sep1934: Suffered extensive bottom damage but refloated by Aberdeen salvage tug IRONAXE,  towed into Peterhead and repaired.

26 Aug1939: Requisitioned by the Admiralty to be converted to for minesweeping duties, but proved unsuitable.

13 Oct 1939: Returned to owners.

28 Nov 1955: Delivered to Charlestown, Fife, to be broken up.

[Information supplied by Fleetwood Maritime Heritage Trust and The Bosun's Watch.]

Accidents and Incidents:

From the West Wales Guardian of Friday 30th May 1947:  

 

    The sad death [ has occurred ? ] of a 25 year old trawler cook, Stephen Thomas Holdstock, 49 Waterloo Road, Hakin.  Holdstock was found lying dead at the bottom of the companion ladder of the steam trawler Dagon while at sea on Wednesday morning last week.  Holdstock, a native of London, was married to a local young lady, formerly Miss Goffin, of 49 Waterloo Road.  Evidence of identification was given by Frank Arthur Goffin, 49 Waterloo Road, who said deceased was married to his grand-daughter.

 

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From the West Wales Guardian of Friday 10th October 1948:  

 

    The Milford steam trawler "Dagon" went on the rocks in Ship Sound on the Irish coast north of Sline Head at about midnight last Friday.  In spite of strong south-east winds there was a thick fog when the vessel struck, and Skipper J. Garnham (Junior) sent out a radio appeal to all trawlers in the vicinity.  The trawler "Nighthawk", in charge of Skipper Arthur Harvey, answered the call and stood by for two hours, when the "Dagon" was refloated under her own steam.  She is believed to be badly damaged, but reached Limerick under her own steam and was waiting on Thursday to enter dry dock.  The extent of the damage is not yet known, but the skipper and crew are uninjured.  

 

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From The Irish Times of Thursday 13th January 1949, p.2:  

 

Ship Towed to Port

    A Milford-haven fishing trawler the Dagon, was towed into Dublin yesterday from Limerick to undergo repairs.

    The Dagon went ashore on the South coast last October and was later re-floated.

 

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From the West Wales Guardian of Friday 21st September 1951:  

 

    A 17-year old deckhand on the Milford steam trawler "Dagon", Jimmy Stocker, 17, Hill Street, Hakin, is critically ill in hospital in Londonderry after being badly burned in an accident.  The trawler was in Londonderry undergoing slight repairs, and it is understood the accident occurred when a paraffin oil-lamp went on fire.  Stocker received severe burns to his body and was taken to hospital in an unconscious state.

 

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From the West Wales Guardian of Friday 28th December 1951:

 

    Not for many years have the after Christmas sailings been interrupted at Milford as they were on Thursday and today.  Nearly a score of boats left the dock at 3 a.m. on Thursday to lie out in the stream ready for the crews to come aboard at 9 a.m.  Came 9 a.m. and none of the crews could be ferried out to the waiting trawlers sheltering from Chapel Bay up to Burton Reaches from the ravages of one of the worst December gales in memory, with agust of 92 miles an hour recorded at St. Ann's Head at 11 a.m. on Thursday.  Trawlers were dragging their anchor the length and breadth of the harbour, and several had to keep steaming from the time they left the dock at 3 a.m. until all steamed back in on Thursday's afternoon tide. With spray blotting out the masts of a number of boats, it was impossible for a tender to reach them, and the skeleton crews who had taken the trawlers out and been in action all day described conditions as devilish when they stepped ashore again late in the afternoon.  Last night there were approximately trawlers in dock, ready to leave for the fishing grounds.

    Meanwhile, only six of the port's fleet are still at sea: the Sea Hunter expected this weekend, the Nolton and Steynton (pair), George Hastings and Thomas Booth, due about the 20th, and the Dagon on January 5th.

    Ashore, apart from minor incidents in the way of loosened tiles and broken panes, there was comparatively little damage.  Winds were well below the maximum on record, 113 miles per hour at St. Ann's Head on January 18th, 1945

 

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From the West Wales Guardian of Friday 11th January 1952:

 

    The fleet of trawlers owned by Messrs. Tilbrook Trawlers Limited and A. J. Tilbrook have suspended operations, and we understand their management has now been taken over by Messrs. Peter Hancock and Sons, Limited. 

    The vessels concerned are the steam trawlers Sea Hunter and Dagon, and the two diesel engined trawlers Sea Lord and Sea Monarch.  Upon enquiry the Managing Director, Mr. R. L. Hancock, stated that he could give no further information.

 

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From the West Wales Guardian of Friday 11th January 1952:

 

    The steam trawler Dagon, belonging to Messrs. A. J. Tilbrook and Co., has been sold to an Aberdeen firm and has left the port. 

    We understand that Messrs. Yolland Brothers are negotiating the sale of one of their largest trawlers, the Lady Olwen.

 

Courtesy Robert Kettle

 

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