DALE CASTLE H195
Official No: 99568 Port
Number and Year: 22nd in Hull, 1892 (H195)
- - London,
1897 (LO149) |
Description:
Iron side / beam trawler; steam screw, coal
burning.
Ketch rigged. |
Crew:
|
Built: by
Cook Welton & Gemmell,
Hull, in
1892 (Yard no. 93) |
Tonnage:
148 grt 57 net |
Length / breadth / depth (feet):
100.5 /
20.8 / 11.0 |
Engine: T.3-Cyl;
35 rhp; by Muir & Houston, Glasgow |
Owners:
As H195
13 May 1892: George H.D. Birt, St.
Anne's, Milford.
Managing owner.
As LO149
1897: The Castle Steam
Trawlers, Ltd., 3 Lothbury, London.
Manager: George H.D. Birt, 'Priory
Lodge', Milford.
Aug 1903: Castle fleet transferred
to Swansea - see newspaper article below.
As ST. PIERRE
1904: H. Le Renard, Cherbourg.
As MAMELINA No.10
1908: Soc. Anon. Mamelena, San
Sebastian, Spain.
As PASSEREAU
1917: French owners.
By 1930: H. Le Renard, Cherbourg
1931: Chalutiers Cherbourgeois,
Cherbourg. [Same owners in Lloyd's Register
1945-46]
|
Landed at Milford:
17
May 1892 - 10 Jun 1904 |
Skippers: 1892: W. R. Saunders
1893: G. Smart; Alfred Barrett;
1894: Barrett
1895: Barrett
1896: J. Chamberlain; James Gray;
Chamberlain; Gray
1897: Gray; W. Dayes; D.W. Williams
1898: William Nightingale; Robert
Limbrick; Saunders; William (Alfred?) Jones
(see below); C. Read; Richard
Robson
1899: Robson; Smith; Taylor
1900: Taylor; Salter
1901: Salter; Barrett
1902: Barrett; George Cook; W. Davies
1903: Davies; Jones; Davies; Webb;
Davies; Walter Aldridge
1904: Aldridge; King |
Notes: |
Accidents and Incidents:
From the Western Mail
of Monday 25th November 1895:
COLLISION OFF MILFORD
A CAPTAIN'S CERTIFICATE SUSPENDED
As the result of a
Board of trade inquiry at Milford into the circumstances attending the
collision of the steam trawler Dale Castle with the fishing smack The
Minnie, both belonging to Milford, which occurred off Hakin Point, near
Milford, on October 13th last, the court, consisting of Captain G.
Richardson (Liverpool), Captain Erskine (Glasgow), Mr. T. R. Collard
(fishery assessor, Plymouth), and Doctor Griffith and Mr. Whicher (Milford),
found Alfred Barrett, the skipper of the Dale Castle, and Edward Wilkinson,
the second hand of the same vessel, alone in default, and suspended the
certificate of the former for six months and that of the latter for three
months.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From the Haverfordwest & Milford Haven
Telegraph
of Wednesday 1st April 1896:
A LOCAL MAN KILLED AT PLYMOUTH
An
inquest was held at Plymouth on Monday on the body of Thomas Webb, boatswain of
the steam trawler "Dale Castle", from Milford Haven. He had gone ashore on
Friday evening with a companion, who left him, and he was not seen alive again.
His body was found in the Cattewater. A verdict of "Found Drowned" was
returned.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From the Haverfordwest & Milford Haven
Telegraph
of Wednesday
23rd May 1898:
Alleged Tragedy on
the High Seas
SENSATION AT MILFORD
HAVEN
A FISHERMAN CHARGED
WITH MURDER
MAGISTERIAL
PROCEEDINGS THIS DAY
The Court House, never too large for the audience, was this morning filled to
suffocation with a mixed crowd of interested sight-seers, all of them more or
less smelling of the sea, and as the day was very sultry, the heat towards noon
became almost unbearable. The occasion was the charge of murder preferred
against Charles Jenkins, a sailor, who is alleged to have thrown another seaman
overboard in the Bay of Biscay on May 17th.
Dr Griffith was in the chair, supported by Col. Roberts and Mr. John Rees.
The father of the deceased was present, and during the proceedings frequently
burst into tears.
Supt. Francis, who prosecuted on behalf of the police, called Alfred Jones,
skipper of the steam trawler "Dale Castle", sailing from Milford, who said: Last
Saturday week, May 14th, the vessel left Milford Haven about mid-day. He
had on board a crew consisting of himself, the mate, one passenger (witness's
son), and seven seamen. Prisoner, Charles Jenkins, was one of the crew,
and shipped as a deckhand. The deceased, Bertie Wilson Patten, was on
board as a trimmer. He was aged 15, and this was his first voyage.
He was a very active and willing boy. He was crippled and had a slight
limp, one leg being shorter than the other. On the 17th May the vessel was
in the Bay of Biscay, off the coast of France. The weather was moderate,
with the wind blowing from the S.S.E., and the sea was fairly smooth.
About 8.30 the trawl was down and they were towing the net. The boat was
going about 2
1
knots an hour. The
vessel was heading N.W., going with the wind. He last saw deceased on the
quarter deck, close to the engine room entrance. This was about 8.30.
Prisoner was there with the lad. There was no one there besides.
Witness was on the bridge, over 20 feet away. The bulwark at this spot is
about two feet high. As he came off the bridge about 8.30 prisoner passed
him, and witness said "Hullo, what's the matter with you, you look down?"
Prisoner said nothing in reply. At 9 o'clock his attention was called to
the fact that the lad was missing. It was prisoner who informed him of
this saying, "The b——— trimmer's overboard." Witness asked him how he
knew. Prisoner answered "I've been searching and I can't find him."
Witness went down into the engine room and asked the chief engineer where the
trimmer was. Witness then ordered the engineers into the bunkers but he
was not there. Witness then went on deck and into the forecastle to search
but could not find him. Witness also informed the mate. The same day
about twenty to seven witness saw prisoner at tea and asked him why he did not
tell him when he came off the bridge that the boy was missing. Prisoner in
reply to the question at first said nothing, but afterwards while he was still
having his tea, prisoner said "d―――n you and the trimmer too." Witness
said nothing more to him then. He tried to catch the body with the nets,
but failing turned for home. On Sunday night as they were running for
home, prisoner came to him and said, "I thought Skipper you would have ushed [
sic ] this affair up." Witness said he had nothing to hush up and
he should speak the truth. He told prisoner that he knew prisoner had been
to the others trying to get them to square the "old man" to say the boy
accidentally fell overboard and there would be no judge and jury in it.
Prisoner then went off the bridge and left him. Next morning, Monday, the
23rd, witness told prisoner to do some work, but he refused, saying he was done.
Milford was the first port the vessel arrived at. Witness had been one
voyage with prisoner before. The vessel arrived on Tuesday (yesterday) at
two o'clock, when he reported the matter to the police. He did not know of
any quarrel or ill-feeling between prisoner and the boy.
Prisoner: Did you
not say that you would do your utmost to get me hung?
Witness: No.
Prisoner: When you asked
me to go into the bunkers to work did I not ask you to let your son go in with
me?
Witness: No, you
only said you had "done".
Henry Watkins, chief
engineer on board the "Dale Castle", said on the 17th May, the deceased was
pulling up ashes between 7.30 and 8. o'clock in the morning, and throwing them
over the side. After deceased had finished he came to the engine-room and
witness told him and Henry Sillies, the second engineer to go to breakfast.
The trimmer went and washed his hands and then went up to breakfast. That
was the last witness saw of the lad. About twenty minutes after this
prisoner Jenkins came to the engine-room. It was rather unusual for
a deck hand to come into the engine-room. Prisoner passed witness, the
second engineer, and the skipper's son, and slewing round when he got to the
stoke hole said "The b――― trimmer is over the side." Witness thought it
was a joke and replied "You want something to talk about." Witness did not
for a moment believe it. Witness then went up on deck smoking a cigarette.
Witness next saw prisoner coming through the bunker door into the stoke hole,
and was surprised to see him there. Prisoner said "It's right, the b―――'s
over the side." This would be about 8.30. Witness did not reply and
prisoner went on deck. Shortly afterwards the skipper came to him and
asked if he had seen the trimmer. Witness said he had not and began to
have some suspicion that something was wrong. This was bout 9.30. He
thought perhaps the boy had gone and turned in again as he was not acquainted
with the sea, and witness practically let him do as he liked. He followed
the skipper up on deck, and they searched the whole ship but failed to find the
boy. While the search was proceeding, prisoner came to witness who was
then in the coal bunker, and said "They were pelting fish at him (the trimmer)
at breakfast time." Witness warned prisoner to be careful what he was
talking about and prisoner said no more. On Saturday between 9 and 10 at
night, prisoner came to witness and said, "I've been having a yarn with Jack
(the mate on the bridge) about this affair, and don't you think if we were all
to put our heads together and get in the same mind to hush this matter up, and
then there would be no judge, or jury or magistrates about it." Witness
replied that if he was called on he should speak nothing but the truth.
Prisoner on one occasion after this asked him if he thought the skipper would
make a report of it. Witness did not think deceased was capable of doing
the work of trimming right away, and when he was sick witness had told him to go
and turn in.
Prisoner: Didn't I trim
his coal for him when he was not well?
Witness: I believe
you were in the bunker with him.
Prisioner: And
didn't I pull his ashes up for him?
Witness: You did not
on my watch.
After further evidence had
been taken, the prisoner was remanded till Wednesday next.
[ Note: On 27th May 1898, Jenkins
was charged with murder, but on 10th June the prisoner was discharged through
lack of evidence. ]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From the Western Mail of
Monday 16th January 1899:
SHIPPING CASUALTIES
[Lloyd's telegrams]
Saturday
...............
Dale Castle, steam trawler, arrived
Milford today with deck fittings damaged through heavy weather.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From the Pembrokeshire Herald
of Friday 4th January 1901:
The Storm
damage
to trawlers
Of the great storm last
Thursday evening, the men working on the trawlers running out of the port speak
with awe, and say that it was the worst experienced for many years. The
battered appearance of some of the boats that came in Friday and Saturday spoke
volumes as to the severity of the tempest.
...................
The Dale Castle, belonging
to the Castle Trawling Co. had also a rough time. At one period during the
storm, she was practically over on her beam ends, and the skipper only saved
himself from being washed overboard by the heavy seas by clinging to the funnel
chain. The coal and ice were shifted, and the fires put out, the pump
choked, and the cabin filled with water.
...................
Other trawlers ran to
various places for shelter, but as already stated, they all reached Milford
safely. After the holidays there was some difficulty experienced in
getting the crew together.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From The Cambrian of Friday,
28th August 1903:
SWANSEA'S FISHING TRADE
From the Pembrokeshire Herald
of Friday 13th May 1904:
It is satisfactory
to be able to state that the report that the vessels of the Central Steam
Fishing Company, better known as the "Dirty Ducks," owing to the Company's
mark on the funnels, and under the management of Mr Birt, of the Castle
Steam Trawlers were about to be removed to Swansea with the Castle boats, is
untrue. It is expected the Castle boats will shortly leave for Swansea,
under the management of Mr Heron, Mr Birt's successor. Speculation is rife
regarding Mr Birt's intentions. That he should have decided to remain in the
Western fishing metropolis is sufficient reason for the belief that he has
some new vessels coming under his management.
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