ILFRACOMBE LT148

From an unknown local newspaper of c. 28th October 1937:

 

    Another pair of locally owned trawlers put to sea on Tuesday night's tide.  They were the s.t. Rattray and the s.t, Charmouth, recently purchased by the Don Fishing Company from Fleetwood and Aberdeen, and reconditioned and adapted for the Spanish "Pareja" method of fishing. 

    This enterprising firm has purchased four more of this class of trawlers from Lowestoft, viz., s.t Aberdeen, s.t. Xania, s.t. Ilfracombe and the s.t Scarborough, two of which have arrived in Milford Docks to be fitted out.

    This makes five pairs of boats under the management of Yolland and Llewellin.

 

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From The Irish Times of Tuesday 25th September 1945, p.1:

 

Aran Island Lifeboat Rescues 26 Men

    Warned of the impending gale which swept the West of Ireland over the week-end, 13 British steam trawlers, which had been fishing off the Irish coast, put into the comparative shelter of Kilronan Bay, Aran Islands.

    At the height of the gale, however, two of them, the Trumpeter and Ilfracombe from Milford Haven, broke their moorings and were driven on the rocks.

    In reply to their signals of distress the Aran Island lifeboat crew of five manned their boat and for more than three hours fought their way through mountainous seas, first to one vessel and then to another.  With remarkable skill, Coxswain Lynch manoeuvred his little craft until he succeeded in taking off both crews, numbering 26 men, by means of the breeches buoy.

    Convinced that the lifeboat-men had gone to certain death, women knelt on the spray-drenched beach of the island and prayed, while experienced fishermen stood silent and tense on the pier-head.  Great relief was felt when the lights of the returning lifeboat were seen.    

    The Trumpeter was later refloated, but the Ilfracombe is presumed a total loss.

 

From The Irish Times of Friday 28th September 1945, p.1:

 

Tribute to Aran Lifeboat Men by Rescued Sailors

    Tributes to the gallantry of the Aran Island lifeboat crew, who had rescued them, were paid by men from the British steam trawler Ilfracombe, who arrived in Dublin yesterday evening from Galway. ............

    ..... The Trumpeter, though leaking, was later refloated, and is now in Berehaven, but the Ilfracombe, badly holed, is presumed a total loss, efforts to refloat her having been unavailing.  Part of her catch was salvaged and taken on board another trawler.

    The skipper of the Ilfracombe, Mr. Ambrose Settersfield, and the chief engineer, Mr. Joseph Dalton, both of Milford Haven, remained at Kilronan to look after the wreck, and the mate, Mr. Russel Kemp, and the other ten members of the crew crossed to Galway on Wednesday, where arrangements had been made for them by the Limerick Steamship Navigation Company.

    On their arrival in Dublin yesterday the men were received at the Missions to Seamen, Eden Quay, by the Rev. D. R. C. Hilliard, chaplain, and representative of the Shipwrecked Mariners Society.  They leave for England tomorrow.

    The crew includes two Irishmen, Michael Kinsella and William O'Shea, both of Waterford, who have been with the Milford fishing fleet for several years.

 

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From the West Wales Guardian, Friday 28th September, 1945:

 

    With a storm which is said to have reached a wind force of 120 miles an hour raging, and tremendous waves tossing them about like corks, about ten fishing trawlers lay anchored in Kilronan Bay on the treacherous Galway coast of Ireland by the bleak Aran Isles last Friday, they had put in to seek shelter from one of the worst gales ever experienced in the long history of the fishermen, and were waiting for the storm to reach its climax and gradually blow itself out before proceeding to the fishing grounds. Among the ships which had put in the previous day were the Milford trawlers "Ilfracombe" and her sister ship the "Scarborough" owned by the Don Fishing Company, two more of the company's ships, the "Tanagar" and the "Crosby" and the Pair Fishing Company sister ships, the "Trumpeter" and the "Shama".

    As it grew dark on Friday the wind grew even fiercer and the waves were breaking with tremendous force against the little ships. The storm had just about reached its peak and it was pitch dark, when almost at the same time two of the trawlers, the "Ilfracombe" and the "Trumpeter" were lifted by the giant waves and flung against the rocks which form a great reef in the bay. The first ship was left firmly on the rocks but the "Trumpeter" seemed to be aground not so solidly and the jagged rocks had not got a grip on her. The other trawlers made gallant bids in the face of the full fury of the weather to do what they could for the unfortunate vessels.

    The "Scarborough" and the "Crosby" stood by the "Ilfracombe" but were unable to get her off, but the "Tanagar" went to the aid of the "Trumpeter" and began manoeuvring to get her off the reef. Meanwhile the Arran lifeboat had put out, and while the women were kneeling in prayer on the spray-swept beach, the crews of both trawlers were taken off by the lifeboat, the "Ilfracombe" crew by means of the breeches buoy.

    The "Trumpeter" crew went on board the sister ship "Shama", while the "Tanagar" crew had boarded the "Trumpeter". She was pulled off the reef little the worse and was sailed out of the bay. She was taken to Berehaven and there awaits her crew who will take her on to the fishing grounds to complete the trip.

    The "Ilfracombe" became a total wreck and had to be completely abandoned. Her crew left Galway on Wednesday to return overland to Milford.

 

[Crew of the "Ilfracombe":]

Skipper. A.E.Setterfield. 53,Edward St., Milford Haven.

Mate. R.Kemp. 65,Stratford Rd., Milford Haven.

R. Whitland. Meyrick St., Pembroke Dock.

J. Mitchell. Priory Rd., Milford Haven.

W.H. Phillios. Groesgoch.

S. R. Gwilliam,  Haverfordwest.

P. Kinsella. Milford Haven.

O'Shea. Hakin.

A.Hall. Haverfordwest.

J. Dalton. Haverfordwest.

W.J.Mathias. Haverfordwest.

J.Fernandez. (Spanish Fishing Master).

 

[Crew of the "Trumpeter":]

Skipper.  Tom Blake. 43, Hakinville.

Mate.   G.Flicker, Liddaston.

F.Harries, 15, Albion St., Milford Haven.

S.T. Mansell, Swansea.

A. Breen, Swansea.

T. Hally, 22, Hill St., Hakin.

T. Buttles, Prendergast, Haverfordwest.

J. Marshall, 33, Starbuck Rd., Milford Haven.

J. Mannings, 2,Water St., Neyland.

F.D. Phillips, 48, Dewsland St., Milford Haven.

Jose Vieiara, Greville Rd., Milford Haven.

Fishing Master. Louis Urtiago, North Road, Milford Haven.

The Skipper of the trawler "Tanagar" which accomplished the clever rescue of the "Trumpeter" was Skipper D. Davies, 15, Dew Street, Haverfordwest.

 

 

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