ROBERT LIMBRICK

"We think this ship is the best type of vessel for the hake fishing at Milford," stated Mr. Limbrick. The trawler is the 126 feet super-heated steam engined Star of Freedom, built at Aberdeen in 1942 for the walker Steam Trawling Company.

Mr. Limbrick also revealed that the new ship would be in the charge of the "Don", Skipper Arthur Harvey, who int he Fisheries trawler Almandine has been top earning captain in the port for two years. The Almandine is due to dock this weekend, and Skipper Harvey and crew will leave next week for Aberdeen to take over the Star of Freedom, and do a fishing round to Milford. The Almandine will be taken over by Skipper Jack Scoble who now commands the Fisheries trawler Sea Hunter.

By the acquisition of this comparatively new vessel, Milford Fisheries Ltd. have implemented the policy announced last year, when the steam trawler Thomas Booth was scrapped. Mr. Limbrick stated then that the Company would replace her when a suitable opporti=unity arose.

"The new ship brings our present fleet up to seven larger class vessels," he commented on Thursday. "We think she is the best type of vessel for the hake fishing at Milford, in which we continue to have faith."

The Star of Freedom will be renamed, and it is possible that her new name will be one which has very close connections with the Company and the wartime fishing epics of the past.

The Milford trawling company Milford Fisheries ltd. has given notice of intention of changing their new trawler's name from Star of Freedom to Robert Limbrick.

Their choice will be heartily endorsed in the port for the late Skipper Robert Limbrick, M.B.E., was the brother of the Company's Managing Director, Mr. O. W. Limbrick, and one of the most successful and popular captains in the port. It was for his work in the former Fisheries trawler Thomas Booth during wartime bombing attacks in the fishing grounds that Skipper Limbrick was awarded the M.B.E.. There could be no more fitting memorial to him.

The Star of Freedom is due to dock this weekend after a fishing trip round from Aberdeen.

ROBERT LIMBRICK. - Oban Radio, Feb. 5. - Following received from trawler Westcar at 5 14 a.m., G.M.T.: Trawler Robert Limbrick is aground west side of Ardmore Bay, south side of Mull Sound, near Sgarmor Rocks.

Following received from trawler Samuel Hewett at 5 59 a.m., G.M.T.: Crew of Robert Limbrick have taken to the dinghies.

Southend, Argyll. Feb. 5. - Mallaig lifeboat was launched at 6 15 a.m. to trawler Robert Limbrick, ashore Ardmore Bay, north tip of island of Mull.

Oban Radio, Feb. 5. - Trawler Robert Limbrick: Following received from trawler Westcar

at 8 18 a.m., G.M.T.: I have searched from Quinish Point to Ardmore Bay and seen nothing. Now lying in Broad Bay, Mull Sound.

Following received from trawler Samuel Hewett at 8 53 a.m., G.M.T.: Have searched from Bloody Bay to Treshnish Isles and seen nothing.

Following received from Mallaig lifeboat at 10 25 a.m., G.M.T.: Our mast carried away, we have rigged jury mast, position now six miles south of Eigg.

Oban,. Feb. 5. - Steam trawler Robert Limbrick ashore in Sound of Mull early a.m, reported abandoned by crew.

Oban Radio, Feb. 5. - Following received from trawler Westcar at 11 39 a.m., G.M.T.: Trawler Robert Limbrick is now at Quinish Point and is on the beach and listing to wind ward.

Following received from trawler Christmas Morn at. 11 43 a.m., G.M.T. : Trawler Ocean Harvest reports a small boat on the beach beside the trawler and there appears to be some men beside it.

London, Feb. 5.: Two bodies and an empty lifeboat believed to be from the trawler Robert Limbrick, were found by searchers on the shore near Ardmore Point, on the island of Mull, this afternoon. The search was intensified for the remaining members of the crew, who may have been saved in the trawler's rubber dinghy. Exchange Telegraph Company.

Oban Radio, Feb. 5.-Following received from trawler Westcar at 3 44 p.m., G.M.T.: Search has been carried out by us and Mallaig lifeboat, also other ships and 'planes, and have not found anything.

London, Feb. 5.: Two men are known to have died when the trawler Robert Limbrick, which had a crew of 12, ran aground to-day. The skipper of the vessel was W. Burgoyne of Milford Haven. The Robert Limbrick was said by Tobermory Police to have foundered. Part of the mast bad been sighted, sticking out of the water.

London, Feb. 5. -Ten fishermen were drowned to-day when the trawler Robert Limbrick ran aground off the coast of Mull, Argyllshire, during a gale. The bodies of two members of the crew have been recovered from the sea. Hope has been abandoned for the members of the crew who tried to leave the trawler in a rubber dinghy. The rubber dinghy and an upturned lifeboat, its canvas cover intact, were found on the shore near Quinish Point. Exchange Telegraph Company.

Southend, Argyll, Feb. 5.: Mallaig lifeboat returned to station at 6 30 p.m. after searching for survivors of trawler Robert Limbrick, wrecked at Quinish Point, Isle of Mull, Argyll.

Tobermory, Feb. 7.: Trawler Robert Limbrick, ashore Quinish Point, Mull: Survey shows vessel lying on port side, which not visible but damage to this side suspected extensive. Starboard side so far as visible severely damaged from forecastle to stem. Shell plating fractured from bulwark to keel and badly holed in way of fish hold also abreast of bridge. Deck fractured abreast of fish hold, stern frame broken, rudder missing, suspect propeller and tailshaft badly damaged. Engine-room and hull flooded and lifeboat badly stove in. Forward portion of vessel flexing with action of sea where fractured, not possible to board. Consider salvage impracticable. Further SW gales will accelerate vessel breaking up. - Salvage Association's Surveyors.

A search for 10 of the crew of the trawler Robert Limbrick which sank in a gale off the Scottish coast was abandoned last night. It is feared that they have not survived. The bodies of two men believed to be members of the crew and a dinghy were washed ashore during yesterday on the northern shore of the island of Mull.

The storm which caused the loss of the trawler put other ships in peril off the west coast of Scotland, and four lifeboats were called out. Gale force winds which reached speeds of more that 100 m.p.h. caused much damage in Scotland and in Northern Island.

The Robert Limbrick (273 tons) was owned by Milford Fisheries, Ltd. With Captain W. Burgoyne, of Milford Haven, as skipper, she left for the fishing grounds last Saturday. The other members of the crew were all from the Milford Haven district.

The first report of the Robert Limbrick being sighted came from another trawler. The Ocean Harvest reported having seen her on the beach at Quinish Point, Island of Mull. It was later confirmed that she had foundered there.

The sea has claimed twelve more Milford Haven fishermen and the Pembrokeshire port has been plunged into sorrow by the los of the trawler Robert Limbrick with all hands in a 100 mile and hour hurricane off the Isle of Mull, Argyllshire, Scotland, early on Tuesday morning.

The 273 tons Robert Limbrick, owned by Milford Fisheries, Ltd., and in charge of Skipper Billy Burgoyne, sailed from the port on Saturday with twelve men aboard. At 6 a.m. on Tuesday she sent out out a sudden, short “May-Day” radio message that the ship was aground on the north coast of Mull and the crew was taking to the life-raft. Immediately another Milford trawler, the Westcar (Skipper James Jobson) steamed to the area to search and was joined by the lifeboat from Mallaig.

For hours Milford Haven prayed and hoped while ships, R.A.F. and Naval planes, coastguard and police searched for the missing crew. At 1 p.m. a B.B.C. news bulletin reported that two bodies from the trawler had been washed ashore in a dinghy at Quinish and anxiety increased. Four hours later the search was called off and representatives of the owning firm visited the homes of the crew to break the news that there was little hope for their loved ones.

Almost exactly four years ago eight Milford men perished when the trawler Richard Crofts ran aground near the Island of Coll, only twenty miles across a sound which has now claimed twelve more victims.

This time the tragedy occurred in a terrifying hurricane which swept across Scotland and left behind a trail of destruction.

In Milford and district twenty-eight children have lost their fathers, fourteen of them living within 20 yards of each other, in tragic St. Lawrence Avenue, Hakin. For four of the men on the Robert Limbrick had their homes in this modern estate road. All but three of the crew are married men with children and the tenth man’s seventeen-year-old wife awaits the birth of their first child.

The port and the county mourns the loss not only of twelve brave men but in the words of the Managing Director of the firm, Mr. O. W. Limbrick, J.P., “A splendid Skipper and a Crew of the same calibre.”

Skipper Burgoyne and his Skipper-Certificated mate, Mr. Jack Reynolds, were the leaders of a crew who had been together for a long time and who sailed as an efficient and successful team. It was on January 2^nd that Skipper Burgoyne and most of his crew transferred from the laid-up Arthur Cavanagh of the same firm and the trip which ended is disaster was their third in this vessel.

Skipper Billy Burgoyne, who was 49, was well-known not only as one of Milford’s most consistently successful Skippers, but also as one of the most jovial. He was proud of the fact that he was born in the “mother” fishing port of Brixham, the son and grandson of sailing smack skippers. Skipper Burgoyne first went to sea in 1921, and has held his Master’s Cerificate since he was 20. Before he joined the Royal Navy in the last war he and his crew were saved from the trawler Fort Rhona when she was sunk by bombing in the Irish Sea. In the service Skipper Burgoyne served first as a Coxswain on the duty drifters at Scapa Flow and then, promoted Skipper-Lieutenant, joined the Kingston Christobel at Plymouth. For the last twelve months of the war he was in the Middle East on a drifter trawler at Alexandria. On his demobilisation he sailed for the former United Trawlers, Ltd. firm and when that concern went into liquidation five years ago, he joined Milford Fisheries, Ltd. Four years ago Skipper Burgoyne took command of the oil burner, Arthur Cavanagh and began his successful and happy partnership with his Mate, Mr. C. Jack Reynolds. Skipper Burgoyne leaves a widow, Mrs. Flo Burgoyne, one son Brian, the former Welsh youth soccer international, and now a regular Milford United player and a married daughter Brenda.

Just across the street from Skipper Burgoyne’s home lived the Mate, Mr. Jack Reynolds, aged 51. Milford born and bred, Mr. Reynolds was the third in line in the family to hold a Skipper’s ticket. He was the son of Skipper Bill Reynolds, who died last year, and of Mrs. Reynolds, Murray Road, Pill. His grandfather, too, was a trawler master and like his forebears, Mate Reynolds had spent a lifetime on the sea. He had also been a Skipper for over 30 years, and when Milford’s fleet was larger, sailed in charge of vessels with great success. Quiet and reticent, Mr. Reynolds was also modest about his five years’ war service in the Royal Navy during which time he saw action in the epic Russian convoys to Archangel and Murmansk. When the Arthur Cavanagh was laid up seven weeks ago Mr. Reynolds stayed ashore for a few trips. He joined the Robert Limbrick for the first time on Saturday morning after a last-minute to sail on her. His wife was formerly Miss Emily Chick, and he also leaves a daughter, Miss Jean Reynolds, a member of the accounts staff of the “West Wales Guardian”, and one son, Engineer Officer Brian Reynolds, M.N., who is now en route for Malaya on a Blue Funnel Line vessel.

The 45-year-old Bo’sun, Mr. Robert Whitlam, was looking forward to the marriage of his eldest son, Robert, next month and bought a new suit before returning to sea on Saturday. It was Mr. Whitlam’s third trip in the Robert Limbrick and he had been a member of Skipper Burgoyne’s “team” for some years. Robert, his elder son is a 23-year-old architect working in London. The younger son, David (14) is a Coronation S.M. pupil and Miss Pat Whitlam (18) the only daughter, is employed by Mr. Ted Humber, Dimond Street. Like her husband, 43-year-old Mrs. Whitlam is a native of Lowestoft. They have been living in Pembroke Dock for 20 years. Mr. Whitlam first went to sea on the Lowestoft fishing smacks at the age of 14. During the war he served in minesweepers with the R.N.R. and also sailed with the Arctic convoys.

The Robert Limbrick was formerly the Aberdeen trawler Star of Freedom and was re-named in memory of a former leading Skipper when she came to Milford ten months ago. She sailed on Saturday and her crew were:

DECKHANDS CLIFFORD PICTON, 48 St. Lawrence Avenue, Hakin; NORMAN TAYLOR, 18 St. Lawrence Avenue, Hakin; MICHAEL M. BURGOYNE, 16, St. Lawrence Avenue, Hakin.

FIREMEN BASIL R. HUGHES, 97 Glebelands, Hakin; and FREDERICK J. POTTER, 80 Glebelands, Hakin.

The following information was kindly provided by Byron Griffiths, whose great-uncle Jack Davies was 2nd Engineer on the ROBERT LIMBRICK:

Information from Mull resident Alasdair MacLean, of Beadoun, Tobermory, 9th September 2008. (Courtesy of Mull Museum).

The “Robert Limbrick” and the “Westcar” had been fishing at the back of Coll and came round the Cairns¹, looking to get into the sound of Mull for shelter. In the appalling conditions, with enormously high seas, the “Robert Limbrick” lost the light on Ardnamurchan and had no chance of picking up Rubha nan Gall (there was no light on Ardmore Point at that time). They went too far south and the SW wind backing to W drover her ashore not far from Quinish Point. Most of the twelve crew were washed off and killed on the rocks on shore (rather than drowned, though one crew member drowned in his bunk). The last body, that of the cook, was not recovered until May when the body came up from a deep hole by the boat and despite efforts to recover it floated off round Sorne Point where it eventually came ashore. It was said locally that there had never been a storm like that since the night of the Tay Bridge Disaster. The “Westcar” made it to safety but all twelve of the “Robert Limbrick's” crew lost their lives, including the brother of Jessie Bain, who was mate aboard her². A small flashing light (subsequently upgraded) was placed on Ardmore Point as a direct result of this disaster

¹Cairns – reference to the Cairns of Coll, a reef at the Northern Most tip of the Isle of Coll.

²According to the Oban Times report, the brother of Jessie Bain, was mate on the SS “Holdernore”. The “Holdernore” was damaged off the Skerryvore in the same storm and was escorted to Tobermory by another trawler the “Samuel Hewett (LO117)”. (See article from the Oban Times, below.)

Moir & Crawford's "Argyll Shipwrecks" mentions a command to launch a rubber dinghy. It is not clear whether she had a rubber dinghy, only a wooden one. In either case they stood no chance of getting ashore in any dinghy, having hit the rocks at about the worst place possible – almost anywhere else, they may have stood a chance. (But see reference to a rubber dinghy in the Oban Times article below.)

Newspaper Article (thought to be the "News of the World") (Copy courtesy of Archie Kirkham)

Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, Saturday.

Blinds are down, curtains are drawn and the streets of this grief stricken town are silent tonight. The full force of the tragedy of the trawler Robert Limbrick, lost with all hands, is striking home.

There is no happy laughter in the inns and cafes tonight. All thoughts are for the families of the 12 men who perished in the disaster.

As the Robert Limbrick and her crew were swallowed up by the fearful seas off the Island of Mull, Argyllshire, four days ago, 10 loyal wives became widows and 21 Children fatherless.

Street of Sadness

They all live in the Milford Haven District, but nowhere in Milford can there be a street of such sadness as St Lawrence Avenue.

In this one street alone the disaster has left three widows, a mother who lost her son, and 14 of the fatherless children.

This street of sorrow is silent tonight.

One who lived there was the third hand Charles Griffiths, father of five children. A trawlerman for over 30 years, he had been ashore, ill, for eight months before sailing with the Robert Limbrick on her last trip.

“A wonderful man he was,” a neighbour told me. “He was always so cheerful, and all the children in the street loved him.”

The Neighbours

Two of the deckhands, Norman Taylor, aged 23 and single, and Michael Burgoyne, aged 32 , married with three children under six years old, were next door neighbours in St Lawrence Avenue.

The oldest member of the crew, 57 year old Clifford Picton, father of of six grown up children, lived close by.

In her room in Glebelands, 17 year old Susan Hughes, tries in vain to keep back her tears for her husband Basil, fireman in the Robert Limbrick.

She is trying desperately to be brave as the birth of her first child approaches.

Fireman Hughes, aged 29, was a trawlerman for seven years. All that time he lodged with Mrs G.H. Houston in Glebelands. “He was like a son to me. We shall miss him dreadfully,” said Mrs Houston.

The Telegram

Milford will never forget the men of the Robert Limbrick.

Men like the skipper, 49 year old hale and hearty Billy Burgoyne – son and grandson of sailing smack skippers from Brixham and holder of a Masters certificate since he was 20.

Two years ago Skipper Burgoyne sent a greetings telegram to a friend in a local office. The telegram was pinned proudly to the office wall, and there it stayed for the two whole years – until last Monday.

Fourteen hours before the disaster, the faded piece of paper fluttered to the floor.

Skipper Burgoyne leaves a widow, a daughter and a son, Brian – a former Welsh Youth Soccer international.

Milford will never forget the mate, quiet and reliable Jack Reynolds – the skipper's neighbour in Stratford Road, Milford, and his great friend.

Together they were regarded as the ideal leaders of a successful crew.

He Always Went Back

After a lifetime at sea, including action in the Russian convoys during the war, Reynolds was thinking of giving up his calling. But he always went back.

Ashore, in the summer months his hobby was sailing small boats in the harbour.

Aged 51, he left a widow, a grown up daughter and a son, a Merchant Navy Engineer Officer now somewhere with his ship in the Indian Ocean.

Milford will never forget the Bosun, 45 year old Robert Witlam, a member of Skipper Burgoyne’s “team” for several years.

Before the trawler sailed he bought a new suit in readiness for his eldest son’s wedding. A widow and three children mourn his loss.

No, these men and their gallant shipmates and those who have sailed to their death before them, will never be forgotten.

The loss of the Robert Limbrick is Milford’s third trawler disaster since the war.

In 1950 the motor trawler Milford Viscount disappeared with all hands on a fishing trip. In February 1953 the steam trawler Richard Crofts struck a reef less than 20 miles from the scene of this last tragedy. Eight of the crew of twelve perished.

Left to Right: F.J. Potter, H.J. Davies, C.R. Hicks, Skipper W.M. Burgoyne, C.J. Reynolds and R.W.J Whitlam.

^{^{^{From the Oban Times of Saturday February 9^th1957 (Courtesy of Mull Museum):

TRAWLER
WRECKED OFF MULL

Fourteen
Members of the Crew Drowned

COASTGUARDS STILL UNABLE TO BOARD WRECK

None of the crew of 14 of the Milford Haven deep sea
trawler “Robert Limbrick” survived when their ship struck a rock off the
north-west coast of Mull early on Tuesday morning and foundered off
Quinish Point – the sole victim of the worst storm in Scottish seas in
the living memory of seamen.

So far only two of the bodies have been recovered and
attempts by coastguards to board the stricken vessel, which is lying
only 25 yards from the shore, were abandoned yesterday (Wednesday)
because of the heavy swell.

A few hours after the sinking, shocked villagers and
coastguards gathered on the ugly beach of Quinish and tried to piece
together the tragedy of the “Robert Limbrick”.

Hours of arduous searching had brought them to the beach,
to find the smashed trawler fast on wave-lashed rocks, the bodies of two
of the drew washed up almost beyond normal high water mark and a litter
of wreckage which covered a thousand square yards of shore.

They also found the ship’s lifeboat, almost undamaged,
high and dry on the shore, with it’s protective covering intact, not
having been used when the crew abandoned ship. Fifty yards away lay a
torn, deflated rubber dinghy.

Heavy swells forced coastguards to abandon their attempt
on Wednesday to board the wreck. They will continue their efforts today
(Thursday).

On their way to Quinish point, the lorry carrying the
coastguards and the ladders, which they were going to use to board the
wreck, ran off the road. The coastguards abandoned the lorry and walked
two miles to the wreck carrying the ladders. When they got there, they
found that the wreck was still being washed by heavy breakers and no-one
was able to get aboard.

Two
Bodies Found

The wreck and the two bodies were first discovered by Mr
John Farquharson and postman Archie MacDougall, from Dervaig.

They went to Quinish early on Tuesday morning after
listening in on the trawler wave-band on their radio.

“I always make a point of listening to trawler messages
when there is a storm,” said Mr Farquharson afterwards. “That morning I
heard over the radio that a trawler had gone aground near Ardmore Bay. I
guessed it would be at Quinish Point because I know there are bad rocks
there.”

So Mr Farquharson and Mr MacDougall – who live together
at Dervaig, set out over the bleak moorland for Quinish and came upon
the wreck.

Meanwhile, 18 coastguards led by Mr Donald Brown had
travelled by lorry from Tobermory, and, marshalling heavy breeches buoy
apparatus over the rugged coastline, had systematically searched around
Ardmore Bay for trace of the wreck and survivors.

On learning that the trawler had been found at Quinish,
they hurried there.
.........

A tractor was borrowed from the Department of Agriculture
at Quinish Farm and the two bodies were taken to where they could be
placed on the coastguards lorry and taken to Tobermory.

There, watched by a silent crowd, the bodies of the two
seamen were taken from the lorry and laid in the church hall to await
identification.

At Quinish, villagers from Dervaig joined coastguards in
a search for the bodies of others of the crew, while, offshore, vessels
and a naval aircraft scoured the sea. No other bodies were found and the
search was postponed until the following day when it was hoped to board
the wreck.

In Difficulties

Almost a second victim of the gale was the Hull cargo
boat S.S. “Holdernore”¹which shipped considerable water when
heavy sea smashed her hatches as she struggled off Skerryvore against a
head-on wind.

Skipper Fred Hanson afterwards described the storm as the
worst he had known in 20 years at sea. “It was just like a hurricane,”
he added.

After shipping water and beginning to list, Skipper
Hanson decided to lay to and ride out the gale, weathering the worst of
it, although both anchors were torn away.

Later in the morning, as the storm abated, he decided to
make for shelter, having been joined by the Milford Haven trawler
“Samuel Hewitt”²^,
which had answered a distress signal from “Holdernore”.

On the instructions of the “Holdernore’s” master, the
trawler led the way northwards to Tobermory, spraying the sea to
windward of the “Holdernore” with oil.

“Our pumps were working well,” Skipper Hanson said
afterwards, “but we could not have carried on if we had shipped more
water."

“We were glad of the trawler’s company – it was a
terrific boost for our morale.”

Later on Tuesday, the “Holdernore” limped into Tobermory
Bay, accompanied by the “Samuel Hewitt”.

But there was a happy ending to the troubles of that
cruise for Mr John Bain, Mate of the “Holdernore”.

A native of Tobermory, he was able to see his mother, Mrs
M Bain and his sister, of Rockfield road, Tobermory, for the first time
for a year. As the “Holdenore” tied up alongside the MacBrayne’s steamer
“Lochinvar”, Mrs Bain and her daughter went aboard the Lochinvar to
greet him.
^{[ 1:
HOLDERNORE,
ex- RUDMORE ON132058; coaster, 969 grt, b. 1911 by S. P. Austin & Son,
Sunderland for James Westoll, Sunderland. 1937: Toft SS Co (T. H.
Donking & Sons), Middlesbrough. 1943: John Stewart & Co, Glasgow. 1945:
renamed YEWHILL, same

owner. 1946: renamed HOLDERNORE, Holderness SS Co, Hull. 1957: BU
Belgium.

^{^{^2:}
SAMUEL HEWITT LO117 ON187405; b.1956 by
Cook, Welton & Gemmell, Beverley; 589 grt. Owners: Heward
Trawlers, Fleetwood. BU: 1968. She did not fish out of
Milford.]}}}}}

Street of Sadness

The Neighbours

The Telegram

He Always Went Back

TRAWLER WRECKED OFF MULL

Fourteen Members of the Crew Drowned

COASTGUARDS STILL UNABLE TO BOARD WRECK

Two Bodies Found