From the West
Wales Guardian of Friday 5th July 1963:
The fourth new trawler
built at Newport for Welsh Fisheries, Ltd., was named Welsh Princess in a
ceremony at Newport on Thursday. Among those present were the trawler's
skipper, Mr. Clifford Saunders, the mate, Mr. J. Manson, and their wives and the
Milford crew who will bring the ship around to the port this weekend.
The Welsh Princess will
join three sister ships already sailing out of Milford, the Welsh Monarch, Welsh
Consort and Welsh Prince. Her skipper is the successful son of one of
Milford's best-known trawler masters, the late Skipper Albert Saunders.
Clifford has commanded the motor "crabber", Picton Sea Eagle for several years.
His place in the Picton Sea Eagle has been taken by his former mate, Skipper
Martin Davies.
The Welsh Princess is due
to sail on her first fishing trip next week.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From the West
Wales Guardian of Friday 4th September 1964:
NEW
DRIFTERS FOR MILFORD
Two Hake Boats are Leaving
Mr. W. H. Kerr,
President of the Milford Haven Trawler Owners' Association, confirmed this week
that he has placed an order with the well-known yard of Richard Gunstons, of
Hessle, Yorks, for two new drifter trawlers.
................
Mr. Kerr ... also
confirmed the not-so-good news that the two remaining Welsh Fisheries boats, the
Welsh Prince and Welsh Princess, are expected to leave shortly for another port.
Four hake class trawlers
were built by Welsh Fisheries at Newport and two of them, the Welsh Consort and
Welsh Monarch, left Milford for Fleetwood at the turn of the year.
...............
The Welsh Prince
grossed £2,038 for 15 days, compared with £3,400 by the Monarch for 13 days and
£2,700 by the Consort for ten days out of Fleetwood last week.
It is expected that
the Prince and Princess will either go to Fleetwood where their sister ships are
managed by the Boston Company, or to Aberdeen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From the West
Wales Guardian of Friday 18th September 1964:
TRAWLER
STAYS "INDEFINITELY"
One of the two
Welsh Fisheries trawlers whose projected departure from Milford haven was
reported last week, has been "reprieved" and will now remain at Milford
"indefinitely".
She is the Welsh
Princess (Skipper Clifford Saunders), whose sister ship, the Welsh Prince,
landed a £2,035 catch at Fleetwood on Monday and will now be fishing out of the
Lancashire port.
Mr. W. H. Kerr, whose firm
manages the Welsh Fisheries ships at Milford, stated this week: "We have decided
to keep the Princess at Milford but for how long I can't say."
................
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From the West
Wales Guardian of Friday 22nd January 1965:
The gales, which had raged
for a week, increased on Saturday afternoon. Fourteen trawlers sailed out
of Milford Dock on the early morning tide, but no one got further than Chapel
Bay. As the gale gusted to 80 m.p.h., all the trawlers returned into the
dock when the gates opened at 3 p.m.
Some of the local fishing
fleet had been storm bound in port for a week, along with a number of French and
Belgian trawlers. At tide time on Sunday there were 20 French vessels, 6
Belgians and all but four of Milford's entire fishing fleet sheltering in dock.
FOUR HUNDRED MILES THROUGH GALES
One of the four Milford
vessels at sea, the Welsh Princess (Skipper Clifford Saunders) battled 400 miles
through the gales to dock on Sunday and be the only ship able to land at the
port on Monday, and his 11 days 280 kits trip was sold for £2,568.
Skipper Saunders told our
reporter: "We left the Butt of Lewis off north west Scotland on Friday, and
steamed through the gale to get home for Monday's market. We had a very
bad passage all the way, the gale was getting worse all the time."
"But," he added, "the
worst part of the trip was when we got into the haven itself. Conditions
were so bad that we had to dodge up and down the harbour because it was too
rough to anchor in the stream. We passed St. Ann's Head about 1.30 p.m.,
but it was 5 p.m. before we could dock and get ashore."
The only three local ships
not in port were Hector Gull, Willing Boys and Ocean Breeze.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From the West
Wales Guardian of Friday 13th January 1967:
...............
In
recent weeks it became known in the port that two hake class vessels, the Welsh
Consort and Welsh Princess, laid up at Milford for several months, have been
seized by the White Fish Authority in settlement of unpaid loans. Their
sister ships in other British ports were similarly reclaimed and all four
vessels have been offered for sale by the W.F.A.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From the
West
Wales Guardian of Friday 10th February 1967:
Two hake class trawlers reclaimed by the White Fish Authority have left
Milford Haven this week. First to go was the Welsh Consort, bought by a
Grimsby firm. Last night her sister ship, the Welsh Princess, left in
charge of a Scottish crew for Aberdeen, where she is to join Messrs. Craig's
fleet, which already includes the Argo of Pembroke.
The
Welsh Princess was prepared for the trip by Norrard Trawlers Ltd.
ASHLEA approaching Milford Docks
entrance
John Stevenson Collection
Back to
Trawlers 1940-88
