S.T. Chiltern H660 | The Bosun's Watch

Additional material courtesy of Mike Thompson and Andy Hall

Technical

Admiralty Number: 3562
Official Number: 143867
Yard Number: 822
Completed: 1917
Gross Tonnage: 324.43
Net Tonnage: 130.34
Length: 138.5 ft
Breadth: 23.7 ft
Depth: 12.8 ft
Built: Cochrane & Sons Ltd, Selby
Engine: 540ihp T.3-cyl and boiler by Charles D. Holmes & Co Ltd, Hull
Armament: 1 x 12 pdr AA

History

4.9.1917: Launched by Cochrane & Sons Ltd, Selby (Yd.No.822) (“Mersey” class) for The Admiralty as JOHN CORMACK.
30.11.1917: Completed as an armed trawler (1-12pdr HA and W/T).
5.12.1917: Accepted.
22.11.1919: Registered by The Admiralty at London (Part I) as JOHN CORMACK O.N.143867.
16.1.1920: Sailed Gt. Yarmouth for Danzig with 1,500 barrels of herring loaded from the Co-operative Wholesale Society Ltd fishing station for distribution among co-operative societies in Warsaw and district. This was the first sailing in connection with organisations in England and the Continent and it may be the beginning of similar trade on international lines.
28.1.1920: Registered by The Admiralty at London (Part IV) (LO263).
By 18.6.1920: Allocated to Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries, London and engaged in commercial trawling.
13.8.1920: Minesweepers’ Cooperative Trawling Society Ltd, London registered.
1920: Allocated the Minesweepers’ Cooperative Trawling Society Ltd, London.
12.1920: At HM Dockyard, Chatham completed fitting out for fishing under Special Survey of Lloyd’s Register and classed 100A1 Stm Trawler at London
4.1921: Paid off at The Nore. Laid up at Chatham.
1.1922: Scheme abandoned, the necessary working capital of £100,000 having not been subscribed.
1922: Sold to Pickering & Haldane’s Steam Trawling Co Ltd (64/64), Hull.
28.7.1922: London registry closed.
4.8.1922: Registered at Hull (H660).
4.8.1922: John McCann & Edward Cartwright designated managers.
21.8.1922: Registered at Hull as LORD PIRRIE (H660) (MoT Minute RG1390/1922 dated 19.8.1922).
8.1922: Fishing out of Hull. First skipper C. Edlington.
24.12.1928: On an Icelandic trip, Kemp Gill (28), Bosun, washed overboard and drowned.
14.3.1929: Homeward from Icelandic grounds (Sk. P. W. Gray), at 4.00am. when off the N. Yorkshire coast stranded at Baud Hole, Filey Brig. Came afloat without assistance at 6.00am. and proceeded to Hull.
6.4.1929: Sold to W. B. Willey & Sons Ltd (64/64), Hull.
6.4.1929: William B. Willey Jnr designated manager.
17.4.1929: Vessel mortgaged (64/64) to Midland Bank Ltd, London (A).
28.6.1929: Registered at Hull as CHILTERN (H660) (BOT Minute RG1304/29 dated 24.6.1929).
18.3.1935: William B. Willey Jnr & James Willey designated managers.
14.5.1936: Mortgage (A) discharged.
15.5.1936: Sold to H. Elliott & Sons Trawlers Ltd (64/64), Fleetwood.
18.5.1936: Henry Elliott designated manager.
27.5.1936: Vessel mortgaged (64/64) to National Provincial Bank Ltd, London (B).
6.1936: Fishing out of Fleetwood. First skipper Charles Pennington.
7.1936: On Rockall grounds, George Cook (45) of Blackburn, deckhand, fell overboard and was drowned.
12.7.1937: At Fleetwood Magistrates Court, deckhand James Henry Bryant (32) was fined 10/- for failing to join on sailing and ordered to refund 10/- he had received in advance from the firm.
16.8.1939: Mortgage (B) discharged.
16.8.1939: Sold to Boston Deep Sea Fishing & Ice Co Ltd (64/64), Fleetwood.
22.8.1939: To correct address of H. Elliott & Sons Trawlers Ltd.
28.8.1939: Basil Arthur Parkes, Thornton-le-Fylde designated manager.
30.8.1939: Sold to Fred Parkes, Blackpool and Basil Arthur Parkes, Thornton-le-Fylde (joint owners 64/64).
29.9.1939: Basil Arthur Parkes, Thornton-le-Fylde designated managing owner.
Pre 4.1940: Employed on Fishery Protection (WA/Fort William/Fleetwood).
4.6.1940: Requisitioned for war service as an auxiliary patrol vessel (1-12pdr) (P.No. 4.125) (Hire rate £94.10.0d/month).
15-25.6.1940: Operation Ariel.*
18.6.1940: At St. Nazaire, rescued women and children (116) from advancing German forces. The last British ship to leave the port.
20.6.1940: Arrived Plymouth.
30.5.1941: Shot down twin engined German bomber off West Country (Ty/Sk. A. J. Drake RNR).
9.1941: Fitted out as a minesweeper. Based Plymouth.
1.1942: At Falmouth for arcticisation.
3.1942 – 5.1942: At Reykjavik as escort (part) of Russian convoys PQ.12, PQ.14 and PQ.15.
26.8.1944: Sold to Eton Fishing Co Ltd (64/64), Hull.
29.8.1944: George Gillard, designated manager.
6.3.1945: 2nd Hand William Reaich, Buckie died of unknown causes in N. Russia.
1945: Returned to owner.
7.3.1945: Vessel mortgaged (64/64) to Barclays Bank Ltd, London (C).
11.3.1946: Mortgage (C) discharged.
1.6.1946: Sold to Ross & Fullerton Ltd (64/64), Glasgow.
19.8.1946: Alexander Fullerton Jnr, Greenock designated manager.
12.9.1946: Sold to David Gloag Watson, Edinburgh; Hugh Micklejohn Martin, Edinburgh and William Livingston, Peterhead (joint owners 64/64)
25.10.1946: David Gloag Watson designated managing owner.
25.10.1946: Hull registry closed.
10.1946: Registered at Granton (GN25).
28.10.1946: Laid up at Granton. Flooded engine room due to leak.
1947: Sold to Planet Fishing Co Ltd, Edinburgh. Edwin Walker & Sons designated managers.
26.1.1950: Fishing about 110 miles NE of Buchan Ness (Sk. John Paterson) in company with trawler KUVERA (GN39) which started to take in water. Before vessel settled and foundered, all thirteen crew taken onboard and subsequently landed at Granton.
1.9.1950: In North Sea off S.E. Scotland, responded to radio call for assistance from MFV IMMANUEL (WK149), at anchor disabled with engine breakdown; connected and commenced tow for Aberdeen.
4.9.1950: Delivered Aberdeen.
1952: Sold to Medway Yacht Basin Ltd, Borstal, Rochester (R. W. Pearson, manager).
1952: Sold to George A. Ferguson, Borstal, Rochester.
1954: Sold to BISCO and allocated to James A. White & Co Ltd, St. David’s for breaking up.

*Operation Ariel – withdrawal of remaining troops of the British Expeditionary Force from France.

(John Cormack (aka Cormick), Bosun’s Mate (prest), age 26, b. Co.Wexford (also recorded as age 29, b. Edinburgh) – VICTORY (SB573))

Click to enlarge images

HMT John Cormack
Picture courtesy of The Andy Hall Collection

S.T. Chiltern H660
Picture courtesy of The Mike Thompson Collection

S.T. Chiltern H660
Picture courtesy of The George Westwood Collection

Changelog
18/01/2009: Page published. 5 updates since then.
02/09/2017: Removed FMHT watermark and added an image.
25/11/2019: Updated information.