The Bosun's Watch

S.T. King Erik GY474

Trawler/Liner

Additional information courtesy of David Lewis and Bill Blow

Technical

Official Number: 110879
Yard Number: 233
Completed: 1899
Gross Tonnage: 227
Net Tonnage: 90
Length: 114 ft
Breadth: 21.6 ft
Depth: 12 ft
Engine: 420ihp T.3-cyl and boiler by Charles D. Holmes & Co, Hull
Built: Cochrane & Cooper Ltd, Selby

History

29.3.1899: Launched by Cochrane & Cooper Ltd, Selby (Yd.No.233) as a liner for Viking Steam Fishing Co Ltd (64/64), Grimsby as KING ERIK.
28.4.1899: Registered at Grimsby (GY10). John E. Rushworth appointed
28.4.1899: Vessel mortgaged (64/64) to Arthur Henry Leslie Melville & Eustace Abel Smith, Lincoln (joint mortgagees) (A).
29.4.1899: Completed.
09.1899: Converted for trawling.
9.1899: Converted to side fishing.
30.9.1899: Mortgage (A) discharged.
30.9.1899: Vessel mortgaged (64/64) to The York City & County Banking Co Ltd (B).
6.11.1902: Sold by mortgagee under mortgage (B) to Frank Barrett, Grimsby.
8.11.1902: Frank Barrett appointed manager.
6.11.1902: Vessel mortgaged (64/64) to The Stamford, Spalding and Boston Banking Co Ltd, Gt. Grimsby (C).
3.8.1904: Mortgage (C) discharged.
16.9.1904: Sold to Aktieselsk Kingerik, Sandefjord, Norway.
29.9.1904: Grimsby registry closed.
10.1904: Registered at Sandefjord (SD33).
31.1.1907: At the Sheriff’s Court at Elgin, Sk. Hans Christian Andersen was found guilty of trawling within forbidden limits in the Moray Firth and fined £100 or sixty days imprisonment. Fine not paid and imprisioned at Inverness. Released following representation by the Norwegian Government.
10.1911: New boiler by Palmer’s Shipbuilding & Iron Co, Hebburn-on-Tyne.
1915: Re measured 228g 90n.
3.1915: Sold to Frank Barrett (64/64), Grimsby (managing owner).
3.1915: Sandefjord registry closed.
31.3.1915: Registered at Grimsby (GY474).
31.3.1915: Frank Barrett appointed manager.
11.4.1915: Requisitioned for war service as a minesweeper (1-3pdr) (Ad.No.1368). Based Egypt.
By 12.3.1919: Returned to owner at Grimsby.
1.1.1920: Sold to William Frank Gower (64/64), Grimsby.
12.4.1920: William Frank Gower appointed manager.
1.4.1920: Sold to Direct Fish Supplies Ltd (64/64) London.
19.4.1920: George William Payne Margarson, Grimsby appointed manager.
23.3.1922: Company in voluntary liquidation.
10.8.1922: Placed in compulsory liquidation.
9.10.1922: Sold by the liquidator George Digby Pepys, to Thomas William Baskcomb (64/64), Grimsby.
8.12.19022: Thomas William Baskcomb appointed manager.
27.7.1923: Vessel mortgaged (64/64) to The Grimsby Trawler Owners Direct Supply Co Ltd, Grimsby (A).
20.6.1924: Mortgage (A) transferred to Harry Allen Baskcomb, Grimsby.
31.3.1925: Mortgage (A) discharged.
1.4.1925: Vessel mortgaged (64/64) to Harry Allen Baskcomb, Grimsby (B).
1.4.1925: Vessel mortgaged (64/64) to The Grimsby Trawler Owners Direct Supply Co Ltd, Grimsby (C).
13.11.1937: Mortgage (C) discharged.
24.4.1940: Mortgage (B) discharged.
2.5.1940: Sold to Boston Deep Sea Fishing & Ice Co Ltd, Fleetwood.
9.5.1940: Basil A. Parkes, Thornton-le-Fylde appointed manager.
3.9.1941: Sailed Fleetwood for Icelandic grounds (Sk. Francis H. Davidson); total fifteen crew.
5.9.1941: Sailed Tobermory for Iceland after repair.
6.9.1941: On passage to Icelandic waters, at 2330 torpedoed by U-boat (U.141) without warning, ship hit and exploded; all crew lost*.
27.10.1941: Loss reported to families.
7.5.1942: Grimsby registry closed “Ship missing since 5/9/41, presumed lost”.

(*Lost – Sk. Francis Henry Davidson (40), Cleethorpes; John Bradford Brewer (32), 2nd Hand; Frederick Durbin (38), 3rd Hand, Hull; George Aisthorpe (56). Ch Eng; William Arthur Watson (37) 2nd Eng, Fleetwood; Eddie Christopher Bowles (54), John James Grundy (20), Fleetwood, Thomas Wall (28), Walter Austin Helme (18), Fleetwood and Arthur Leach (44), Hull, Deckhands; George Cyril Bond (25) and William Matthew Lewis (38), Grimsby, Firemen/Trimmers + three?).

Note: U 141 (Schuler) hit two trawlers with torpedoes on consecutive days. One was JARLINN and the other KING ERIK. Both vessels exploded

Click to enlarge images

S.T. King Erik GY474 at Grimsby

S.T. King Erik GY474
Picture courtesy of Steve Farrow