{"id":12476,"date":"2011-07-23T10:31:44","date_gmt":"2011-07-23T09:31:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fleetwood-trawlers.info\/?p=12476"},"modified":"2011-07-24T08:54:43","modified_gmt":"2011-07-24T07:54:43","slug":"s-t-doris-fd141-s-t-clara-bella-fd138","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.fleetwood-trawlers.info\/index.php\/2011\/07\/s-t-doris-fd141-s-t-clara-bella-fd138\/","title":{"rendered":"S.T. Doris FD141 & S.T. Clara Bella FD138"},"content":{"rendered":"

Material courtesy of Bob Wilson<\/em><\/p>\n

Mystery of the Lost Trawler \u2013 The Clara Bella FD138, 1914<\/p>\n

The CLARA BELLA belonged to the New Dock Steam Fishing Company LTD and was three years old when she left Fleetwood on the 26th of January 1914 for her ill-fated trip. This was the first time this vessel had gone to Iceland and crew members included Robert Gawne, Thomas Newby, Wliiliam Braham, James Patterson, Patrick Gregan jnr, James Maker or Maher, Oliver Cranwell or Crosswell, J. Blackwood, William Stone, Archibald Mclean, Richard Tomlinson, (son of the New Docks Managing Director), Martin Burnett and Harry kluver. James Patterson (spare hand) was my grandfather. He was 25 yrs of age.<\/p>\n

The last sightings of the CLARA BELLA were by the Grimsby trawlers (INA WILLIAM, the SWEEPER, and the CHALCEDONY). The INA WILLIAM put in for shelter in an Onunderfjord off the west coast of Iceland on February the 10th 1914. There were many trawlers sheltering there due to the extreme weather conditions at the time and most of the vessels were encased in ice. The Skipper, Henry Steel, recalls seeing a Fleetwood vessel anchored near the entrance of the Fjord. He remembered it because at the time, he had thought it was a bit of a novelty to see a Fleetwood trawler at the Icelandic fishing grounds. Skipper Steel went on to say that two hours later there were slight breaks in the snow storms and that is when he noticed that the Fleetwood trawler had disappeared. He concluded that they had possibly \u2018Slipped out to try for fish\u2019. <\/p>\n

He told the Board of Trade enquiry, \u2018The weather thickened again almost immediately and continued with heavy easterly gales and continuous snow storms for the next ten days\u2019. James Westerby, Skipper of the Grimsby trawler SWEEPER, said he saw the Fleetwood trawler in early February off Csar Bay, five or six miles South-West of Rykgaves on the South-West coast of Iceland. Why the CLARA BELLA had left was not known, but no trace of her had been found since, nor had any wreckage been found. The presumption was that either she had gone down in the blizzard or she might have struck a rock or floating ice.<\/p>\n

Board of Trade Enquiry<\/p>\n

The Secretary of the New Dock Steam Fishing Company \u2013 Joseph Allen Taylor, said he was satisfied that the vessel sighted by the Grimsby trawler SWEEPER must have been the CLARA BELLA. The conclusion he came to was that the skipper of the CLARA BELLA tried to resume his fishing during an interval in the rough weather and had probably struck a rock or some floating ice during the blizzard which had continued for sometime after he left.<\/p>\n

In another write up of the Fleetwood Chronicle dated March 24th 1914, the President of Hull Fishing Vessel Owners Association states, \u2018that the trawler CHALCEDONY saw a Fleetwood trawler in Fara Bay on Sunday, March 1st. Later the skipper of the steam trawler, SWEEPER, which arrived in Grimsby on the 9th of March, reported having seen a Fleetwood trawler. And his description of the vessel he saw corresponds with that of the CLARA BELLA seen on Saturday the 28th of February. If the CLARA BELLA was sighted on March 1st she would have been at sea for thirty four days at that point. <\/p>\n

The CLARA BELLA came to Fleetwood brand new. She was built in 1911 so was only three years old when she went missing. She was built at Middlesborough at the cost of \u00a37881 and was insured for \u00a37000. Her gross tonnage was about 299, and her speed ten knots. The CLARA BELLA was of standard design. The only difference from other trawlers being that she had an extra fish room aft and an extra bulk head forward. Her bunkers would take from 165 to 170 tons of coal and her ice capacity was about 35 tons. Her capacity for fish would be about 100 tons maximum. Dead weight calculated on freeboard would be about 279 tons.<\/p>\n

The Crew<\/p>\n

Bosun \u2013 Herbert or Robert Henry Gawne \u2013 twenty years of age, resided in Addison Road, Fleetwood. He left a wife and one child ages four months old.
\nMate \u2013 Thomas Newby \u2013 thirty four years of age, resided at 53 Carr Road, Fleetwood. He left a wife and one child aged seven years.
\nDeck Hand – William Braham \u2013 nineteen years old, single. He lived in Milton Street, Fleetwood.
\nSpare Hand \u2013 James Patterson- twenty five years, resided 55 Mount Street, Fleetwood. He left a wife and two children aged two years and one ten months.
\nSpare Hand \u2013 Patrick Gregan jnr \u2013 twenty years of age \u2013 single. Resided at Preston Street, Fleetwood.
\nFireman \u2013 James Maher (or Maker) \u2013 age and address unknown.
\nSecond Engineer \u2013 Oliver Cranwell (or Crosswell) single, a native of Melbourne Australia, lodging in Adelaide Street, Fleetwood.
\nSpare Hand \u2013 J. Blackwood \u2013 age and address unknown.
\nFireman \u2013 William Stone \u2013 twenty nine years, single, resided at 5 Garfield Street, (off Victoria Street) Fleetwood.
\nCook – Archibald Mclean \u2013 sixty six years, widower, and has a daughter in the Post Office at Birkenhead. He is a native of Glasgow and resided at the Imperial Cafe Fleetwood.
\nDeckhand \u2013 Richard Tomlinson \u2013 seventeen, single, the son of Captain Ernest Tomlinson, the Managing Director of the New Dock Trawling Company \u2013 resided Poulton Road, Fleetwood.
\nChief Engineer \u2013 Martin Burnett, age and address unknown, from Kintore Aberdeen.
\nSkipper \u2013 Harry Kluver \u2013 married man. This was his first sailing out of Fleetwood.<\/p>\n

A Double Tragedy-The Doris FD141<\/p>\n

The trawler, DORIS, was lost with all hands in January 1914 off the Western Hebrides. The crew members were:<\/p>\n

Skipper \u2013 William Wright.
\nMate \u2013 John Talbot
\nBosun \u2013 Matthew Wood
\nChief Engineer \u2013 John Stephenson
\nSecond Engineer \u2013 William Croft
\nTrimmer \u2013 Levi Leake
\nTrimmer \u2013 Arthur Stephenson
\nDeckhand \u2013 Robert William Chiffins
\nDeckhand \u2013 William Jones
\nCook \u2013 George\/William Nicholson<\/p>\n

There was only one body found and that was of the cook, William or George Nicholson.<\/p>\n

My Grandfather, James Patterson, was the Spare Hand on the CLARA BELLA. The Fleetwood Chronicle article of the time stated \u2018a rather strange coincidence in connection with James Patterson, is that he is stated to have signed articles to have sailed with the ill-fated DORIS, but at the last minute, he changed his mind and went in the CLARA BELLA. The trawler DORIS floundered off the coast of Skye around January 22nd 1914 with all crew lost. My grandfather\u2019s fate was sealed.
\nOn 25th of March 1913, after the loss of the BELOVAR and NEW CROWN a disaster fund was set up to help the bereaved families \u2013 it paid out about \u00a3200 in twelve months. . After the loss of the CLARA BELLA and the DORIS an appeal was launched by the fund \u2018Urgent Help Needed\u2019.
\nAfter researching the loss of the CLARA BELLA I can only conclude that there were a lot of contradictions in the various articles published in the Fleetwood Chronicle 1914. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Material courtesy of Bob Wilson Mystery of the Lost Trawler \u2013 The Clara Bella FD138, 1914 The CLARA BELLA belonged to the New Dock Steam Fishing Company LTD and was three years old when she left Fleetwood on the 26th of January 1914 for her ill-fated trip. This was the first time this vessel had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":261,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[444],"class_list":["post-12476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-documents","tag-document"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fleetwood-trawlers.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fleetwood-trawlers.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fleetwood-trawlers.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fleetwood-trawlers.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/261"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fleetwood-trawlers.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12476"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.fleetwood-trawlers.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12497,"href":"http:\/\/www.fleetwood-trawlers.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12476\/revisions\/12497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fleetwood-trawlers.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fleetwood-trawlers.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fleetwood-trawlers.info\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}