Armed Trawler

[mmm45]

Hi

Can anyone give me any info on an armed trawler Viola one of its crew is on my local Roll Of Honour.He drowned off Scotland Nov 1914.

thanks

Ady

[Tim]

She's still around, believe it of not!

Hope this is of interest.

By : Captain John Simpson MNI (London Offshore Consultants Ltd)

After a hard working life at sea, very few merchant ships survive the breakers yard. There are of course

exceptions, particularly those rescued and lovingly preserved in maritime centres around the world and

providing an invaluable first hand look at the past. Sometimes, being shipwrecked or abandoned in some

remote part of the world delays this more frequent fate.

At the head of the harbour of King Edward Cove on the isolated South Atlantic island of South Georgia lies the abandoned whaling station of Grytviken. Originally opened in 1904 by Captain C.A.Larsen of the well known whaling company, PESCA, this was the first of several whaling stations built on the island that worked almost continuously through to the 1960s. Alongside the decaying buildings, only a stones throw from the last resting place of the great Antarctic explorer, Sir Ernest Shackleton, the tiny vessel, ‘Dias’ is moored.

She is a hero of the first world war, a survivor of the second and a silent witness to some of the events of the Falklands conflict that took place in 1982, over 8000 miles from her original home.

The ‘Dias’ started life as the ‘Viola’, one of many British, coal fired, steam trawlers built in the early

years of the 20th century. Launched in 1906 at Cook, Welton and Gemmell’s shipyard in Beverley, East

Yorkshire and with triple expansion steam engines built by Amos and Smith of Hull she became part of

local owners, Hellyer’s, boxing fleet. Like many other North Sea trawlers, the ‘Viola’ would fish the North Sea, regardless of the weather conditions, regularly transferring her catch by open boat to steam cutters who then took the fish into London’s Billingsgate Market on a daily basis. Such activities fuelled the prosperity of the great fishing ports of Grimsby and Hull.

In 1914, as war broke out, hundreds of these fishing vessels were immediately requisitioned for war work,

their crews also went with their ships and together they carried out the vital and dangerous work of mine

sweeping and anti submarine patrol. These small craft were used in many parts of the world to safeguard shipping and many were lost. The Hull firm of Hellyers, alone lost 15 of their fleet of 50 trawlers to enemy action, and many hundreds of the volunteer civilian crews were killed.

After being fitted with a naval gun, ‘Viola’ became an armed trawler and carried out vital war work around the Shetlands. After at least one previous encounter with an enemy submarine she played a major role in the sinking of the UB-30 off Whitby during 1918. When peace was finally declared the battle hardened war veteran was decommissioned and returned briefly to fishing but as new fleets were being built she was sold to Norwegian owners and renamed ‘Kapduen’, becoming one of the first Norwegian steam trawlers.

During the 1920’s she was converted into a whale catcher for the Norwegian, Nils Torvald Nielsen Alonso and her name changed to ‘Dias’. She became involved in two whaling expeditions off the west coast of Africa but due to the lack of commercial success she was finally sold in 1927 to Captain C. A Larsen’s PESCA. Based at Grytviken she was used to hunt elephant seals around South Georgia in the carefully regulated industry licensed by the Falkland Islands Government.

As well as undertaking hunting expeditions in South Georgia she was also in demand as a support vessel for many of the expeditions around the island and the Antarctic peninsula. She assisted during the famous Kohl-Larsen Expedition in 1928/29, the British South Georgia Expedition and the Bird Island Expedition of 1958

amongst others. She must surely be one of the longest serving vessels in South Atlantic exploration.

It was not until the 1950’s that she was finally converted from burning coal to oil, but she still retained her original triple expansion engines. In 1960 she returned to the red ensign after ‘Pesca’ was bought by the British company ‘Albion Star’. This was, however, the end of the whaling era in the South Atlantic and the ‘Dias’ was finally abandoned in Grytviken, slowly settling under the accumulation of winter snow that melted into her hull every brief summer.

She has lain quietly there ever since, alongside the ‘Albatross’ and nearby the ‘Petrel’, also veterans of

the whaling industry. After the excitement of the Falklands conflict, which of course started in South

Georgia, and the sinking of the Argentinian submarine ‘Santa Fe’ in Grytviken the seasons have come

and gone.

During the summers of 2002 and 2003 the abandoned vessels came back into the spotlight. A

substantial amount of work was carried out including the removal of the original bunker oil and

temporarily refloating ‘Dias’. The question is whether this momentum can be maintained and a fullscale

rescue mission mounted.

A campaign to save the ‘Viola’ has been spearheaded by Doctor Robb Robinson of Hull College, Robb

is an Honorary Research Fellow of the University of Hull and a maritime historian who has specialised

in fishing and whaling. He has spent a great deal of time researching her long life and in the process

made the surprise discovery that his grandfather had sailed on her in 1907. The object now, is to safeguard the future of this unique vessel before it is too late. There has been a great deal of enthusiasm for the project locally and from The Society for Nautical Research nationally. Robb hopes that this interest can be developed internationally.

Rescuing a vessel so far from home is not an easy task but there is the precedent of the SS ‘Great

Britain’ being successfully brought back from the Falkland Islands. ‘Viola’ is a much less daunting

prospect, with a length of 108 feet and only 174 gross tons she makes a moderate sized deck lift for a

cargo vessel. Already, the project has been offered the assistance of experienced mariners and naval

architects from London Offshore Consultants Ltd. (LOC).

The ‘Viola’ is one of the last of hundreds of her generation and a tribute to the shipyard that built her

and the men that manned her. It is now the intention to formally launch the campaign to return her,

hopefully, to her home port of Hull as a lasting testament to the great maritime heritage of the area

and the lasting memory of the seamen of all nations who manned her during war and peace.

It is hoped that a web-site will be up and running in the near future but at present Dr Robb Robinson is available on his mobile telephone, number +44 0779 956 6652.

DAILY SHIPPING NEWSLETTER 2004 – 084

Cheers,

Tim

[Terence Munson]

I reckon this small BW pic is of the same vessel:

http://usera.imagecave.com/TcM59/S.T.Viola.jpg

One of more than 1,000 Trawlers registered as sailing out of Grimsby 1929

Cheers: Terry

[mmm45]

I reckon this small BW pic is of the same vessel:

http://usera.imagecave.com/TcM59/S.T.Viola.jpg

One of more than 1,000 Trawlers registered as sailing out of Grimsby 1929

Cheers: Terry

Excellent lads

Thanks very much for all your info.

Ady

[spithead]

Hi

Can anyone give me any info on an armed trawler Viola one of its crew is on my local Roll Of Honour.He drowned off Scotland Nov 1914.

thanks

Ady

Tim's 'Viola' in his excellent article is almost certainly the Hull Trawler H868.

The photo of Terry's is the Grimsby GY67 built 1905 for the Artic Steam Fishing Co. ON 122690

Another Viola is GY618 built 1894 ON 104175

Regards

John

[joseph]

Hi,

Nice article Tim,

There is a picture of the Viola in Georgia in this article.

http://www.ibiblio.org/maritime/Scheepvaar...15-02-2005a.PDF

There is a project driven by the Hull Maritime Museum to bring her home.

Regards Charles

[Terence Munson]

Tim.......Excellent posting.

Charles/John......Obviously this vessel has been well researched and I wish all concerned with the project the best. Sounds like a lot of hurdles to clear and some deep pockets needed!

Even though my photo of Grimsby’s S.T.Viola (GY67) is not the vessel that Ady was seeking information about - All is not lost because in the process of posting I’ve set up web space for images that I can link to in the future!

Couldn’t find a photo of ‘Kapduen’ or of ‘Dias’ in my database!

Cheers: Terry

[Robb Robinson]

Ady,

Would the person you have come up with be called Thomas Craven? He was lost overboard from the Viola in November 1918 in Lerwick Harbour. He is buried in Lerwick. He was lodging down Eastbournes Street on Hessle Road, Hull and was on the Roll of Honour.

I am currently writing a book about the vessel which is the oldest surviving steam trawler in the world with its steam engines still intact. It was involved in many incidents whilst in Admiralty service, including the sinking of the UB-30 off Whitby in August 1918.

I am rying to find out more about the people on the vessel, especially the skipper, Charles Allum who was with the vessel from 1914 to 1918.

For further details look at our website www.viola-dias.org

Unfortunately, the e-mail links on that site do not work.

Robb Robinson