COASTERS & OTHER SHIPS REVIVED

Completed 1968 from the Rolandwerft at Bremen, Germany, and delivered as the cargo vessel VESTLOLLIK O.X.C.N. (Nakskov). Owners: Partnership Vestlolland c/o K. A. A. Rasmussen of Nakskov, Denmark. IMO 6806731.

Yard no 951 – GRT 1400 / 781 – NRT 921 / 363 – TDW 2400 / 1500 – Measurements: 79.20 / 72.00 (lpp) x 12.20

Subsequent History: 1972 MERC ENTERPRISE O.X.C.N. (København) – Owners: Partnership Merc-Scandia V, a company under the umbrella of MERCANDIA Company of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Images from the Danish Maritime Museum’s Digital Archive show the vessel as the MERC ENTERPRISE in service, and further below you will find images from the dramatic rescue at her tragic loss in 1974.

COASTERS & OTHER SHIPS REVIVED wishes in this post especially, to pay a tribute to the exceedingly brave airforce crews from Germany and Great Britain who came to the rescue of the stricken vessel – may their bravery and fortitude in this action never be forgotten – therefore, please read the citations below:

 Disposal Data: She capsized & sank 17 n.m. to the South of Eddystone LH on 16.01.1974 with the tragic loss of 7 lives. The vessel was on voyage from Le Treport to Cork, carrying barley in bulk.

 The Captain is hoisted from the sea. 

“Outstanding among the rescues of 1974 was that of the Merc Enterprise which capsized in 50 ft waves and 80 kt winds. During a rescue lasting 2’2hr, the naval crews performed magnificently and were rewarded by two AFCs and three AFMs”.

Awards for helicopter crews.

The Shipwrecked Fishermen and Mariners’ Royal Benevolent Society is to present engraved tankards to the crew of three Royal Navy and two Federal German Navy Westland Sea Kings which rescued seven people and recovered five bodies from the sea off the Devon coast last January. The five helicopters, from RNAS Culdrose, Cornwall, were called out when the Danish coaster Merc Enterprise capsized. Winds exceeded 50 kt, with gusts to 80 kt, and waves were up to 60ft high.

The awards recognise “the very high degree of courage, fortitude and perseverance shown by all the men involved in the face of extremely unpleasant and dangerous conditions“. 

Petty Officer Fowles was an aircrewman in one of the helicopters called to the rescue of the Danish merchant vessel “MERC ENTERPRISE” which had capsized in exceptionally heavy seas south of Plymouth. Conditions were very severe with winds gusting to 70 knots and waves of 30 to 50 feet from crest to trough. On sighting an apparently unconscious person in the water the aircraft was brought to the hover to enable Petty Officer Fowles to be lowered into the sea to recover the body by means of a double lift. The attempt was frustrated when he received facial injuries from the winch wire which suddenly tautened in a deep wave trough. Undaunted by the adverse conditions and his personal injuries Petty Officer Fowles continued in his efforts to recover two bodies from the sea but without success. His perseverance, courage and fortitude were in the highest traditions of the Service.

Able Seaman A. J. Williams was an aircrewman in one of the Sea King helicopters called out from the Royal Naval Air Station at Culdrose to assist in the rescue operation when the Danish merchant vessel ” MERC ENTERPRISE ” capsized in very adverse weather conditions, south of Plymouth. On arrival the pilot, despite winds gusting to 70 knots and waves up to 50 feet, fought to maintain a low hover height so that Able Seaman Williams might be lowered on the aircraft winch wire in order to recover a body from the sea. He was several times dragged through the crests of waves to be swung violently in the air and eventually he had to be raised ‘to prevent being struck by another wave. In spite of this Able Seaman Williams made a further attempt and succeeded in grasping the body as he was swept downward, and they were winched back into the aircraft. His persistence in the task, with little regard for his own personal safety, and his courage and fortitude were in the highest traditions of the Royal Navy.

Five Culdrose Sea Kings, including two German a/c from the Foreign Training Unit (the others from 706 and 824 Squadrons) lifted seven crew from a 480 ton Danish coaster when hurricane force winds were blowing down the Channel, and a further four who had been picked up by a Soviet trawler. The ship had capsized off Plymouth. One of the German aircraft and the 824 aircraft suffered severe salt ingestion in the engines, and both made cautionary landings in fields on the way back to Culdrose. The turbine blades were found to have severe corrosion.

On 16 January 1974, near the coast of Plymouth, a British Sea King helicopter together with two German Sea Kings (89+51 and 89+55) saved eleven men in a severe storm from the Danish freight vessel ‘Merc Enterprise’. Just four weeks later the same three helicopters rescued twenty-eight men from the freight ship ‘Lutria’. The ship’s crew had to abandon their ship and were already in lifeboats, on a sea with waves thirty to fifty feet high – despite these terrible weather conditions, the ship’s entire crew was saved.

Station honours: At Plymouth Lifeboat Station the following awards have been made:

Thanks of the Institution Inscribed on Vellum 13
Bronze Medal 5
Silver Medal 15
1974 A Bronze Medal was awarded to Coxswain John Dare for assisting the Merc Enterprise in difficulties in hurricane force winds and phenomenal seas.

The Soviet factory trawler with side no. NB-0273, which managed to rescue 4 crew from the stricken vessel, was the LENINGRAD (IMO 6922042), built 1969 (# b26/34) at the Gdanska Lenina Yard at Gdansk, Poland. She was a co-called “Kosmos” type, a vessel of GRT 2947 – TDW 1316 measuring 83.10 / 78.00 (lpp) x 13.90. She was broken up at Alang on 20.12.1994.

Regrettably no photo of the LENINGRAD has been found as yet, but the link below takes you to her sistership, the SMOLNYY (#b26/32) IMO 6916512. She was completed only two months prior to the LENINGRAD.

http://www.shipspotting.com/photos/big/4/2/7/389724.jpg

We who operated ships on the oceans, and lived to tell the tale, have always held in the absolutely highest regard, the brave men and women whom, regardless of weather conditions, have come to our aid and rescue when needed, and with little or no regard to their own safety. The above is a fitting tribute to their courage, fortitude and selflesssness in executing this most honourable profession, which they have chosen for themselves. May these brave men and women be cherished and appreciated forever.

Un-named Motorised Lifeboat of Hvide Sande Capsized on 9. December 1951 with the Loss of 5 Crew.

(from the Maritime Accident Report of 1951)

Hearings held at Esbjerg on 12.12.1951 and at Ringkøbing on 19.12.1951 established the following:

At 1630 hours the lookout at Hvide Sande Lifeboat Station observed that a ship off Haurvig was launching red emergency rockets. A severe WNW-ly gale was blowing at the time.

At 1810 hours another emergency rocket was launched from the ship, and at 1820 hours the open motorised lifeboat from Hvide Sande was launched, heading for the ship which turned out to be the Dutch suction hopper dredger KINHEM of Aerdenhout, which was anchored approximately 6 n.m. off shore.

Upon request from the ship’s Master, the lifeboat called for tug assistance to the KINHEM, and when none of the ship’s crew wished to abandon the vessel, the lifeboat turned back towards shore.

As the lifeboat was closing in on the coast, the lifeboat’s dragline was launched. However, at approximately 2020 hours when the boat had reached the outer sand bank, she was hit by a freak wave, causing her dragline to snap and the lifeboat capsized.

The whole 8-man crew was thrown into the sea, but 3 of them managed to get onto the upturned lifeboat and make it back to shore. The rest of the crew perished.

Ministerial Note 1: Those lost were -

Engineer Thyge Andersen Thygesen of Sdr. Lyngvig.

Radio Operator Aage Iversen of Hvide Sande North.

Assistant Engineer Marius Jensen of Hvide Sande South.

Boatman Carl Johannes Frandsen of Nørre Lyngvig.

Boatman Iver Enevoldsen of Hvide Sande North.

Ministerial Note 2: The Ministry must assume that the cause of the accident was the parting of the dragline.

The inscription on reads from top:

“This plaque is erected by the Dutch Government in reverent memory of – the lifeboatmens’ names – who on 09.12.1951 gave their lives in an attempt to rescue the crew of the Dutch suction hopper dredger KINHEM”

Top line on the stone:

“He takes his God into his heart and risks his life”

Bottom line in white:

“Locals and friends from afar erected this memorial stone in gratitude”

Copyright Uffe Drewsen of Hvide Sande.

At Grimsby in period 1895 – 1912 as PAWEL ANDREJEFF

1887, 2063grt – James Laing, Sunderland (315) as ELVASTON for Harris & Dixon, London

1895 PAWEL ANDREJEFF, Dansk-Russiske D/S (M. Carl), Copenhagen

1912 URAL, Northern S.S. Co., St. Petersburg

1918 – 1919 Shipping Controller, U.K.

1921 SAN SERAFINO. Soc. Maritime et Commerciale de France, Rouen

1922 ELVASTON, Garth Shipping Co. (L. Macarthy), Hull

1924 renamed ELMSGARTH

1924 Henry Clapham & Co., Hull

1928 Garth Shipping Co., Hull

Broken up at Charlestown, arrived 2/2/1933

Copyright Benny Elbæk Dahl – Photographed in the Port of Copenhagen on 19. May 2012.

For particulars and history, please see: http://7seasvessels.com/?p=25779

Here as the RHODANUS on the 10th May 2012 at Delfzijl
Photo:Frits Olinga-Delfzijl
Built by CSPL Yard, Decin, Yard-No.?
Compl. by SW Peters, Kampen, Yard-No.458
2056 GT, 2953 dwt – 85.0 x 12.5m
Launched:17-04-1998.Completed:17-10-1998
1998 HANSA KAMPEN CV Hansa Kampen, Delfzijl, Nld.
2006 RHODANUS Mare Shipping I BV., Tholen, Nld.
Source:Miramar Ship Index, by arrangement

The 1889 Apia Cyclone.

The 1889 Apia cyclone was a Pacific tropical cyclone, which swept across Apia, Samoa on March 15, 1889 during the Samoan crisis. The effect on shipping in the harbour was devastating, largely because of what has been described as ‘an error of judgement that will forever remain a paradox in human psychology’.

Events ashore had led to upheaval in the Pacific nations and colonies. Both the United States and Imperial Germany saw this as a potential opportunity to expand their holdings in the Pacific through gunboat diplomacy. In order to be ready should such an opportunity arise, both nations had dispatched squadrons to the town to investigate the situation and act accordingly. A British ship was also present, ostensibly to observe the actions of the other nations during the Samoan upheavals.

During the days preceding the cyclone of the 15th, increasing signs were visible of the impending disaster. March was cyclone season in this area, and Apia had been hit by a cyclone just three years previously, which the captains of the ships heard about from local people, especially as the weather began to change and the atmospheric pressure began to fall. The captains were experienced Pacific seamen, as were many members of their crews, and they all saw the approaching signs of impending disaster, just as they knew that the only chance they had of riding out the 100 mph (160 km/h) winds was to take to the open sea.

Apia is an exposed harbour, unprotected by high ground or an enclosing reef. The northern part of the harbour is open to the Pacific, and thus wind and waves can sweep through the area and drive any shipping which remained in the bay onto the reefs at the Southern end, or toss them right up the beach. However, even though the officers of the various navies were well aware of the necessary procedures in the face of such a threat, none made a move. This has been attributed to jingoism or national pride; none of the men in the harbour were willing to admit in front of the other nations’ navies, that they were afraid of the elements, and so refused to take precautions, and refused to allow the merchant ships which accompanied them to move either, leaving thirteen ships, some larger vessels, at anchor close to one another in Apia harbour.

When the cyclone struck the result was catastrophic. The local people had taken themselves to safety well before the storm struck, but the ships in the bay only began to evacuate at the very last minute, and thus were crowding towards the entrance to the bay when the hurricane hit. Only HMS Calliope escaped, making less than one knot; she dragged herself to the open sea, despite being less than six feet from a reef at one point. Once out at sea she was easily able to ride out the ensuing winds. Her survival is attributed to her size (2,227 tons) and her more powerful and modern engines, built only five years before, as compared to the ten or twenty years for many of the other ships.

As for the other ships, chaos reigned in the harbour. The USS Trenton was tossed against the beach in the afternoon, dragged back into the sea and wrecked on a reef at 10pm that evening, although the majority of her crew survived unhurt and were able to participate in the ensuing rescue operation. USS Vandalia was smashed into the same reef in the early afternoon, and her surviving crew spent a miserable day and night clinging to her rigging before being rescued, by which time 43 of her complement had drowned. The USS Nipsic was thrown high on the beach with eight of her crew missing or dead and her internal systems totally wrecked. She would however later be refloated and eventually reconstructed in Hawaii.

The German ships fared much worse. The SMS Olga came off best, thrown high onto the beach where she was wrecked but many of her crew survived, escaping onto higher ground. The SMS Adler and SMS Eber were less fortunate, because they were caught at the harbour mouth by the initial blow and were bodily picked up and smashed together before sinking in deep water. 96 men from their crews drowned in the storm, and both ships were totally destroyed. All six of the merchant ships remaining in the harbour were wrecked, and the death toll was well over 200 sailors from several nationalities.

The incident is often cited as a clear example of the dangers of putting national pride before necessity, especially in the face of natural disaster. The incident did not blunt the Pacific ambitions of any of the imperial powers involved in the disaster. However, the Germans and British continued to make territorial gains amongst the Samoan islands and New Guinea, whilst the United States focused on the Philippines and Micronesia, although more care was taken to respect the weather phenomena of the Pacific from this point on.

View of the wrecked warship HIMS ADLER lying on her side in Apia Harbour. Photographed by an unknown photographer in 1889.

American and German warships in Apia Harbour in 1889, were wrecked when a hurricane struck on the 15th of March. This photograph was taken soon after the storm.

Wrecked German warship HIMS Adler, Apia, Samoa. Hackworth, Philip Vernon, d 1960 : Photograph album. Ref: PA1-q-107-43-1. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.

http://beta.natlib.govt.nz/records/23123622

German naval corvette Olga, wrecked at Apia, Samoa, in the hurricane of 16 March 1889, photographed by John Davis.

YULIA on the 15th May 2012 inbound Delfzijl

Photo:Frits Olinga-Delfzijl

YULIA on the 15th May 2012 at Delfzijl
Photo:Frits Olinga-Delfzijl

Built by Shandong Weihai Shipyard, Weihai, Yard-No.SN321
19814 GT, 30878 dwt – 178.0 x 23.7m
Launched: ? . Completed: -05-2011
2011 HARLEQUIN Panama, Pan.
2011 YULIA Reederei ms “Yulia” GmbH & Co.KG(MST Mineralien Schiffahrt), Monrovia, Lbr.

POOL FISHER unknown location, undated
Photo collection:Peter Schliefke (copyright unknown)

Built by N.V.Scheepswerf  “Foxhol”, Foxhol, Yard-No.105
1028 BRT, 557 NRT, 1372 dwt – Loa.66.30m – 60.91 x 10.32 x 4.60m – Dg.4.41m
Engine:Klöckner-Humbold Deutz 4 stroke 6 cyl(420×660) 830 bhp, 619 kW, 11 kn
Launched:11-10-1958.Completed: -02-1959
Feb.1959 POOL FISHER James Fisher & Sons Ltd., Barrow, Gbr.(GXLL)
06-11-1979 While on a voyage from Hamburg to Runcorn she capsized and sank off St Catharine’s Point, Isle of Wight. There were only two survivors out of the fifteen on board.

VECHTBORG on the 13th May 2012 River Ems
Photos:Frits Olinga-Delfzijl

Built by De Hoop Foxhol Hoogezand, Netherlands, Yard-No.331
6939 GT, 8737 dwt – 123.8 x 15.9m
Launched:13-06-1998 . Completed:03-09-1998
1998 VECHTBORG CV Scheepvaartonderneming Vechtborg, Delfzijl, Nld.
2004 VECHTBORG Esmeralda Shipping NV., Willemstad, Ant.
2005 VECHTBORG  ms “Niobe” Schiffahrts GmbH & Co. KG., Willemstad, Ant.
2009 VECHTBORG ms “Niobe” Schiffahrts GmbH & Co. KG., Saint John’s, Atg.
Source:Miramar Ship Index, by arrangement

AGILITY unknown location, undated
Photo collection:Peter Schliefke (Photo credit:A. Duncan)
Built by George Brown & Company Greenock, Yard-No.141
522 GT, 700 dwt – 48.9 x 8.0m
Launched: -03-1924. Completed: -04-1924
1924 AGILITY F.T.Everard & Sons Ltd., London, Gbr.
-12-1958 broken up at Grays
Source:Miramar Ship Index, by arrangement

VULCAN unknown location, undated
Photo collection:Peter Schliefke (copyright unknown)
HMS Vulcan, Torpedo Boat Depot Ship. HMS Vulcan built at Portsmouth Dockyard and launched 13th June 1889. Her main purpose was to launch smaller torpedo boats against enemy shipping. She looked very similar to a cruiser except for two large cranes used for deploying torpedo boats, similar protective deck armour to a cruiser. In 1915 she was used as a submarine depot ship and in 1931 became a training hulk and was renamed HMS Defiance III, finally being scrapped in 1955.
Displacement: 6,600 tons     Speed: 20 knots.    Armament: eight 4.7 ins guns replaced in 1915 by four 3 pdr guns. She carried six 2nd class torpedo boats.   Complement: 432.
Source:http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/vulcan.htm