Additional information courtesy Dictionary of Shipwrecks off the Isle of Man by Adrian Corkhill c2001 and Bill Blow.

Technical

Official Number 123238
Yard Number: 99
Completed: 1906
Gross Tonnage: 173.15
Net Tonnage: 53
Length: 108.5 ft
Breadth: 21.6 ft
Depth: 11.5 ft
Engine: 270ihp T.3-cyl by Amos & Smith, Hull
Built: Cook, Welton & Gemmell, Beverley
Speed: 9.5 knots

History

11.12.1905: Provisionally registered at Hull (H876).
13.2.1906: Launched by Cook, Welton & Gemmell, Beverley (Yd.No.99) for Hellyer’s Steam Fishing Co Ltd, Hull as OCTAVIA.
22.3.1906: Completed (Charles Helyer, manager).
29.3.1906: Registered at Hull (H876).
1.1.1914: Tonnage altered to 67.52 net under provision of Merchant Shipping Act 1907.
29.5.1917: Requisitioned for Fishery Reserve.
1919: Released.
9.1.1919: Sold to Charles Dobson (64/64), Grimsby.
9.1.1919: Charles Dobson designated managing owner.
7.2.1919: Hull registry closed.
10.2.1919: Registered at Grimsby (GY102).
10.10.1919: Sold to The Home & Colonial Steam Fishing Co Ltd (64/64), Great Yarmouth.
13.10.1919: William Thomas Young appointed manager.
12.12.1919: Vessel mortgaged (64/64) to National Provincial & Union Bank of England Ltd, London (A).
23.4.1921: William Charles Pitcher, Gorleston appointed manager.
9.3.1922: Nat Swann, Gorleston appointed manager.
15.2.1924: Mortgagee re-styled National Provincial Bank Ltd, London.
24.8.1925: Mortgage (A) transferred to Eleanor Stewart, Newcastle upon Tyne.
23.9.1925: Sold by mortgagee under mortgage (A) to Fred Parkes, Blackpool (managing owner).
16.10.1925: Fred Parkes appointed manager.
31.12.1925: Sold to Sydney Charles Fox (16/64), William Claudius Farrow (16/64), William Boyd (16/64) and George Altoft (16/64) all Hull.
7.1.1926: Grimsby registry closed.
7.1.1926: William Claudius Farrow designated managing owner.
11.1.1926: Registered at Hull (H274).
1926: Sold to Ocean Steam Fishing Co Ltd (64/64), Hull (George Altoft, manager).
6.11.1929: Sold to Holderness Steam Trawling Co Ltd, Hull (Kenneth Pocklington, managers).
1930: Kenneth Pocklington & James C. Wood appointed joint managers.
8.1.1936: Henry Laverack fell overboard in St. Andrews Dock, recovered and subsequently died from heart failure.
1936: Sold to Robert Hudson, Preston (managing owner) (The Sun Steam Trawling Co Ltd, managing agents).
15.8.1936: First landing at Fleetwood, 55 boxes grossed £85.
13.2.1937: Foundered after collision 12m SE of Maughold Head, Isle of Man with the Fleetwood trawler GEORGE COUSINS (LO66); crew taken onboard GEORGE COUSINS.
14.2.1937: Survivors landed at Fleetwood. Wreck lies at a depth of 23.5 m in an upright position minus funnel.
26.7.1937: Hull registry closed “Total loss 13.2.37”.

Note : On Saturday night on the 12th of February 1937, the Hull registered trawler OCTAVIA, H 274, was in collision with the Fleetwood vessel GEORGE COUSINS roughly 12 miles south-east of Maughold Head on the Isle of Man. OCTAVIA was so badly damaged that she sank in a few minutes. The crew managed to scramble aboard GEORGE COUSINS with no loss of life.

Aboard the OCTAVIA, two of the crew, the bosun H. Haslam and a deckhand W.Durbin had a very lucky escape. The two men had turned in and were asleep when water began to rush in through a gaping hole. The forecastle door jammed with the force of the impact and a lamp was upset pouring blazing paraffin all over the deck. For a few moments it was touch and go until they were able to force the door and release the men.

The wreck lies at a depth of 23.5m and is still intact today, although the superstructure has sustained some damage. OCTAVIA stands upright with a slight starboard list although the funnel is detached.

Click to enlarge image

S.T. Octavia H274
Picture courtesy of The Mark Stopper Collection

Changelog
03/01/2009: Page published. 5 revisions since then.
20/08/2014: Information updated with latest information.