Additional information courtesy of Adrian Corkill (Dictionary of Shipwrecks off the Isle of Man)

Technical

Official Number: 148350
Yard Number: 439
Completed: 1907
Gross Tonnage: 158
Net Tonnage: 57
Length: 105.6 ft
Breadth: 21.2 ft
Depth: 11.1 ft
Engine: T.3-cyl and boiler by Hall, Russell & Co Ltd, Aberdeen
Built: Hall Russell & Co Ltd, Aberdeen

History

1907: Completed by Hall, Russell & Co Ltd, Aberdeen (Yd.No.439) for Soc. Anon des Chalutiers de l’Quest, St. Nazaire (P. Creton, manager) as AR-MEN.
191?: Sold to P. Creton, St. Nazaire.
1920: Sold to Caillié & Co, Brest.
1925: New boiler fitted.
1925: Sold to Wear Steam Fishing Co Ltd, Sunderland (James Hall, manager). Registered at Sunderland (SD30).
1925: Renamed OONA HALL (SD30).
1939: Sold to Ernest Tomlinson, Fleetwood (managing owner).
6.1939: Sunderland registry closed.
6.6.1939: Registered at Fleetwood (FD23).
1940: Sold to Richard Bettess, Fleetwood.
28.5.1940: Run down by French auxiliary cruiser VILLE d’ALGER (10172grt/1935) in heavy sea mist WNW of Calf of Man, Isle of Man; one survivor* out of crew of nine. Wreck lies 6 miles W of Peel in 54m.
8.6.1940: Fleetwood registry closed “Vessel sunk”.

Note: The French Armed Auxiliary Cruiser VILLE D’ALGEIR was leading a French Transport, escorted by four destroyers, through the Irish Sea, on passage from Namsos, Norway. She was carrying “Chausseurs Alpins”, French Mountain troops, part of the Allied Expeditionary Force sent to aid in the failed defence of Norway. As the French convoy passed the west coast of the Isle of Man it encountered a sea mist.

Shrouded in the mist and in the path of the convoy, the steam trawler OONA HALL was unawares of her impending doom.
VILLE D’ALGEIR ran the trawler down, drowning eleven of the twelve crewmen, 8 miles north west by north of Peel breakwater. The sole survivor was picked up by the French vessel. He could recollect little of the incident, being asleep when the crash came. Instinctively rushing for the openness of the deck he was knocked senseless by something unseen. He only regained consciousness when he was pulled from the sea.

Changelog
03/01/2009: Page published. 5 updates since then.