S.T. Bonthorpe FD104 | The Bosun's Watch

Technical

Official Number: 148219
Yard Number: 54
Completed: 1918
Gross Tonnage: 272.86
Net Tonnage: 105.80 (94)
Length: 125.5 ft
Breadth: 23.5 ft
Depth: 12.7 ft
Built: Collingwood Shipbuilding Co Ltd, Collingwood, Ontario
Engine: 480ihp T.3-cyl and boiler by Collingwood Shipbuilding Co Ltd, Collingwood, Ontario

History

1.1917: Ordered.
1918: Completed by Collingwood Shipbuilding Co Ltd, Collingwood, Ontario (Yd.No.54 or 55) (Canadian “Castle” – “T.R.” class) for The Admiralty (paid for and built under direction of RCN) as TR10.
16.5.1918: Completed and commissioned in the Royal Canadian Navy (1-12pdr).
8.1919: Paid off and laid up.
1920: Accepted offer of Rose Street Foundry & Engineering Co Ltd, Inverness (Captain Donald John Munro CMG RN as agent) to bring drifters with trawlers as escorts to UK for lay-up in Muirtown Basin, Caledonian Canal, Inverness prior to sale and possible refit for classification as steam trawlers (The Rose Street Foundry & Engineering Co Ltd letter dated 12 April 1920). Brought over at The Admiralty’s expense.
1.1926: Still laid up.
2.1926: Rejected offer for all remaining trawlers at £2,000 each (B. Allenby, Aberdeen letter dated 10 Feb 1926).
26.6.1926: Sold “as is” to Boston Deep Sea Fishing & Ice Co Ltd, Grimsby. Basil Arthur Parkes, Blackpool designated manager.
19.7.1926: Registered at Fleetwood as BONTHORPE (FD104).
9.1927: Engaged in an experimental trip to Canadian waters (Capt Leslie William Caxton). Chartered by Maritime Fish Corporation Ltd, Montreal. Based Canso, NS.
5.1928: Returned to Fleetwood for refit.
6-9.1928: Engaged in experimental trip to West African coast below the Canary Islands (Capt Caxton).
5.1929: Sold to Western Australia Trawling Co Ltd, Perth, Western Australia.
30.5.1929: Sailed Fleetwood for Fremantle, WA (Capt Caxton).
26.8.1929: Arrived Geraldton, WA for bunkers after eventful voyage. Based at Albany, WA using the Town Jetty with Capt Caxton as master. Employed trawling new fishing grounds in the Great Australian Bight. Also fished east of Albany as far as Esperance and made some very good landings.
17.10.1930: Registry noted “Sold out of District”.
1933: Company in liquidation. Laid up at Fremantle with salted boiler.
26.8.1933: Sold to Albany Tug Company, Albany, WA (Alexander Armstrong & Capt Clemence Douglas) for £200. Converted to a tug.
1939: Partnership dissolved, company wound up. Became property of Alex Armstrong, Albany, WA.
27.11.1939: Requisitioned for war service (RAN) as an anti submarine trawler.
10.12.1939: Commissioned in RAN (P.No.FY85).
1941: Fitted out as a minesweeper.
30.6.1944: Purchased by RAN.
17.2.1945: Paid off and laid up.
1948: Sold to Mark Dakas, Broome, WA.
1949: Sold to Mrs Mary Dakas, Broome, WA.
5.1949: Fleetwood registry closed.
23.5.1949: Registered at Fremantle.
1950: Fitted out to a barge tug.
3.10.1950: At Fremantle in 75mph gale, moored in pens, bows driven 15ft into wooden jetty when jetty struck by motor vessel CORAMBA (3551grt/1948) which had broken away from River Buoys. Minor damage.
3.4.1951: Sold to Marine Contractors Pty Ltd, Cairns, Queensland.
17.7.1951: Surveyed after fitting out as a barge tug.
17.9.1951: Fremantle registry closed.
17.9.1951: Alterations to particulars following survey at Albany dated 17.7.1951. 94.06 net.
8.10.1951: Registered at Cairns.
1954: Arrested as firm went into liquidation.
18.8.1954: Sold to Marine Contracting & Towing Co Ltd, Cairns, Queensland.
1955: Laid up at Cairns. Sank at berth and buried under the infill for new sugar terminal at Senrab Point.
4.6.1959: Cairns registry closed.

Click to enlarge images

S.T. Bonthorpe FD104
Picture courtesy of The Peter Green Collection

S.T. Bonthorpe FD104
Picture from the Internet

HMAS Bonthorpe
Picture from the Internet

HMAS Bonthorpe
Picture from the Internet

5 March 1930 – Capt Leslie William Caxton, Dominic Serventy, and Mate Arthur Shuttleworth
Picture courtesy of The State Library of W.A.

November 1929
Picture courtesy of the State Library of W.A.

November 1929 – Arthur Shuttleworth released cod end.
Picture courtesy of the State Library of W.A.

S.T. Bonthorpe FD104
Clipping courtesy of Geoff Davidson

Changelog
26/04/2014: Information updated.
30/08/2015: Corrected caption.
02/08/2016: Images added.
03/08/2016: Information updated.
19/01/2017: Added newspaper clippings.
18/12/2017: Removed FMHT watermark and added an image.
08/09/2019: Updated information.