S.D/T. Merbreeze LT253 | The Bosun's Watch

Additional information courtesy of Barry Banham and Christine Simm

Technical

Official Number: 162956
Yard Number: 245
Gross Tonnage: 116.76
Net Tonnage: 52.84
Length: 94.3 ft
Breadth: 28.7 ft
Depth: 11.6 ft
Engine: 280ihp T.3-cyl by S. Richards & Co Ltd, Lowestoft
Boiler by Riley Brothers (boilermakers) Ltd, Stockton on Tees

History

Note: Last steam drifter built in England

1931: Launched by S. Richards & Co Ltd, Lowestoft (Yd.No.245) for Alan Howard Watson, Lowestoft as MERBREEZE.
9.1931: Completed at a cost of £6,550. Allan Howard Watson designated managing owner.
24.9.1931: Registered at Lowestoft (LT253).
1930s: Seasonal white fish trawling from Padstow and Fleetwood. (William Head, Lowestoft, managing agent).
3.5.1932: Sold to P. W. Watson & Sons Ltd, Lowestoft. Alan Howard Watson designated manager.
6.11.1933: At Lowestoft landed 250,000 herring (50 tons), a new port record. With 150 Drifters landing, the Scottish fisher girls were called in to work in the curing yards long before daylight and continued far into the night.
21.11.1939: Requisitioned for war service as a minesweeping drifter (P.No.FY.953) (Hire rate £69.3.6d/month).
6.1940: Based Swansea (Ty/Sk. W. G. A. Thompson RNR).
1.1942: Based Londonderry (Ty/Lieut. H. Wright RNVR).
11.6.1943: Compulsorily acquired by M.O.W.T. Re-deployed as a minesweeping drifter.
6.8.1943: Lowestoft registry closed.
10.1944: Employed on miscellaneous Naval duties.
4.1946: Transferred to Ministry of Transport.
1947: Sold to P. W. Watson & Sons Ltd, Lowestoft. Allan H. Watson designated manager.
27.2.1948: Registered at Lowestoft (LT365) after refurbishment.
26.5.1951: Sailed Newlyn for Lowestoft (Sk. Albert Bailey) having earned a record £8,000 in the 12 to 14 week mackerel fishery, though the weather was poor, hardly ever a fine night throughout. Her best catch fetched £710.
23.7.1925: At Peterhead (Sk. Albert Bailey) landed the season’s record haul, 230 crans of herring – more than 200,000 fish and fetched £650 for a single night’s fishing. Several boats operating out of Fraserburgh suffered severe loss when their nets sank with the weight of fish.
22.3.1955: Sailed Newlyn for the fishing grounds and when off the Seven Stones Light Vessel, caught in the 96 mph gale that swept the Western Approaches that night and the following morning.
23.3.1955: Returned to Newlyn with damage.
27.7.1955: Sold to The Breeze Co (Lowestoft) Ltd, Lowestoft. Allan H. Watson, Beccles designated manager.
12.10.1955: Returning to Lowestoft from the herring fishery (Sk. Arthur Bailey), when some three miles off Lowestoft in dense fog, in collision with the Middlesbrough registered steamer NORTHUMBRIAN COAST (1180grt/1935). Both vessels damaged forward and MERBREEZE skipper and two crew injured. Berthed at Lowestoft with stem twisted and bow shell plates set in. Slipped at Lowestoft for repair.
13.10.1955: NORTHUMBRIAN COAST berthed at Smith’s Dock, North Shields with considerable damage to starboard bow which will take two to three weeks to repair.
25.2.1958: Sold to Charles Henry Eastick, Gt. Yarmouth.
23.4.1958: Reported fishing on the Aberdeen grounds and landing into that port.
3. 4. 1959: Arrived Fish Quay, North Shields on passage to the Aberdeen fishing grounds. Coaled and left some of her nets in storage for the forthcoming herring season off the Tyne.
2.7.1959: Sold to Merbreeze Ltd, Lowestoft. John George Mitchell, designated manager.
14.10.1959: Surveyed and re measured 122g 42n.
14.10.1959: Completed conversion to motor by Richards Ironworks Ltd, Lowestoft and fitted with 6-cyl 360bhp 4 stroke oil engine by Ruston & Hornsby Ltd, Lincoln.
28.10.1959: Trials on completion of conversion to motor.
4.7.1964: Sk. George Turrell forced to give up his job having previously been affected by the ‘Dogger Bank itch’ (a skin condition characterised by a long-lasting dermatitis caused by exposure to the sea chervil when handling nets).
26.11.1975: Sold to Colne Fishing Co Ltd, Luton, in an en bloc deal with HOSANNA (LT167) and TRITONIA (LT188). John Leggett, Lowestoft, designated manager.
18.12.1975: Lowestoft registry (Part IV) closed “Vessel no longer fishing”. Stripped of all usable parts including main engine.
1975: Engine removed, rebuilt by L.B.S. Engineering Ltd, Lowestoft and fitted in offshore platform standby safety vessel KINGFISH.
1976: Sold to T. G. Darling, Oulton Broad, Lowestoft, in an en bloc deal with HOSANNA (LT167) and TRITONIA (LT188), for breaking up by East Anglian Reclamation Ltd at Nelson Wharf, Lake Lothing, Lowestoft.
13.10.1976: Lowestoft registry (Part I) closed “Vessel broken up”.

Click to enlarge images

S.D/T. Merbreeze LT365
Picture courtesy of The Barry Banham maritime photo Collection

S.D/T. Merbreeze LT365
Picture from the Internet

S.D/T. Merbreeze LT253
Picture from the Internet

S.D/T. Merbreeze LT365
Picture courtesy of The Robert Durrant Collection

S.D/T. Merbreeze LT365
Picture courtesy of The Barry Banham maritime photo Collection
Repairs after collision with NORTHUMBRIAN COAST

S.D/T. Merbreeze LT253
Picture courtesy of The James Cullen Collection

M.T. Merbreeze LT365
Picture from the Internet

S.D/T. Merbreeze LT365
Picture courtesy of The Barry Banham maritime photo Collection
Engine for refurbishment and installation in KINGFISH

M.D/T. Merbreeze LT365
Picture from the Internet

Changelog
05/10/2012: Page published.
22/06/2014: Picture added.
11/01/2019: Removed FMHT watermarks from images.
04/05/2019: Added an image.
13/06/2021: Updated information.
24/11/2023: Added an image.
06/12/2023: Updated history.