Tag Archives: Document

Wyre Majestic Hits Iceberg

Article from unknown source January 30 1964.

Supplied by Les Howard

The 337 ton Fleetwood trawler Wyre Majestic arrived in port on Tuesday with a dented bow caused when she collided with an iceberg off Iceland’s North Cape.

Skipper Alec Middleton, aged 36, of Fleetwood, yesterday told of the thirty minutes of tension before the vessel managed to steer clear of the massive ice obstacle.
Crew members said that the skipper’s swift thinking saved not just Wyre Majestic but 15 other trawlers heading for the iceberg.

The incident happened in darkness last Wednesday night. An Arctic gale blew up suddenly and the vessel came to a crunching halt.
Skipper Middleton said yesterday, “I ordered ‘Stop engines’ straight away. There were several other trawlers astern of me so I immediately got on the radio telephone and warned them of the iceberg. They were heading in the same direction as me and would have run into the same trouble if I hadn’t warned them. Directly behind Wyre Majestic was another Fleetwood vessel, Red Sabre. All managed to miss the iceberg except for one – the Irvana, which damaged her propeller.”

On Tuesday night the Fleetwood based Irvana was being towed by another trawler to dry dock at Hull.

Wyre Majestic managed to steer herself out of trouble by a careful and gradual change of course. When milder weather returned the crew quickly removed the ice which had accumulated around the bows.
“It was a very dangerous situation,” Skipper Middleton said, “for half an hour we were edging away from the danger.”

The trawler’s mate, Mr Alex Wood said, “The skipper saved the ship and the others as well, we feel we owe him our lives.”

For Fleetwood People To Keep In Touch

From time to time I am contacted by Fleetwood people who have, for various reasons gone to live in far-flung countries, or even to different parts of the UK. Below is a list of their names and email addresses. Maybe you can find that long lost friend.

Name Email Where
Allan Birnie birnie@pathcom.com Canada
Aileen Williams rintintin41@breathe.com United Kingdom
Paul Ashworth paul@fleetwood-lifeboat.org United Kingdom
Bernard Cole 2232bc@sympatico.ca Canada
Pete Harrison peter@murchison.freeserve.co.uk UK
Les Howard Lhbrkhjr@aol.com UK
Bernard McKernan bernard.mckernan@virgin.net .
Malcolm Moorhouse mmoorhouse_za@yahoo.com South Africa
John Smith linuts239@gmail.com Australia
Fred Hobbs Regretfully deceased California
Stephen Martland martland@mrbean.net.au Australia
Bill Bond bill.bond@bun.com .
Gordon Blundell gblu@shaw.ca Vancouver
Bill Hall hallway33@sympatico.ca Canada
Eric Abbey eric1043@aol.com UK
George Bissett grouse59@bigpond.net.au SW Australia
Joyce Mottershead Jaycee7@btinternet.com UK
Roger Roger@sailingclub.fsnet.co.uk UK
Robert Ferguson Robert.Ferguson@c2i.net Sweden
Louise Harrison icarus001@btinternet.com UK
Jennifer Harrison jennifer@harrisonj61.fsnet.co.uk UK
John Laird lairdjohn@aol.com UK
Jennifer Rowe rowejen@bigpond.com UK
Allan McKernan allnmckrn@aol.com UK
Angie Hobbs angiehobbs@msn.com California
Andy Wilson beermonster1974@lineone.net Fleetwood
Tony Burton JABurt55@aol.com Canada
Elizabeth Goodwin (Betty Towne) percept@dandy.net USA
Margaret Glaser (Stoney) glasermv@washpost.com USA
Alan Wright alanwright@cs.com
Nicola Wilson nicolaw@hotmail.com
Peter Chard pchard@ihug.co.nz New Zealand
Walter Holmes Regretfully deceased New Zealand
Karen Aitkin katt@scalby.karoo.co.uk UK
Carol Brooks (Bridge) carol.brooks2@btinternet.com UK
David Morris d.morris@burnley.ac.uk UK
Eric Huntingford eric@hunty54.fsnet.co.uk UK
Terence Carney pommyb@chariot.net.au Australia
Harold Beswick hbeswick@kos.net Canada
Victor Swain Regretfully deceased New Zealand
David Shuttleworth judav@sympatico.ca California
Brian Dodd brian_dodd@email.mobil.com UK
Marie Brown (Marie Taylor) marienev@btopenworld.com UK
Mike Porter jpot120@talk21.com UK
Phil Hannah phil@philhannahphoto.co.uk Lowestoft
Harry Chantler seafire@chantler.freeserve.co.uk Fleetwood
Peter Taylor tayptr4@aol.com Canada
Denis Thomas valden@telus.net Vancouver, Canada
David Parkinson dparkinson7@cogeco.ca Canada
John Brackenbury brackenbu1@aol.com Sutherland
Andy Allan andy.1.allan@btopenworld.com UK
Lesley A Howlett lhowlett@hotkey.net.au Australia

Death of Fleetwood Skipper

Information courtesy of Lesley Budge

One of Fleetwood’s oldest and best known ex-trawler skippers, Mr. Thomas Fairclough, died at his home in Seabank Rd, Fleetwood, on Boxing Day.
A native of Fleetwood, he followed the sea for over 50 years, starting as a boy of 12 with his father in smacks.

He went on to own the smack Elizabeth & Ann and finally went to sea in steam trawlers becoming skipper and sailing for several local firms, chiefly J. N. Ward & Sons. He retired from the sea 25 years ago but worked ashore for several years.
He was a member of the Hesketh Lodge of Freemasons and a director of Fleetwood Bowling Club. In recent years he was a familiar figure in the Marine Gardens where he loved to talk about the sea.

Mr. Fairclough’s wife died 25 years ago, and he is survived by one son, Mr. Thomas Fairclough, who is also a trawler skipper, and three daughters.
The funeral was held at Fleetwood Cemetary following a service at his home conducted by Supt. W. Jackson of the Fishermen’s Mission. A memorial service will be held at the mission a week on Sunday.

Local Skipper sees Icelandic Eruption

Provided by Les Howard

Some trawlers at Iceland, when the underwater volcanic eruption starved of the Westmann Islands a fortnight ago, thought that a vessel had struck a mine. There was a loud explosion and a cloud of smoke covered the area.

Skipper Alex Middleton, of Fleetwood, who commanded the trawler Wyre Majestic, told of the 600 ft mushroom cloud similar to pictures of atomic explosions. Later they received orders to keep away from the area. Skipper Bob Rawcliffe of the Boston Monarch said the warnings about the eruption were put out by the Icelandic Government and the Naval gunboats on the radio. At the time they were fishing off the west coast of Iceland and saw nothing of the eruption but a large black smudge on their radar screens when they passed the area three days later on their way home.

Capt. Double Wrecked in NZ

Article courtesy of Sandra Cardwell

New Zealand papers to hand this week contain a vivid story by a former Fleetwood fisherman William Henry Double, of the loss of the new 216 ton steam trawler the ‘Thomas Bryan’, which was recently wrecked at Rusporon Heads, Coromandel Peninsula.

“In four and a half years mine sweeping I never had such a night” said Mr Double in relating his experience to an Aukland newspaper representative.

Mr Double, who has many relatives and friends in Fleetwood, which he left about three years ago, added that he was at the helm when the trawler ran on the rocks shortly before midnight.

“A Norwegian seaman, Helgeson” he said “was on lookout duty on the bridge and he saw the rocks a second before I did. I put the helm hard over but she was a bit slow in coming round to it and we struck. The propeller went first and then the lifeboat, which was swung aft. ”

AT THE MERCY OF THE SEA
“With the propeller gone, we were done. We were at the mercy of mountainous seas, which burst over us with a roar. Capt. James Holt was splendid. It looked pretty hopeless but there was no panic. Everyone kept his head. The ship settled down a bit and the deck was awash. We clung to the rail for hours. The sea increased in violence and we became more and more exhausted”.

“Drenched to the skin and so miserable that one or two of the chaps felt like releasing their grip and ending it all, we hung on till low water. As the tide receded a black ledge of rock showed up every now and again as the swirling water foamed back. Eventually the skipper gave the word and we went for it, one at a time running the gauntlet of the surf. A rope was lowered over the side and each man had to wait till a wave receded and make a dash shoreward. It meant a fight for life in the surf but all ten of us survived”.

SCALING STEEP CLIFFS
“Huddled on a ledge below the frowning cliff with the sea beating remorselessly on the base, out plight seemed hopeless. Wet to the skin and chilled by the bleak spray drenched wind, we started to climb the cliff which was from 1850 to 2000 feet high”.
“It seemed that dawn would never break. I went up the face of the cliff from ledge to ledge to ledge and thought I would never reach the top. Exhausted I threw myself on the grass when I did get there. Down below I could see the wrecked trawler like a kiddies toy. The deckhouse was in flames”.

“When daylight came, I found that none of my companions had followed me up the cliff face and I felt dejected when I discovered that I had to climb down the other side which was as steep and difficult as the one I had ascended. I tore my hands badly in the descent”.
“The rest of the crew I discovered later, had found an opening in the cliffs and gone in another direction. Not one was lost. We lost everything except what we stood up in”.