The Bosun's Watch
S.T. Benghazi H66
Picture and additional information courtesy of Les Howard
Charlie Bevan
| Official Number | 144506 |
| Gross Tonnage | 257 |
| Length | 125.3 ft |
| Breadth | 23.2 ft |
| Draught | 12.6 ft |
| Built by | C. Rennoldson, South Shields, 1917 |
| Owner | Boston Deep Sea Fishing & Ice Co Ltd |
| 1917 |
Built as Admiralty Castle JOHN BULLOCK.
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| April 24 1947 |
Caught by a north westerly gale in the Firth of Lorne, the Benghazi ran onto a rock called Bogha Nuadh in blinding rain. 12 of the crew abandoned ship in the lifeboat and four men stayed aboard. During the night the Benghazi drifted off the rock and ran aground again on Fladda in the Sound of Luingh. |
| Notes |
BENGHAZI lies in the Sound of Luing at the island of Fladda, between the Isle of Mull and the mainland. She had been fishing the Iceland grounds and had called at Oban for coal on her journey south. Dogged by bad weather all through the trip, one of her lifeboats had been washed away.
On 12th of April 1947, she was running through the Firth of Lorne and was caught by a north westerley gale and driven onto Bogha Nuadh, listing until the seas poured in through the wheelhouse windows. The skipper, mate and the bosun stayed aboard as did one of the crew while the rest managed to launch the remaining boat and twelve of them joined the chief engineer in it.
The firemen and engineers were badly dressed as they wore only singlets and dungarees, having come straight from the heat of the engine room. It was then that they discovered that the wooden bung was missing from the boat and water poured in.
The second engineer, Charlie Bevan, put his hands into the freezing water to block the hole and allow the rest of the crew chance to bale the water out while they rowed for shore. Although they reached safety, Charlie died from hypothermia despite the efforts of the crew to warm him with their own clothes. He left five children.
During the night BENGHAZI floated clear and started to drift until she fetched up on Fladda where the crewmen still on board managed to scramble to shore. Three days after she grounded she slipped off the rock and sank.. |
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