Ex
Aventurine
, ex
Arthur Lessimore
,
Irvana
was one of a series of trawlers owned by J Marr & Son to carry the name. In later years one of her sisters would come to grief in Cushendall Bay, Northern Ireland. She had been built in 1917 by Smith's Dock Co Ltd., Middlesbrough, she was 276 tons, 38.22m long, 7.11m in the beam and had a draught of 3.86m. Power was provided by an 87hp triple expansion steam engine
In February of 1940 the Admiralty hired her as a minesweeper. On January 16 1942 she was attacked and sunk by German aircraft in position 52.31N 01.46.30E, 2 cables off Corton Sand Buoy, off Lowestoft.
The following quote is from "Battle of the East Coast" by J P Foynes
Early in 1942 the Luftwaffe bombers made many ferocious attacks, then virtually abandoned East Coast shipping targets for good. On 16 January 1942 the Yarmouth M/S trawler
Irvana
was bombed and sunk close to base, followed on the 30th by the Grimsby trawler
Loch Alsh,
, near 59 Buoy.
British warships and merchantmen had claimed many Luftwaffe bombers shot down since the middle of 1941, but only the finding of aircraft wreckage, corpses or survivors confirms these. On these grounds we can accept the following:
A Do 17 shot down by Grimsby trawlers near the Humber Light Vessel.
A minelayer by the
paddle ship
Balmoral
in the Thames Estuary, both on 6th July.
An He 111 by the Ipswich patrol trawler
Norland
at 54B Buoy on 4 August.
A bomber by the Grimsby M/S trawler
Wellsbach
near Withernsea on 9 August (a PAC was used, and
Feldwebel Markert, the pilot, was picked up by the trawler
Grey Mist
).
A Ju 88 by the Lowestoft trawler
Euclase
at No 5 Buoy, on 15 September, with all four crew captured by the trawler
Alfredian
.
A Do 217, off Yarmouth on 12 November, by accidentally striking the topmast of the trawler
Francolin
while sinking her.
The Ju 88 which sank
Irvana
in Yarmouth Roads on 30 January 1942, from that ship's fire, all four airmen being captured.
Another Ju 88, by the Lowestoft trawler
Fyldea
near 54G Buoy, during a snowstorm that same day one body was found and buried at sea.
The next quote is taken from "Fighting the U-boats" by E K Chesterton
WE now see the Germans with their surface ships purposely coming across the North Sea under
cover of night, laying mines off the English east coast, and advertising that fact by bombarding land property, then scurrying off seaward and
returning home. In this undertaking we perceive more than one objective : it was intended to create the local demand of pegging down one wellgunned ship to the spot for that illogical purpose of "coast defence", but apart from the display of Teutonic frightfulness the desire was to entice warships on to the mines left behind.
Let us view November 3 from our own
vessels. The biggest of the latter was
H.M.S. Halcyon
, 1070 tons, a familiar sight among visitors to East Anglia. Nothing wonderful as a fighter with her pair of 4-7-inch guns, for though classed as gunboat and usually secured well up harbour at one of the Lowestoft quays, she emerged in peace-time now and again to look after the North Sea fisheries, but at 6.15 a.m. of November she was coming out of Gorleston-the next harbour further north-and her
mission was to search for mines.
Nearly an hour passed, she had navigated north of Corton Sands, had worked up to 11 knots
when at 7.8 a.m. she sighted to the northeast a four-funnelled cruiser, then four battle-cruisers, and three more cruisers. A German raiding squadron, which under protection of the night had come across from Germany. They altered course at the Cross Sand Lightship from SSW. to SE., but who were they?
Halcyon
was not quite certain, so flashed a challenge but an immediate reply from a shower of 11-inch shells left no further doubt. By 7.20 the
Halcyon's
steering compass was shot away and,
for a while, her helm jammed. By altering course frequently, the enemy's salvoes were avoided further and at 7.40
Halcyon
was no longer the target. To the southwest of
Halcyon
, about two miles from the Corton Lightvessel were two destroyers patrolling :
Lively
and
Leopard
, of 400 and 385 tons respectively, but old-fashioned, the biggest gun being only a 12-pounder. These three lightly armed vessels were obviously no match for the German squadron. Now on sighting the enemy, both destroyers made towards the Germans at 24 knots. It was a typical North Sea morning, with November mist, and the raiders were belching much smoke from their funnels which made it difficult for them to be discerned as one ship from another, the visibility aboard
Lively
being reckoned as 6 miles. The latter took station about one cable on
Halcyon's
port quarter, in order to make a smoke screen for the latter since the i a -inch and 6-inch shells were firing at the fisheries vessel from 7.15 till 7.25 at a range of about 6500 yards, but it had begun at
10,000, decreased to 8,000, and diminished still further. At 7.32 the Germans ceased fire entirely and accelerated their speed on a southeast course, but the two destroyers leaving
Halcyon
to find her way back to harbour, went in chase
of the retreating enemy. The intention was at least to maintain touch, but soon the Germans were lost to sight in the mist.
It is remarkable that
Halcyon
received so little damage, and the destroyers were not hit at all. The Germans laid 140 mines, and fired about 200 shells. Next day when the minesweepers got to work one of them,
Mary
hit one and blew up ;
though so late as November 9, 1916, whilst clearance of this area was still going on the paddle minesweeper
Fair Maid
thus foundered.
