The Bosun's Watch
S.T. Octavia H274
Information courtesy Dictionary of Shipwrecks off the Isle of Man by Adrian Corkhill c2001.
| Official Number | 123238 |
| Yard Number | 99 |
| Launched | February 13 1906 |
| Registered | March 22 1906 |
| Gross Tonnage | 174 |
| Length | 108.5 ft |
| Breadth | 21.5 ft |
| 45 nhp Engine | Amos & Smith |
| Speed | 9.5 knots |
| Built by | Cook, Welton & Gemmell, Beverley, 1906 |
| Owner | R Hudson |
| 1906 |
Built for Hellyer Steam Fishing Co Ltd, Hull, as H 876.
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| 1917 |
Requisitioned by the RN as a fishing trawler (Fishery Reserve). |
| 1919 | Returned to owner.
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| November 09 1919 | Sold to C Dobson, Grimsby (GY 102). |
| 1920 | Sold to Home & Colonial Steam Fishing Co Ltd, Yarmouth.
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| October 1935 | Sold to F Parkes, Grimsby.
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| 1920 | Sold to Home & Colonial Steam Fishing Co Ltd, Yarmouth.
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| 1926 | Sold to WC Farrow, Hull (H 274).
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| 1927 | Sold to Ocean Steam Fishing Co Ltd, Hull.
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| November 06 1929 | Sold to Holderness Steam Trawling Co Ltd, Hull.
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| 1936 | Sold to R Hudson, Fleetwood.
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| 1937 | On Saturday night on the 12th of February, 1937, the Hull registered trawler OCTAVIA
(H 274) was in collision with the Fleetwood vessel GEORGE COUSINS roughly 12 miles south-east of Maughold Head on the Isle of Man. OCTAVIA was so badly damaged that she sank in a few minutes. The crew managed to scramble aboard GEORGE COUSINS with no loss of life.
Aboard the OCTAVIA, two of the crew (the bosun, H.Haslam and a deckhand, W.Durbin) had a very lucky escape. The two men had turned in and were asleep when water began to rush in through a gaping hole. The forecastle door jammed with the force of the impact and a lamp was upset pouring blazing paraffin all over the deck. For a few moments it was touch and go until they were able to force the door and release the men.
The wreck lies at a depth of 23.5m and is still intact today, although the supersrtucture has sustained some damage. OCTAVIA stands upright with a slight starboard list althogh the funnel is detached.
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