BEN ARDNA
Shipbuildervessel built by
Hall, Russell & Company, Limited
(Aberdeen, Scotland, 1864 - 1992)
Date9 December 1912
Object NameFISHING VESSEL
ClassificationsShip
Dimensionslength 115' x breadth 22' x depth 12.9'
gross tonnage: 197 ton
NRT: 76
gross tonnage: 197 ton
NRT: 76
Object numberABDSHIP002216
Keywords
Yard Number: 522.
Official Number (IMO): 133619
Fate: Sunk by a mine from UC.1 at Elbow Buoy, outer Tay estuary, 8 August 1915.
Propulsion: Steam
Description: Trawler, side, steam, screw, steel.
Owners:
26/12/1912: Registered at Aberdeen for Richard Irvin and Sons Limited, A517.
08/1914: Requisitioned by the Admiralty, minesweeper, Admiralty No. 289. (NH)
General History:
09/12/1912: Launched.
10/12/1912
TRAWLER LAUNCH AT FOOTDEE
Messrs Hall, Russell, and Company, Limited, successfully launched from their yard yesterday a steam trawler, built to the order of Messrs Richard Irvin and Sons, Limited, Aberdeen. The vessel will take the highest class in Lloyd's Register, and is of the following dimensions: - Length, B.P., 115ft.; breadth, 22ft.; and depth, 12ft. 9in. Steel boiler and triple-expansion engines are being supplied and fitted by the builders. On leaving the ways she was named BEN ARDNA.
(Aberdeen Daily Journal)
17/01/1913 Rescued the crew of the Danish barque WILLI. (ADJ)
22/01/1913:
DERELICT DANISH BARQUE
CREW RESCUED BY ABERDEEN TRAWLER
Another instance of the heroism displayed by Aberdeen trawl fishermen was reported at Aberdeen yesterday. On arrival at the Fish Market of the local trawler BEN ARDNA (Captain Christian Pedersen) ten out of the crew of eleven of the barque Willi, of Marstal, Denmark, stepped ashore, and proceeded to the Sailor's Home, Mearns Street.
(Aberdeen Daily Journal)
08/08/1915: Mined near Elbow Buoy at the mouth of the Tay at 13:30 pm, while in service as a minesweeper with the Dover Patrol.
Casualties: BROWN, William Harwood (35) Second Hand, RNR 309/SA.
St. James Cemetery, Dover.
Son of Mrs. Mary Duck, 66 Long West Gate, Scarborough.
MORRIS, Henry Herbert, Deckhand, RNR, 1104DA.
Portsmouth Naval Memorial.
Husband of Mrs Helen Tayler (formerly Morris) 103 Gallowgate, Aberdeen.(UB)
Notes:
Engine Details: Steam by screw, inverted, surface condensing, triple expansion, 12” x 20” x 34” with 24” stroke, 78 r.h.p., 435 i.h.p. by HR.
Boiler: Number 1
Heating Area (ft2): 1429; Diameter: 12'9", Length 10'9"; Furnaces: 3 plain welded 3’ 215/32” dia; Pressure (ps.i): 180
Propeller diameter 8'4"; solid cast iron
Cost & Extras (£): £5.950 less £200 for owner’s supply of winch and acetylene gas.
No extras charged due to boom not being fitted.
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WHAT’S IN A NAME? The three BEN ARDNAs.
Does anyone know if there is a hill called Ben Ardna?
The first BEN ARDNA was a steam trawler, launched by Hall, Russell & Co. Ltd. at Aberdeen on the 9th December 1912. She was built at a cost of £5,950 for one of Aberdeen’s leading trawlowning firms, Richard Irvin and Sons Ltd. of Albert Quay, and was registered in Aberdeen with the number A 517 on Boxing Day 1912.
She did not have a long career in fishing, as in August 1914, along with another twenty-seven of Richard Irvin’s fleet, she was requisitioned by the Admiralty and put to work as a minesweeper with the Dover Patrol.
As with her fishing career, her naval career was also short lived. On the 8th August 1915, off the Elbow Buoy at the mouth of the River Tay, she suffered the fate of many other trawlers engaged in minesweeping, and detonated a mine which had been laid by the German submarine UC.1.
She sank with the loss of two of her Royal Naval Reserve crew: -
William Harwood Brown, a Second Hand aged 35, the son of Mrs Mary Duck of Scarborough.
and
Henry Herbert Morris, a Deckhand and husband of Mrs Helen Taylor of Aberdeen.
The second and third BEN ARDNAs were both wartime “Strath” class trawlers.
These standard trawlers were built in large numbers during WWI throughout the U.K. and by various shipyards, but all were based on a standard design for both the hull and machinery produced by Hall, Russell, who took the lead in their production. At the end of the war, the Admiralty had no use for these large numbers of basic minesweepers and in the early 1920s they were sold off for commercial use as either trawlers or small cargo vessels.
In 1920, Richard Irvin bought two of these vessels to replace the company’s war losses, the WILLIAM BARLOW and the JOHN BRADFORD. These were exact sister ships, built by Hall, Russell and launched on the same day, the 15th July 1917, as Yard Nos 606 and 607.
The Strath Class were all named after members of the crew of either H.M.S. Victory or Royal Sovereign at the Battle of Trafalgar, and both William Barlow and John Bradford were Privates in the Marines on H.M.S. Victory.
The William Barlow was first registered by the Admiralty at London, with the Official Number 144416, but when she was bought by Richard Irvin, they registered her in Aberdeen under the ownership of R. Irvin & Sons Ltd, North Shields. The Lloyds Register Supplement entry (78525) for 1920 lists her as being named the DORILEEN, ex BEN ARDNA, ex WILLIAM BARLOW. This vessel remained in the Irvin fleet until she was broken up in 1957.
The John Bradford was also registered by the Admiralty at London, with the Official Number 144415, and bought by Richard Irvin. Her entry in the Lloyds Register Supplement for 1920 (77709) records her being named BEN ARDNA, ex DORILEEN, ex JOHN BRADFORD. She to was registered at Aberdeen, with the fishing number A412 and remained in Irvin’s fleet until requisitioned as an examination vessel in WWII. She sank in 1942 after a collision on the Tyne, fortunately without loss of life.
Thus, both vessels were, according to Lloyds, named BEN ARDNA, but they changed names. Why, in the case of the DORILEEN, Irvin departed from their usual practice of naming all their ships with the prefix BEN, or who, what or where the name Dorileen came from, is not recorded and remains a mystery.
(Article from George Wood)
See also:
History (CS): - http://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.php?year_built=&builder=&ref=51881&vessel=BEN+ARDNA
Wrecksite: - http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?73632
U Boat (UB): - http://www.uboat.net/wwi/ships_hit/732.html
Naval History (NH): - http://www.naval-history.net/WW1NavyBritishBVLSaRN1507.htm
