SIR WILLIAM HARDY
Shipbuildervessel built by
Hall, Russell & Company, Limited
(Aberdeen, Scotland, 1864 - 1992)
Shipownervessel built for
Department of Scientific & Industrial Research
(Aberdeen, Scotland)
Date29 November 1955
Object NameRESEARCH VESSEL
MediumSTEEL
ClassificationsShip
Dimensionslength 127 5/6' x breadth 27 7/12' x depth 15'
Gross Tonnage: 418 ton
Gross Tonnage: 418 ton
Object numberABDSHIP002537
Keywords
Yard Number: 846
Subsequent Name: RAINBOW WARRIOR (1978)
Fate: Sunk by French secret agents in Waitemata harbour, Auckland, New Zealand just before midnight on 10 July 1985.
Propulsion: Motor
Description: Trawler for fishery research
Owners:
1955: Department of Scientificand Industrial Research, Torry research station, later by the Ministry of Technology.
1978: sold to Greenpeace and renamed RAINBOW WARRIOR
General History:
29/11/1954: Launched, the naming ceremony performed by Mrs G. A. Reay - wife of the superintendant of Torry Research Station, Aberdeen.
Ship is specially designed for carrying out research work on fish as food.
She is the first diesel-electric trawler to be built in the UK. Carries a crew of 16, and has a laboratory and accommodation for 4 scientists.
Photos:
(1) The Sponsor
(2) Pre-launch group
(3) After entering the water
(4) At sea
(Burntisland Group Journal, vol. 24, no. 2 (1955), pp. 56-57.
10/07/1985: Sunk by French secret agents in Waitemata harbour, Auckland, using underwater charges which blew two holes in the vessel's hull. The crew escaped, apart from photographer Fernando Pereira, who drowned. RAINBOW WARRIOR was refloated but could not be repaired. It was towed from Auckland and scuttled near the Cavalli Islands, off the Northland coast, to become an artificial reef for marine life.
4 Oil engines of 6 cylinders 150x150 mm running an electric motor, by H. Medows Ltd, Wolverhampton.
