ST. SUNNIVA
Shipbuildervessel built by
Hall, Russell & Company, Limited
(Aberdeen, Scotland, 1864 - 1992)
Date2 April 1931
Object NameCARGO AND PASSENGER VESSEL
MediumSTEEL
ClassificationsShip
Dimensionslength 252' x breadth 35' x depth 15'
Gross Tonnage: 1368 ton
Gross Tonnage: 1368 ton
Object numberABDSHIP002676
About MeYard: Hall, Russell & Co. Yard Number: 723.
Official Number: 162280
Fate: disappeared without trace whilst serving as rescue ship with a transatlantic convoy 21 - 22 January 1943. It is presumed that her masts and rigging became encrusted with ice and she turned turtle. Lost with all hands.
Propulsion: Steam
Description: Cargo and passenger vessel, 2 decks (with weather deck), 3rd deck clear of machinery space.
Owners:
1931: North of Scotland, Orkney and Shetland Steam Navigation Co.
29/08/1939: Requisitioned by the Admiralty
General History:
ST. SUNNIVA's hull design and internal arrangements were similar to those of her namesake, which had been wrecked on the island of Mousa on 10 April 1930, including a clipper bow and carved figurehead. Gordon Donaldson commented that ‘while thus in a sense old fashioned, the triumph of sentiment and beauty over utility had a certain appeal, and the company’s decision to build such a ship in the depth of industrial depression captured the imagination’. The contract was announced in July 1930, the Orkney Herald commenting that she was to be a handsome craft and ‘will provide work for a squad of men in shipbuilding and allied trades from an early date through the Winter and Spring months’. She was launched on 2 April 1931 and ran trial on 20 May. The Dundee Evening Telegraph referred to her ‘finely modelled lines with graceful yacht like appearance, closely resembling her well known and popular predecessor’. Significantly, on maiden voyage on Monday 1 June 1931 under Captain Gifford, she stopped off at Mousa en route to Lerwick while all on board stood bareheaded to commemorate the first ST. SUNNIVA. In April 1939 the Aberdeen Evening Express reported that she had just come off the pontoon drydock in Aberdeen harbour after pre-season overhaul and ‘makes a perfect picture and is much admired by all visitors to the docks’.
ST. SUNNIVA had a short season in commission, from late April at the earliest to November at the latest, being laid up in the Victoria Dock, Aberdeen, during the Winter months. Newspaper accounts of her early season sailings sometimes reported that she carried parties of girls from across the North East making their way to Lerwick to work as gutters during the herring season. Their return on her in the late Summer was also mentioned. A typical schedule was advertised in July 1933:- leaving the Albert Dock, Leith for Lerwick Monday forenoon or early afternoon, calling at Aberdeen the same evening. She also sailed from Aberdeen only to Lerwick at 2pm on Thursdays. The varying departure times on Mondays were presumably a consequence of tidal conditions at Leith.
Gordon Donaldson gives an account of her stranding in the Firth of Forth in August 1934. Despite it being a fine evening, he argues, the chief officer failed to alter course at the May Island as she approached Leith, some passengers being aware the ship was on an unusual course. When Capt. Gifford came on the bridge he found her heading for the island of Fidra and ordered reduced speed, after which she grounded, no damage of any consequence being done.
Requisitioned by the Admiralty on Tuesday 29 August 1939, ST. SUNNIVA took part in Norwegian Campaign and took up duties at Scapa Flow as a guardship from October 1939 until September 1942, with occasional trips to Aberdeen.
In September 1942 the ST. SUNNIVA was converted at Hull to a convoy rescue ship, departing from the Clyde on 2 January 1943.
Sources:- Gordon Donaldson, 'Northwards by Sea' (Edinburgh, Paul Harris, 1978), pp. 136-41: Press and Journal, 29/05 and 02/10 1936, 04/06.16/8 and 30/11 1937; Orkney Herald, 30/07/1930; Dundee Evening Telegraph, 03/04/1931; Dundee Courier, 21/05/1931; Scotsman, 03/07/1933; Aberdeen Evening Express, 12 April 1939. [All newspaper extracts accessed from British Newspaper Archive, https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk, 16/4/2022].
Notes:
Triple expansion engines 3 cylinders of 20", 33¼ & 56" diameters 36" stroke, 255 NHP, 2 single boilers, by Hall, Russell & Co.
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