Viola (trawler)

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Dias (foreground) with Albatros (heeled over) in the harbour at Grytviken, 1989. The boats have since been beached.
Career
Name: Viola (1906)
HMT Viola (1914)
HMT Viola III (1915)
Kapduen (1919)
Dias (1926)
Owner: Hellyer Steam Fishing Company (1906-14)
Admiralty (1914 - 1919)
A/S Sandsfjord Trawlfiskelskap, Norway (1919-1926)
Compañía Argentina de Pesca SA 1926
Operator: Hellyer Steam Fishing Company
Port of registry: Hull, 14 February 1906
Builder: Cook, Welton & Gemmell
Yard number: 96
Launched: 17 Jan 1906
Identification: H868[1]
Status: Derelict (2009)
General characteristics
Class & type: Fishing trawler/naval trawler
Tonnage: 55 long tons (56 t) nett, 179 long tons (182 t) gross[2]
Length: 108.5 ft (33.1 m)
Beam: 21.5 ft (6.6 m)
Installed power: steam
Speed: 9.5 knots (10.9 mph; 17.6 km/h)

The Viola is a steam trawler built in 1906. During her long career, she has also been known as Viola III, Kapduen and Dias.[3][4]

History

Viola was built for the Hellyer Steam Fishing Company in 1906 by Cook, Welton & Gemmell of Beverley, then floated down the River Hull to Hull where she was fitted with steam engines by the engineering firm of Amos & Smith. She burnt coal until 1956 when she was converted to oil. She was part of the Hellyer Steam Fishing Company's North Sea fleet, and like much of Hellyer's fleet was named after a Shakespearean character.

Hellyer's trawlers stayed out at sea for weeks at a time, transferring their catch to a fleet of five fast steam cutters which commuted between the fishing grounds and the fish markets of eastern England. Viola was regularly at sea for more than 310 days a year.[5]

Viola at war

In September 1914, Viola was requisitioned by the Admiralty, renamed Viola III (FY 614)[2][6] armed with a 3 pound gun and moved to Shetland, patrolling the waters out as far as Fair Isle looking for U-boats and escorting other vessels.[5]

Later in the war, the Viola was armed with a 12-pound gun, and transferred to the Tyne for minesweeping duty.[7] She was one of the first vessels to use depth charges. She was also fitted with hydrophones. Along with other armed trawlers she was involved in actions resulting in the sinking of at least two U-boats: the UB-30 off Whitby on 13 August 1918, and the UB-115 off the Northumberland coast on 29 September.[5]

Kapduen and Dias - whaling

Dias as whale catcher

Many vessels from Hellyer's North Sea fleet were lost during the war, and after the war they decided to concentrate on the distant fishing grounds off the coast of Iceland and the Barents Sea,[5][7] selling off the remaining North Sea trawlers. Viola was sold to Massey & Sons in 1918, and in the following year sold to L. Thorsen of Norway and renamed Kapduen.[2][6] Thorsen were taken over by the whaling firm of Nils Torvald Nielsen Alonso, and the Kapduen was converted for whaling, being fitted with a new bridge forward of the funnel. She was renamed Dias in 1924 and over the next few years whaled off the coast of Africa. By 1927 she was laid up at Sandefjord.[7]

Dias - sealing and expeditions

Dias was then sold to Compañía Argentina de Pesca,[6] and moved to Grytviken in South Georgia for sealing.[7][8][9] [10] She was also used as a support vessel for expeditions in the South Atlantic, supporting the Argentine weather station at Laurie Island, the Kohl-Larsen Expedition of 1928/9, the British South Georgia Expedition of 1954/55, the topographical surveys carried out by Duncan Carse between 1951 and 1957, and the Bird Island Expedition of 1958.[7][8]

Retirement and dereliction

In 1964 the whaling station at Grytviken closed, and Dias, along with another sealer, Albatros, was laid up. A caretaker was responsible for maintenance, painting and running the engines, but he left in 1971. Over the next few years snow and ice built up on the superstructure and the Dias foundered at her mooring in the winter of 1974. Albatros sank the following year.[11]

Rescue campaign

In 2004, as part of a project to restore and conserve Grytviken, the Dias and the Albatros were refloated and cleared of all remaining oil. Both ships have now been beached.

An organisation, the "Friends of Viola/Dias", seeks to preserve the ship, either in situ or by bringing her back to Hull.[12][13][14]

In 2006 the Viola's original bell was discovered on a farm at Sandefjord and purchased by Hull Maritime Museum. In 2008 the bell was returned to the ship.[15][16]

See also

  • Arctic Corsair - Hull's preserved deep water trawler, though of a much more modern breed to that represented through the remarkable survival of the ST Viola
  • Ross Tiger - Grimsby's preserved middle water sidewinder — the last of the fleet which once made Grimsby the largest fishing port in the world.
  • SM U-96

References

  1. ↑ "Viola". Hull Museums Collections. Retrieved 2009-03-02. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Thompson, Michael; Dave Newton, Richard Robinson, Tony Lofthouse (1999). Cook, Welton & Gemmell: shipbuilders of Hull and Beverley. Hutton Press Ltd. p. 83. ISBN 1-902709-02-0. 
  3. ↑ "The History of the Hull Fishing Industry". Hull Trawler: smack to stern. Retrieved 2009-03-04. 
  4. ↑ "Lloyd's Register of Shipping". Lloyd's. 1930/31. Retrieved 2010-11-05. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 MHSC. "Viola-Dias, War, Distant Waters and the Hull Fishing Industry in Both World Wars". MHSC Maritime Historical Studies Centre. University of Hull. Retrieved 2009-03-03. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Balleneros (Catchers) y factorias Argentinos: "DIAS"". Historia y Arqueologia Marítima (in "Spanish (Argentina)"). Retrieved 2009-03-03. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Robinson, Robb. "A brief history of the Viola/Dias". Retrieved 2009-03-03. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Headland 1984, pp. 97–100.
  9. ↑ Headland 1984, p. 152.
  10. ↑ McLaren, Jim. "Grytviken". Millennium. Retrieved 2009-03-04. 
  11. ↑ Headland, R.K. (1984). "Wrecks, hulks and other vessel remains at South Georgia, Falkland Islands Dependencies". British Antarctic Survey Bulletin (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge) (65): 117–118. 
  12. ↑ Wood, Alexandra (18 April 2005). "Campaign under way to rescue historic trawler". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 2009-03-03. 
  13. ↑ Wainwright, Martin (16 March 2004). "Hull aims to recover Falklands war 'trigger'". Online edition (The Guardian). Retrieved 2009-03-03. 
  14. ↑ Brock, J (29 April 2004). "Grytviken waste removal: an exercise in historical preservation". Teaberry Express (Falkland Islands News Network). Retrieved 2009-03-04. 
  15. ↑ "Viola's bell — a centenary for Dias". South Georgia Association Newsletter (South Georgia Association). November 2006. p. 3. 
  16. ↑ "Historic bell back where it belongs; The world's oldest steam fishing trawler sits in the freezing waters of the southern Atlantic, reunited after more than 80 years with its original bell.". Hull Daily Mail (Hull Daily Mail). 8 January 2008. 

Bibliography

  • Headland, Robert (1984). The Island of South Georgia (Paperback, 1992 ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-25274-1. 

External links

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