Auriac

The steel steamship Taff was launched from the North Hylton yard of Osborne Graham and Co Ltd (Yard No 85) on 17th May 1890. She measured 200.0′ x 29.3′ x 15.2′ and her tonnage was 871 gross tons, 542 net tons. She was powered by a triple expansion steam engine by North Eastern Marine Engineers Ltd, Sunderland delivering 96 registered horse power. She was built for the Cardiff Steamship Co Ltd – Hooper Campbell and Co Ltd. In 1913 she was purchased by the Limerick Steamship Co Ltd who renamed her Adare. Her brief career for this owner was followed by an acquisition by Mr T C Steven of Leith in 1915 who transferred her base to this port and renamed her Auriac.

In April 1917 Auriac departed from Rouen with a cargo of empty barrels under the command of Captain Jones who had a crew of fifteen men aboard. She was bound for her home port of Leith. Meanwhile German U-boat UC-44 under the command of Kapitanleutnant Kurt Tebejohanns was patrol along the east coast of Britain. The submarine had departed from her base at Helgoland after loading eighteen mines and a full array of torpedoes in the morning of 14th April and proceeded across the North Sea laying her deadly cargo of mines at various locations along the east English coastline. This patrol was to be a particularly deadly one as she succeeded in sinking eleven British and allied vessels including five fishing vessels, one sailing vessel and five steamships.

One of these vessels was Auriac. In the early hours of the morning of 23rd April Tebejohanns, running on surface concealed in the darkness, spotted a steamship through the gloom. He quickly calculated the vessel’s speed and course and planned his attack. At 8am he decided that the ship was relatively small. apparently unladen and not valuable enough to use a torpedo to sink her so he surfaced and approached her. He fired a number of warning shots forcing Captain Jones to come to a halt and disembark his crew into the ship’s boats. The German crew then boarded the Auriac placing charges which set her on fire. Unfortunately, one of the Auriac’s crew, bosun William Leask, was lost in the process. Tebejohanns almost immediately spotted another steamship (the Baron Stjernblad) and departed the scene leaving the Auriac sinking and the crew to fend for themselves. Thankfully the boats reached the shore safely with no further casualties. Tebbjohanns went on to sink the Baron Stjernblad and the steamship Scot that same day off St Abbs Head before heading back to his base in Germany.

The wreck believed to be the Auriac lies in position 55° 58.446′ N, 001° 54.052′ W oriented 170/350 degrees. She sits upright and relatively in tact rising 7 metres from the seabed at 70 metres. A bell was recovered from the wreck but did not have an inscription to provide the wreck’s identity and, as far a we are aware, nothing has been found to absolutely confirm this is the wreck of the Auriac but the location, exactly where Tebejohanns reported his attack, and the dimensions of the wreck would strongly suggest this is indeed Auriac.