The iron steamship Hebridean was launched from the Broomloan yard of T B Seath and Co Ltd., Rutherglen (Yard No 208) on 30th April 1881. She measured 139.8′ x 23.2′ x 12.0′ and her tonnage was 331 gross tons, 143 net tons. She was powered by a compound steam engine by W King and Co Ltd., Glasgow delvering 70 registered horse power. Ordered by John McCallum and Co Ltd., Glasgow she was first registered on 16th June 1881 managed for this company by Andrew Ross of Glasgow. At times she was leased to various shipping companies in England and saw periods of service in the Bristol Channel and on routes to and from the Isle of Man. In 1917 she was purchased by Peter Cooper ( W Cooper and Son) of Kirkwall who re-named her Express and she entered service operating between the Northern Isles and various ports on the Scottish mainland.
On 9th February 1918 Express was operating on one of her usual routes from Leith returning to her home port of Kirkwall with a general cargo. She was under the command of Captain Robert Heddle who had a crew of ten men and two servicemen, Lance Corporal Edward Wingfield and Private Walter Currell, aboard. As she steamed north off the east coast of the Orkney mainland she was run down by the Parker Class destroyer HMS Grenville (pennant number G95). Both ships were steaming with no lights in accordance with wartime restrictions in place at the time and the Express was first sighted less than a hundred yards directly ahead of the destroyer. The Grenville was steaming at full speed of 15 knots and, despite emergency action by the crewman at the destroyer’s wheel who stopped her engines and put her helm hard to starboard, she sliced through the hull of the Express towards the stern cutting her in two pieces. She sank immediately with the loss of everyone aboard. Grenville, under the command of Commander Harold V Dundas, did not stop to attempt to rescue any survivors. Dundas later stated that he was concerned that his own vessel might have been seriously damaged in the collision and herself in danger foundering and that he believed that other destroyers nearby were aware of the collision and rendering any assistance they could.
The collision, the subsequent loss of the Express and everyone aboard and in particular the actions of Commander Dundas following the collision, were the subject of an Admiralty enquiry and then a legal tussle between the owners and the Navy to establish responsibility for the accident. The naval enquiry found that the collision was an accident primarily as a result of the ships running without lights and the low visibility at the time of the collision. Some concern was recorded relating to Dundas and in particular his hasty departure from the scene following the incident. He was also criticised for allowing Sub-lieutenant Ernest Johnstone RNVR to act as officer of the watch when he was not permitted to do so as he had no watch keeping certificate. However, they did not believe this had contributed in any way to the accident. In April 1919 the owners of the Express took legal action to attempt to secure financial retribution for the loss but the court held that neither party was to blame and, like the earlier naval enquiry, the collision was the result of the ships running with no lights in poor visibility.
The wreckage believed to be the Express was first dived in 2023 with the main section lying in position 58 49.430 N, 002 21.766 W oriented 035/215 degrees. The wreckage, which proved to be of a steamship with a compound steam engine with the stern missing lies in 79 metres with a least depth clearance of 75 metres. The expedition’s dives did not provide any definite proof of the identity of the vessel but the position of the wreck and the missing stern section make it more or less certain this is indeed the Express. It is also believed that, although it was not investigated by the dive team, the nearby obstruction in position 58 49.390N, 002 21.799W which is surveyed 7 metres long, is the stern section of the Express.
We would like to acknowledge the assistance of the website – Lost in Waters Deep – in the preparation of this article. Link to website – www.lostinwatersdeep.co.uk
We’d also like to thanks Rick Ayrton for his permission to use his underwater photographs of the wreck.