The steel steamship Fiona was launched from the Dundee yard of Caledon Shipbuilding Co Ltd (Yard No 180) on 19th June 1905. She measured 280.0′ x 36.1′ x 18.0′ and her tonnage was 1611 gross tons, 616 net tons. She was powered by a triple expansion steam engine by her builders delivering 443 nominal horse power. Ordered by the London and Edinburgh Shipping Co Ltd she was registered in Leith later that year. She entered service, mainly on the East North Sea route between London Docks and Leith, delivering cargo and passengers between the two capital cities. Her official number was 118709. With the outbreak of World War One she was immediately requisitioned by the Admiralty in November 1914 and entered service and an armed Boarding steamer. During both world wars the Admiralty stationed many such steamships in Orkney and Shetland charged with intercepting and inspecting the cargoes on any vessels heading into and out of the North Sea that could potentially be handling food and war goods from and to enemy German ports.
SS Fiona under way
Lloyds register 1915
Just after midnight on 6th September 1917 Fiona departed from Longhope, Orkney bound for Lerwick with Lieutenant James W S Bias RNR as Officer of the Watch on the bridge. It is not clear why Bias, an experienced Orkney born merchant seaman, steered such a southerly course but, only one hour later, Fiona stranded on Cletteck Skerry, the most easterly rocks of the treacherous Pentland Skerries and stuck fast. It appears he had severely misjudged the strength and direction of the powerful tides and current of the Pentland Firth. Naval tugs were quickly dispatched to the scene hoping that salvage would be possible but their efforts were unsuccessful and soon Fiona broke into two pieces and was lost. Unfortunately six men were lost in the salvage efforts although the details of how they lost their lives are not recorded. At the subsequent court martial Bias pled guilty to the charge that he ‘negligently or by default suffered HMS Fiona to be stranded and lost.’ He was severely reprimanded but remained in the service. The loss followed by a strange set of civil court hearings with debates between the owners, the insurers and the Admiralty about the settlement of outstanding hire charges for the vessel and when exactly the vessel was declared a total loss and as a result ceased to be under hire by the Admiralty.
Estimated position of loss on Clettack Skerry
The final mention of Fiona in the historical record was an attempt to purchase of the wreck by Keith Jessop, a well known salvage diver, in the 1970s but it is not clear if this was successful if the wreck was indeed subject to substantial salvage activity. The site itself, reported by Jessop to lie in position 58° 40.993’N, 02° 53,596’W, is extremely exposed swept by powerful tidal streams and often massive swells as the currents of the Pentland Firth and the North Sea clash off the Pentland Skerries. We have no information about what wreckage, if any, remains at the site today.
