Hamilton

The Hamilton was a small coastal steamship built at Bowling by Scott & Sons and launched in October 1905 (Yard No 180). The steel hull measured (at loss) – 97.5’ x 20.1’ x 8.2’ and tonnage was 180 gross, 68 net. In 1908 she had been lengthened by 12.5’ from her launch length of 85.0’

The vessel was powered by a 2 cylinder compound steam engine supplied by Gauldie, Gillespie & Company of Glasgow which developed 32nhp. Her official number was 98334, and she was owned at the time of her loss by the Shira Steamship Company of Glasgow.

Four lives were lost when the small coaster Hamilton foundered off Pladda on 16 February 1940, fortunately the fifth member of the crew survived. The Hamilton had left Ayr Harbour late on Thursday 15^th, bound for Campbeltown with a cargo of 130 tons of coal. This was a regular trip for the crew, in charge was her master, George MacLean of Glasgow, and he was also the elder brother of the cook.

In the early hours of Friday 16 February, fishing boats working off the east coast of Arran were alerted by distress flares and made for the spot. Unfortunately by the time they arrived on the scene the vessel had foundered. First on the scene was the Dunure fishing boat the Vernoica and they were able to recover one of the crew who was alive but exhausted. It turned out they had rescued the cook, Buchan MacLean of Rosehearty and due to his condition they decided to head for shelter in Lamlash where they were able to land him and he was taken to the Arran War Memorial Hospital.

The search was taken up by the Campbeltown fishing boat Kingfisher who found the bodies of the skipper, George MacLean and the mate, George Downie. Other fishing boats working in the area carried out a co-ordinated search of the area but were unable to find any other crew. It was later confirmed that the engineer, Robert Millar and fireman, John MacMillan were working in the engine room and probably went down with the Hamilton.

On the morning of her loss the weather was ‘thick’ with strong winds from the south and a heavy sea running. Piecing together all the information available it is likely that the Hamilton sank as a result of spray blowing over her port bow and entering the cargo hold, causing the cargo to shift. It was reported that she began to list to port shortly before she went down, the crew had less that 60 seconds to abandon ship before the Hamilton disappeared below the waves. The reported position off her loss by Lloyd’s was 1.5 miles south east of Pladda, which would put her somewhere in the 50-60 metre range also in an area of very strong tidal movement. This may account for the fact she has not to our knowledge, ever been found and positively identified.

A post script to this story relates to the impact of WW2 on the supply chain for basic commodities and the reliance on ships such as the Hamilton making perilous journeys delivering goods to remote communities around the coast of Scotland. More detail can be found in the cutting.

We would like to thank Lloyd’s Register Foundation – Heritage & Education Centre for allowing us to reproduce documents from their archive in this article.