The steel steam trawler Kingston Turquoise was launched from the yard of Cook, Welton and Gemmell in Beverley on 15th October 1954 for the Hull Steam Trawling Company Ltd. Registered in Hull (Yard No 895) as H50 she measured 189.3′ x 32.1′ x 11.2′ and her tonnage was 811 gross tons, 288 net tons. She was powered by an oil fired triple expansion direct acting steam engine by C D Holmes and Co Ltd., Hull delivering 1100 brake horse power.
Extract Lloyd’s Register 1960
On 6th January 1965 she departed from Hull for the Icelandic fishing grounds under the command of skipper Colin Cross who had a crew of nineteen hands aboard. She had a successful trip completing her fishing off Iceland. As they headed home they stopped to fish one last time in an area named Rising Grounds on 25th January before continuing the voyage. The skipper set a course SSE from his position which he estimated to be 60 miles north of Sule Skerry. He calculated this would bring him west of Rora Head on Hoy and to the entrance to the Pentland Firth around 6pm that evening.
Kingston Turquoise – Trawler Photos
At around 1pm further readings and adjustments were made to the course which was then intended to bring the Kingston Turquoise to a position 4 miles west of Rora Head. Cross then went below asking that he should be awakened at 3:30 if he had not returned to the bridge by that time. As 3:30 approached the second hand, who was at the wheel at the time, sighted land ahead and on the port bow and immediately called the skipper who returned to the bridge as planned at 3:30. After a brief discussion they determined that the land ahead was Dunnet Head and the land off the port bow was Orkney near the Old Man of Hoy. By 4:00pm the land was showing on the radar which had a range of twenty four miles. As they approached land a number of small course adjustments were made by the skipper without further attempts to determine an exact position.
Suddenly, at about 4:40pm, the vessel shuddered and her speed checked briefly but initially the skipper adjudged this to be an engine problem. However, shortly after, one of the engineers rushed to the bridge and reported that the engine room was filling rapidly. At the same moment the vessel started to list heavily to starboard. It was then evident that she had struck some underwater rocks and was sinking fast. While the wireless operator sent out urgent SOS messages two inflatable life rafts were launched. The crew disembarked with one crew member named Denton forced to jump into the water as the Kingston Turquoise sank. Unfortunately, with darkness falling and the life rafts drifting in the currents, he disappeared and was lost despite desperate attempts by the two lifeboats to find him.
The radio distress messages sent out had been picked up by Wick Radio resulting in the rapid launch of the Stromness lifeboat which arrived on the scene around 8pm safely picking up the remaining nineteen crewmen and taking them to Stromness. Thankfully the radio operator had estimated the vessel’s real position from the images of the land he saw on the ship’s radar rather than giving a position reflecting the skipper’s estimated position. The Kingston Turquoise had hit the rocks of the North Shoal many miles from the position that the skipper had believed his vessel to be based on his dead reckoning.
The subsequent enquiry focussed on the erroneous position of the Kingston Turquoise which was many miles to the north and east of the skipper’s intended position at the time of the grounding. It was concluded that the skipper had not taken sufficient care to verify his dead reckoning positions at any point after leaving the Rising Grounds and, even when lights were spotted and land was apparent on the radar, he continued to rely on his own judgment rather than verifying the position using the ship’s instruments. It seems likely that a strong tidal flow had pushed the ship’s course to the east during the voyage and, rather unluckily, right onto the jagged underwater rocks at North Shoal. His certificate was suspended for six months.
Lloyd’s casualty report
The wreckage of the Kingston Turquoise was found and identified by local divers in position 59° 12.908’N, 003° 34.846’W. The wreck is oriented 070/250 degrees and lies in 62 metres with a least depth clearance of 58 metres. The wreckage is in two main parts south of the North Shoal and well broken with the engine clearly visible. The four bladed propeller, with one blade missing as a result of the impact with the shoal, is also visible.
