The steel steamship St. Sunniva was launched from the Footdee yard of Hall Russell and Co Ltd (Yard No 398) on 24th March 1887. She measured 235.7′ x 29.8′ x 14.7′ and her tonnage was 864 gross tons, 352 net tons. She was powered by a triple expansion steam engine by Hall Russell delivering 260 nominal horse power.
Extract Lloyd’s Register 1929.
Steamship St. Sunniva under way
Ordered by the North Scotland, Orkney and Shetland Steam Navigation Co Ltd of Aberdeen St Sunniva was originally built to operate cruises from Scotland to Norway and was very popular with one hundred and fifty passengers on up to ten planned cruises of a summer season. Latterly she operated on the Scottish east coast routes mainly between Aberdeen, Kirkwall and Lerwick. She had a number of stranding incidents throughout her forty year plus career. In January 1914 she went ashore at Graemeshall, Orkney and was refloated soon after without damage. In the early 1920s she was ashore again at Torry and again in 1928 near Peterhead. She was finally lost in a further stranding at Mousa, Shetland in April 1930.
St. Sunniva ashore Graemeshall, Orkney in 1914.
In the early hours of the morning of 10th April the St. Sunniva was inbound to Lerwick from Aberdeen under the command of Captain Williamson with his normal crew and forty passengers aboard. As she steamed north past Sumburgh Head she was enveloped in a thick fog and, despite the captain’s extensive experience of the route, she ran aground on the south east corner of Mousa between Muckle Bard and The Swarf. Ashore, the first indication of the situation was a message picked up at 3:43am by Wick Wireless Station from the St. Sunniva that she was ashore and needed assistance. The wireless station alerted the lifeboat at Stromness which was quickly launched to begin the long trip north to Shetland. The message as also picked up by the Danish steamship Islands Falk and her captain radioed to say that they were steaming to the scene at full speed. Islands Falk arrived at Mousa at 9am and stood by to provide assistance if needed. Although the night was calm there was a large swell grinding the St. Sunniva on the rocks the crew succeeded in launching the lifeboats and safely transferring all the passengers ashore by 7am. The Stromness lifeboat arrived at the scene at 6pm that evening but was not needed as the passengers and crew were by then safely ashore. As the weather was still thick, the lifeboat made for Lerwick where she remained until 11.45 pm, departing for Stromness and arriving there at 2.00 am. The lifeboat and her crew had been a sea for thirty six hours and travelled 240 miles.
St Sunniva : view from The Swarf
The St. Sunniva was reported to be hard aground from stem to midships with her stern section overhanging the rocks and in all likelihood with her back already broken. The heavy south east swell was breaking over her and even at this early stage it appeared that successful salvage was unlikely. By 25th April she had broken up and on 1st May a Salvage Association report stated that she had vanished completely with nothing visible above the sea surface.
Storm date noted above was Sun. 18 May 1930
The wreckage of the St. Sunniva is reported to lie in approximate position 59° 59.514’N, 001° 09.427’W. It is reported to predominantly lie in a deep gulley in 20 metres at the north east end of The Swarf, wreckage is spread down the sloping seabed between 12 and 28 metres . This is an extremely exposed site. The sea broke the ship into three separate parts in the weeks after her loss and a further storm on 18th May then opened out those sections and pushed the bow into deeper water. After another 90 years of wind and wave action, the most useful search tool could be a magnetometer.
