The Thomas Altoft was a Castle class steam trawler originally ordered by the Admiralty and launched on 2 June 1919 by Cook Welton & Gemmell of Beverley (Yard No.416). Her steel hull measured 125.5’ x 23.5’ x 12.7’, with tonnage of 290 gross and 126 net. The vessel was powered by a triple expansion steam engine provided by Amos & Smith of Hull. Her official number was 144027.
Completed as a commercial trawler in 1919, she was sold in May 1920 to her first owners the Iago Steam Trawling Company of Milford Haven and registered at Hull as on 9 January 1920. Her fishing registry was at Hull and number H.132.
The Thomas Altoft was requisitioned for war service in August 1939 by the Royal Navy as a minesweeper, pennant No FY552. At the conclusion of WW2 she was returned to her owners who by now, were J. Marr & Sons Limited of Fleetwood who retained her until her loss.
The Thomas Altoft left Fleetwood on 6 November 1947 under the command of skipper Charles Walter, his crew numbered 14 hands. They headed north for the fishing grounds around the Outer Hebrides where they made two hauls off Barra Head before the weather deteriorated. By mid morning on the 8 November, and with a poor weather forecast, the skipper decided to head north for the more sheltered waters in the North Minch. Their course took them north along the east coast of the Uist’s heading for a position off Glas Island light on Scalpay (Harris), where they would make a course change. The skipper went below for a rest around 19:00 leaving navigational and steerage instructions with two un-certificated deckhands, this was to prove to be a costly decision.
Around 22:20 the trawler ran hard aground on Sgeir Graidach, an exposed reef approximately 1.6 miles west of Glas Island light, and remained hard aground. An SOS was immediately sent out, and the Fleetwood trawler Flanders came to the the rescue in the early hours of the 9 November. In the rough sea conditions the Flanders made a number of successful attempts to get alongside the Thomas Altoft and safely rescued her entire crew by 03:30. The Flanders then stood by the wreck until daylight when they were able to see that the Thomas Altoft was awash and likely to become a total loss. The crew were later landed on North Uist and transported home on 10 November via two aeroplanes that had been chartered by the owners James Marr.
We have not been able to establish if any salvage work was undertaken on the wreck, although there is a suggestion in the press that it broke up during bad weather around 3-4 days after going aground. From archive material held by Lloyd’s Register we know the wreck was written off as a constructive total loss, but little further information has come to light. We have recorded the position of loss on the south east side of Sgeir Graidach as 57° 50.540’N. 06° 41.172’W, this being the most likely position for any search.
At a subsequent Ministry of Transport inquiry into the circumstances leading to the loss of the vessel, the court found the skipper in default for his failure to put a certificated officer in charge of the navigation of the ship, and also due to the ignorance of the two deckhands who were left in charge. The skippers certificate was suspended for nine months from the date of the stranding, but as that period of time had elapsed, his masters certificate was returned to him at the end of the inquiry. The full inquiry report is reproduced below.
We would like to thank Lloyd’s Register Foundation – Heritage & Education Centre for allowing us to reproduce documents from their archive in this article.