Tillycorthie

The steel steam trawler Tillycorthie was launched from the yard of John Duthie Shipbuilding Co Ltd (Yard No 388) on 21st June 1913 for Mitchell Rae and Co Ltd of Newburgh. She measured 140.3′ x 28.1′ x 9.6′ and her tonnage was 382 gross tons, 152 net tons. She was powered by a triple expansion steam engine by James Abernethy and Co Ltd delivering 450 ihp.

The following year, with the outbreak of World War One, her trips between the North Sea ports became extremely dangerous. On 1st March 1917, she was on a voyage from Seaham under the command of her skipper, Captain MacLennan.

They had picked up a full cargo of coal for Peterhead when the vessel was stopped by the German U-boat UC-41 under the command of Kapitanleutnant Kurt Bernis in a position reported as sixteen miles N1/2E from Longstone. Bernis ordered the men from the Tillycorthie into their boats and proceeded to sink the ship with gunfire. Thankfully there were no casualties among the crew. Two days later UC-41 was to sink the Norwegian steamship Ring nearby. They would go on to sink a further sixteen ships in the course of the following six months before being lost with all hands off the Tay estuary on 21st August that year.

The wreck of the Tillycorthie was located and identified by the recovery of the ship’s bell in position 55° 51.529’N, 001° 33.697’W. The wreck is oriented 142/322 degrees and lies in 62 metres with a least depth of 54 metres.

We’d like to thank Peter Baker for his permission to use his photographs of the wreck in this article.

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