Trevorian

The steel steamship Trevorian was launched from the South Shields yard of John Readhead and Sons Ltd (Yard No 462) on 9th June 1920 for the Hain Steamship Co Ltd of St Ives. She measured 400.3′ x 52.1′ x 25.9′ and her tonnage was 4599 gross tons, 2818 net tons. She was powered by a triple expansion steam engine by Readhead delivering 425 nominal horse power. Launched within months of her sister ships Trebartha and Tredinnick all three ships were to be lost in World War Two.

At the outbreak of World War Two Trevorian and her two sister ships were among the first vessels to be requisitioned by the Admiralty for convoy service. Her first wartime convoy left Liverpool in September 1939 and was dispersed four days later once the ships reached open ocean leaving the Trevorian to steam independently to Buenos Aires which she reached on 24th October. Many convoy voyages followed with the Trevorian taking part in no fewer than 44 convoys to various Transatlantic and African destinations.

It was on one of these convoys voyages that Trevorian was to meet her end. Ironically, after all these dangerous trips avoiding possible attack by German U-boats and aircraft, she was to be lost in a simple maritime collision off the Aberdeen coast. Trevorian, recently arrived from Hull, left Methil headed for the convoy gathering point in Loch Ewe in the small coastal convoy EN312. The convoy consisted of nine merchant vessels heading to Loch Ewe for dispersal to various destinations. Trevorian was fully loaded with government stores and was intended to move on to Oban and then join and convoy heading to the Mediterranean.

As the ships passed Aberdeen on 29th November 1943, the Trevorian was involved in a collision with the Icelandic trawler Óli Garða. Surprisingly the much larger Trevorian was badly damaged in the collision and soon began to fill and sink. The crew were safely evacuated from the sinking vessel before she sank beneath the waves.

The wreck of the Trevorian was found and identified from her distinctive configuration and engine design by Buchan Divers in 2021. The wreck lies in position 57° 12.452’N, 001° 47.889’W oriented 045/225 degrees in 75 metres with a least depth over the wreck of 62 metres. The wreck is reported to lie on its port side and is well broken with the central section containing the engine the largest piece of wreckage.

We would like to acknowledge the assistance of Buchan Divers – www.buchandivers.com in the preparation of this article.  We would also like to thank Naomi Watson for her permission to use her underwater photographs of the wreck in this article.