Ulabrand

The Ulabrand was a general cargo steamship built by Burmeister & Wain of Copenhagen (Yard No.199) and launched on 14th January 1899 for A/S Ulabrand of Tønsberg in Norway. Her dimensions were 286.5′ x 40.2′ x 19.2′ and her tonnage was 2011 gross tons,  1269 net tons . She was powered by a triple expansion steam engine of 203 nominal horse power supplied by the builders.

She was on a voyage from Rouen to Glasgow in ballast when she sank following an explosion 2 miles west of Crammag Head, in the early hours of 23th February 1918. The single violent explosion, aft of midships on the starboard side, also destroyed much of the aft island deck structure.  The vessel foundered very quickly taking with her 13 of the crew.  The master of the Ulabrand, Olaf Bjønness, survived the ordeal and later made a statement to the Norwegian Vice Consul in Glasgow on 27th February 1918. As the ship’s papers had gone down with the vessel the statement was given from memory.

Ulabrand departed Rouen around 10.00 on 12th February arriving Le Havre Roads at 11.30 where they anchored awaiting convoy muster. They departed Le Havre on 13th February around 11.00 steering in convoy across the English Channel for Anvil Point where the convoy separated. On instruction from naval authorities, Ulabrand made for Milford Haven where she arrived on 15th February at noon and left again at 15.30 for Holyhead arriving the following day. Due to increased U-Boat activity in the North Channel she was detained in Holyhead until Friday 22nd February when she left for Glasgow. By 23.00 that night she was 7 miles to the west of the Mull of Galloway. Fifty five minutes later she was 2 miles west of Crammag Head.

Shortly after midnight the deck aft of the central island was lifted into the air by a huge explosion that rocked the whole ship sending fragments of decking, hull plating and seawater skyward causing the crew to run for safety and shelter. The ship was sinking fast and so the crew headed for the lifeboats. The starboard lifeboat had been wrecked in the explosion.  The crew were ordered to the port boat which was filled and lowered. However, the lifeboat could not clear away in time before it was capsized by the lifeboat davits as the Ulabrand sank lower in the water. By this stage most of the crew were in the water, either thrown out of the lifeboat or by jumping overboard. Olaf Bjønness was sucked below the surface by the ship as it started to sink but fortunately the buoyancy in his lifejacket eventually brought him to the surface gasping for air. What he saw was total devastation with much floating debris around the near submerged hull of his ship.

A small boat, one of the ships gigs and a life raft were lashed together and the nine remaining crew drifted away from the Ulabrand as she finally sank. They made landfall around 06.00 on 23rd February. The detail in the captain’s report is a bit confusing as to the total number of survivors but we believe this to be nine in total. We do know that thirteen crew lost their lives in the attack.

From WW1 U-Boat records it has been established that she sank as a result of a torpedo was fired by U-86 commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Helmut Patzig who must have been lying slightly inshore of the Ulabrand as she headed north along the Galloway coast.

U-86 slipped away after the attack and survived until November 1918 when she was surrendered to Britain as part of the WW1 Armistice reparations, she was later put on display in Bristol docks. The final demise for the U-86 came on 30th June 1921 when under tow to the breakers yard she sank in the English Channel off Littlehampton where she remains today.

A wreck located close to the last recorded position of the Ulabrand prior to the attack with a sonar survey indicating a length is of a similar size to the Ulabrand is highly likely to be this vessel. The wreck lies in 54° 39.833’N, 05° 02.833’W and is oriented north/south. Lying on a rolling sandy seabed the wreck lies in 100 metres rising a maximum of 5 metres above seabed.