South Shields, Ethel Taylor (James Huniford, Cremlyn)

HER Number:
12955

District:
S Tyneside

Site Name:
South Shields, Ethel Taylor (James Huniford, Cremlyn)

Place:
South Shields

Map Sheet:
NZ36NE

Class:
Maritime Craft

Site Type: Broad:
Fishing Vessel

Site Type: Specific:
Trawler

General Period:
Modern

Specific Period:
C20

Form of Evidence:
Wreckage

Description:
An armed trawler of 276 tons. Sank on 22nd November 1940 at N55 00 34 W001 22 54 (Collings). The Ethel Taylor was a steel, 276 ton British steam fishing trawler, 38.22m long, 7.11m beam, and 3.86m draught. She was built as the James Hunniford at Middlesborough by Smith’s Docks Co. Ltd in 1917 for Clifton Steam Trawlers Ltd and registered in Fleetwood as trawler FD363. Her single propeller was powered by a three-cylinder, triple expansion steam engine. She had one deck, three watertight bulkheads and a superstructure consisting of a 21.9m quarter-deck and a 6.4m forecastle. The vessel was armed with one, large, deck-mounted gun that fired 5.44kg (12lb) shells. On 15 March 1936 the Ethel Taylor was fishing off the west coast of Scotland when she was in collision with the 331-ton, Fleetwood registered steam, steel fishing trawler Winooka belonging to Boston Deep Sea Fishing Co. Ltd at Fleetwood, resulting in the sinking of the Winooka. From 1940 the Ethel Taylor was requisitioned by the Admiralty and converted to an armed patrol vessel. On 22 November 1940 she foundered and was lost after detonating a German-laid mine off the mouth of the Tyne. The wreck of the Ethel Taylor lies orientated in a west-north-west to east-south-east direction on a dirty, hard seabed of sand and stone in a general depth of 18.8m. She is upright and quite intact, standing some 3.5m high. The wreck is very impressive and has produced excellent underwater photographs. Ian Spokes database has the wreck as lying at a depth of 13m and the size as 38.22 x 7.11 x 3.86m. Grid reference conversion made 06.12.2010 with http://gps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/etrs89geo_natgrid.asp with Lat/Long referenced as N 55 00 35 W 01 22 59

Easting:
3996

Northing:
6846

Grid Reference:
NZ39966846

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
Peter Collings, 1991, The New Divers Guide to the North-East Coast, page 31; Young, R. (2001) Comprehensive guide to Shipwrecks of the North East Coast (The): Volume Two, Tempus, Gloucestershire. p. 152, Ian T. Spokes Wreck Database, Inga Project, National Monument Record (908745); Hydrographic Office wreck index 09-MAR-1993; Dave Shaw and Barry Winfield 1988 Dive north east : a Diver guide Page(s)46; Richard and Bridget Larn 1997 Shipwreck index of the British Isles, volume 3. The east coast of England : Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, County Durham, Northumberland Section 6, County Durham (CF); 1989 Lloyd's war losses: the Second World War 3 September-14 August 1945, Volumes I and II Page(s)158; J J Colledge 1989 Ships of the Royal Navy, volume 2: navy-built trawlers, drifters, tugs and requisitioned ships from the fifteenth century to the present Page(s)82