St. Mary's Island, Hanne

HER Number:
13125

District:
N Tyneside

Site Name:
St. Mary's Island, Hanne

Place:
St. Mary's Island

Map Sheet:
NZ37NW

Class:
Maritime Craft

Site Type: Broad:
Transport Vessel

Site Type: Specific:
Cargo Vessel

General Period:
Modern

Specific Period:
C20

Form of Evidence:
Wreckage

Description:
A Danish steam ship of 1080 tons, which struck a mine on 28th December 1939. 230 feet long. An attempt was made to beach her but she sank in shallow water, 200 metres south east of Blyth pier (Collings). Steel, 1,080-ton, 70.13m long, 10.69m beam, 4.39m draught steamship registered in Denmark. She was built in 1905 by Fredrikstad MV and owned at the time of loss by D/S af 1937 A/S. Her single screw was powered by a three-cylinder, triple-expansion steam engine using one boiler. On 28 December 1939, the Hanne was in ballast on passage from Copenhagen for Blyth and she was approaching the Blyth harbour entrance when she detonated a German-laid mine. The explosion caused the vessel to break in two, close inshore, where she foundered and was lost with her crew of fifteen. The wreck of the Hanne lies on a seabed of soft sand a little further south the wreck of the Muristan, in a general depth of 4m. She is very broken up and scattered, with two main sections lying 10m apart, one being the boiler and the other being her engine. Seaweed and kelp cling to the wreckage and floats to the surface in low tide. Grid reference conversion made 18.01.2011 with http://gps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/etrs89geo_natgrid.asp with Lat/Long referenced as N 55 06 19 W 01 29 15

Easting:
3279

Northing:
7910

Grid Reference:
NZ32797910

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
Peter Collings, 1991, The New Divers Guide to the North-East Coast, page 51; Young, R. (2001) Comprehensive guide to Shipwrecks of the North East Coast (The): Volume Two, Tempus, Gloucestershire. p. 182