The Ben Asdale two days after she struck.

On the evening of 30th December 1979 the freezer trawler Ben Asdale was off loading fish into the hold of the Russian factory ship Antartica, which was anchored in Falmouth Bay. The weather was appalling, with a force eight gale blowing and heavy snow falling. When the Ben Asdale had finished discharging her cargo of mackerel, she cast off her stern rope in preparation to move away from the anchored Antartika. Unfortunately the rope fouled her rudder and she would not respond to her helm. The skipper, Barney Coe, tried to get the Russians to re secure the stern of his vessel but by now the fierce gale was dragging both boats. The Russians sent over two officers to assist in getting the steering working and shortly after the bow rope parted and the Ben Asdale was adrift at the mercy of the sea.

The Ben Asdale

The skipper let go an anchor but it failed to hold, and as they were swept towards Manenporth beach, a Mayday was sent. With the wind now gusting force ten and the waves breaking over the trawler, she was out of control, and soon piled onto the rocks at the bottom of Newporth Head. As the boat struck the rocks one of the crew jumped over the side gravely injuring himself, and others threw out anything to act as life rafts.

By now word of the trawlers troubles had spread and the three Billcliffe brothers who had a hotel by the beach rushed to the scene and with no regard for their own safety waded straight into the raging surf and during that night dragged three of the crew to safety. Up on Newporth head, the Coastguard had arrived and was setting up a breaches buoy. The blizzard was now so bad that nobody could see hardly anything, and searchlights were rigged. As the breaches buoy was connected to the stricken trawler she lurched and rolled onto her side jamming all the gear. Luckily the rescue helicopter had by now arrived from Coldrose but could not see what was going on down on the hulk of the trawler because of the swirling blizzard.

The Ben Asdale today.

The Coastguard set up a radio link with the pilot, to guide the helicopter, which had to fly backwards over the wreck because of the winds and the nearness of the Headland. Over a period of about one and a half hours the helicopter lowered its winch eight times and successfully lifted off a crewman. Whilst all this was happening three of the crew despaired and tried to swim to a shore that looked temptingly near. In the end eleven people were saved, but sadly in spite off all the efforts of the emergency services and the courageous Billcliffe brothers, three men, two Britons and a Russian were drowned, their bodies washed up the next day on Maenporth Beach.

When the ship returned to England Simon became world famous with bags of fan mail delivered daily. Unfortunately Simon had to be placed into quarentine far away from all his sailor friends.He didn't last long there and soon died. Whether it was the loss of his friends, or more probably his age which caused him to die, we will never know. He was buried with his own gravestone in a pet cemetary in Essex.

There is a memorial plaque to Simon, at the P.D.S.A surgery in Durnford Street, Plymouth.

The whole Amethyst affair became a huge news story all over the world. Here are a few of those stories. (just click to enlarge)

Sydney Horton joined the Royal Navy on 15th July 1947 as a Boy Seaman. He did his basic training at H.M.S.Ganges (alas no more) and joined H.M.S.Norfolk. Sydney stayed in the Royal Navy for twelve years, bought himself out for a while and and then re-entered the Service for a few more years. When Sydney finally left he went to work for the Paper Converting Company, based in Plymouth for 28 years. Sadly, Sydney Horton died of Asbestosis on 28 January 1995.

Here is Sydney's own description of what happened on H.M.S.Amethyst.

Dear Sir,
In answer to your request for any information regarding H.M.S. Amethyst, I will give you a build up of how I started my Naval service and ended up on the Amethyst. I Joined H.M.S. Ganges as a boy seaman on 15th July 1947, did my basic training and left there on 1st July 1948 to join H.M.S. Norfolk which was a 6 inch cruiser stationed on the East indies ( Tricomalee ) for a two and a half year commission. When Norfolk sailed for home waters on completion of her commission, 90 of her boy seamen were drafted to other ships, mainly in the Far East to complete their two and a half years.

Myself and fifteen other boy seamen ended up on our way to join H.M.S. Amethyst in the far East. We joined Amethyst in Hong Kong in March and sailed for Shanghi. We left for Nanking on the 19th April and anchored overnight with some Nationalist warships. Early next morning we got underway and proceeded up the river. Around nine o’clock we were closed up at action stations. My station was on ‘B’ 4 inch gun just below the bridge when I heard rifle fire and shortly after gunfire, and shell whooshed over the bows which had canvas Union Jacks draped over the sides, but luckily there had been no hits to the ship.
About twenty minutes later there was more gunfire and this time shells hit the wheelhouse, the bridge and other parts of the ship, and within minutes the ship started to turn to port very quickly and ran aground on a small island known later as Rose Island. With the ship stuck on the mud of the Island ‘B’ guns crew were of no further use because the guns could not bear on the target. We dispersed as a crew and tried to be of help in other parts of the ship.

I found myself going up the wheelhouse steps and found the place in chaos. The Coxswain and telegraph men had all been hit leaving the second Coxswain the only man on his feet. There was an awful smell of smoke, and I helped to get the wounded down into the seamans mess deck, went back up to the bridge and helped to bring the injured men down below, noticing Lt. Berger had most of his clothes blown off by the blast. The ship by now could only defend herself with ‘X’ gun back aft, which she did until ‘X’ gun also had a direct hit.
I found myself taking small arms up to the upper deck, and within minutes down below again because any movement on the upper deck was met with small arms fire from the shore. The upper deck was a shambles, there was bits of boat, bodies and wounded, who we took below to the messdeck. By now the ship reeked of smoke, cordite, sweat and blood.

Next came the order to abandon ship and take the wounded to the whaler to get them ashore out of the way, but even with men in the water following the whaler to the shore the small arms fire never ceased. My next job was down below tidying up the living quarters and tending to the wounded that was left onboard. I was given the job of lookout on ‘B’ gun deck, looking out for the destroyer Consort coming down from Nanking. What a thrill Consort gave me when i first sighted her, the gunner asked the signalman to flash her. On the way down towards us she opened fire to Port and I could see her hits on the gun positions on the banks, there was bits of everything flying in the air that was once gun emplacements. She came down to a position almost abreast of us and slowed down to make signals, then went down river to us and turned around and came back up never firing her guns to starboard, the sight of how calm and collected her crew were made me feel very proud to be British.

We next moved further up river and re- anchored where the new Captain of our ship came aboard from a Nationalist landing craft. He walked around and assessed the damage to the ship and almost right away arranged the burial of our dead into the Yangste river . A couple of times after this we were told to be ready to abandon ship, the Captain had charges placed and had plans to scuttle the ship seeing we never had enough boats to row ashore.

We watched the Communist Army make its crossing of the river in every boat imaginable, then for week upon week we fell into a ships routine again, tidying up, making different parts of the ship better to live in, and better protected against shrapnel and small arms fire if that arose. Over this period the Captain had been in touch with the Army ashore, and our ‘Jack Dusty’ had been able to procure eggs and fresh vegetables with bartering against a trader from ashore. One afternoon I was working on the cable deck, forward, making an adjustment to a steel cable holding a bolt of timber between the ships bows and the anchor chain, when the cable suddenly came under load and broke my right arm at the elbow.

A couple of weeks after breaking my arm, I was sent ashore with the R.A.F. Doctor and given an X ray, and returned back on board. When the captain decided to make a break for it, I and one other was stationed back aft in the tiller flat to steer the ship if the wheelhouse was hit on the way down. The ship reached Woosung, and was met by the destroyer Concord, and on coming up from below what a beautiful sight she made and what a lovely feeling it was to feel free at last. After much cheering, laughing and shouting, we headed for Hong Kong.

Ask most people over Fifty years of age about the Yangtze incident, and they will tell you about the film staring Richard Todd, in which he Captain’s H.M.S. Amethyst through shot and shell from the Communist Chinese, and eventually wins home to freedom down the River Yangtze. It’s a typical story of its time about plucky Brits defying great odds and the film was a great success. The real story is even more startling for the hardships and bravery suffered by the crew, who had no realistic hope of escape, but kept the faith even though many had died, and eventually they arrived home to a tumultuous welcome.

It is hard to believe that after all the Amethyst had done that she should end up being scrapped alongside one of Plymouths most popular pubs, the China House. But all ships eventually have to die, only their story lives on and what a story it is.
There are four articles about the 'Amethyst' including a first hand account from the youngest crew member, Boy seaman Sidney Horton.

trawler photos

Even so a wreck is a wreck, and it niggled at me, as I just don’t like NOT knowing. After all, I am supposed to be wreck historian (amateur). I had just made up my mind to devote some time to finding out what trawler it was, when I came across a letter in ‘Diver’ from Karen Williams who basically had done some serious digging and solved the whole problem together with ‘Dive Skipper’ Peter Hambly who owns the dive boat Furious. I am very grateful for their efforts.

It turns out that the wreck is that of a sixty foot shrimp trawler called the Viking Princess (PH407) built around 1960. At some stage she had also been used as a scalloper and was originally named as the Renilde Maartje (RX282) when she was based at Rye and Newhaven.

In the early 1990’s with fishing in serious decline the government decided to reduce the size of the fleet by offering inducements to fishermen to decommission their boats. This meant that they would have to be destroyed. Ten Plymouth trawlers between forty and sixty five feet were designated for decommission and their skippers suggested that they should be sunk in Whitsand Bay to form an artificial reef. This great idea was naturally turned down, so the trawlers were cut up and scrapped. The Viking Princess was partially scrapped in Hooe Lake in 1993 and in 1996, her engines were removed and the top of her bow cut off. She was now approved for decommissioning so in the Autumn of that year she was taken in tow by the Tug Kinsman for her last journey to Galmpton Creek on the River Dart. It wasn’t the best of weather and as the sea became rougher the Viking Princess became overwhelmed and sank where she now lies. So what is she like to dive

The Viking Princess lies more or less upright in about 25 meters . The bottom is predominately rocky with small reefs and some sand patches. The wreck is completely open, so presents no obstacles to a good ferret about. At the stern is what looks like a large propeller guard, but is actually a Kort nozzle which improved the efficiency of the engine when under extreme load during fishing. The wreck is usually swarming with small Pouting and some female cuckoo wrasse, who happily pose for the camera, and under the port side, near the stern, is a nice conger eel. There is not a lot to see, but it is quite photogenic , with the exposed ribs and fish giving you plenty of photo opportunities. Most people use this as a second dive coming back from the Persier, but I prefer it as a first dive, so I can spend plenty of time in the fairy grottoes.

When Karen found the wreck she did these drawings to help identify it.

In March 2012
Dave Page found this anchor about 30 meters from the bow.It is obviously much older, but nothing else is known.

April 2012

A few years ago I was visiting the British Museum in London when I found that they were having a touchy feely day. This is when the curators get out some of their great treasures and allow members of the public to hold and touch them. One of the objects that I was allowed to hold was a sword from the Sutton Hoo treasure, a vast Anglo Saxon ship burial hoard that had been found encased in an earth mound in Suffolk overlooking the river Deben and the town of Woodbridge.

So what is Sutton Hoo, and how did it come to give up its secrets? At the least, Sutton Hoo is a large burial ground. As far back as the 6th century and probably before, noble and eminent people had been buried in barrows or large earthen mounds, often with their possessions and sometimes with their favorite horse. Many of these mounds can still be seen today although much reduced by the passage of time and agricultural activity. One mound, but not the one with the boat, has been restored to its proper height and so gives a good indication of what the whole site must have looked like.

That the burial was discovered at all was down to the enthusiasm of the landowner, Mrs. Edith Pretty. Inspired by a recent trip to Egypt she came back full of curiosity about what was in the barrows. She thought there might be something historically interesting buried in them but was completely unprepared for what was eventually found, a wonderful funnery treasure, complete with a 27 meter, long ship. It was one of the greatest discoveries ever found in England.

It is generally agreed that the person occupying the burial long ship was Raedwald, a 7th century King of East Anglia, which today would have included the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. He reigned from 599 till his death in 624 and from about 616 he was the most powerful of the English kings south of the River Humber. Raedwald was the first East Anglian King to convert to Christianity, although he still kept a temple to the Old Gods, and the Venerable Bede mentions him as the fourth ruler to hold Imperium over other southern Anglo Saxon Kingdoms. The Anglo Saxon Chronicle, written centuries after his death refer to him as a Bretwalda, an Old English term meaning Britain Ruler or Wide Ruler.

In order to get the dig started Mrs. Pretty asked Guy Maynard the Curator of Ipswich Museum for advice and he referred her to Basil Brown an archeologist familiar with the area. After much discussion it was decided to dig in Mound 3, even though Mrs. Pretty herself favored Mound 1. Because there was so much earth to be moved Mrs. Pretty volunteered the services of her gardener, John Jacobs, and her gamekeeper William Spencer. Even with the three of them the task was enormous. The mound was 25 meters wide and nearly 1.5 meters high. Basil started by digging an exploratory trench from west to east and when he got to the center of the mound he dug down 2 meters and came across the remains of a human skeleton and the bones of a horse together with axes and a jug. That was all they found in the rest of the mound, but Basil was interested enough to have a go at Mound 2. Here he carried out more or less the same methods and again digging down near the center he found a Saxon grave that had been ransacked with all the objects removed. The grave robbers had made a complete mess of the tomb and the incumbent had disappeared. Even so Basil Brown found some silver shield adornments and bits of silver gilt for horn cup decorations, as well as a blue glass jar and a couple of iron blades.

Undaunted Basil still toiled on and excavated Mound 4. This was the most disappointing one yet. All he found were some cremated bones and some bronze fragments together with some material of good quality which indicated that the tomb had been intended for somebody of high standing. Later studies of the bones showed that they were of a young adult and a horse.

By now it was 1939 and war clouds were gathering ominously over England. As the summer approached, Basil Brown realized that with a War imminent Mound 1 needed to be excavated, and the work would have to be done quickly. Mrs. Pretty, for her part had always wanted to see what was in Mound 1 so she was happy to once again sponsor the dig.

Once again Basil used the same methods that had served him well with the other mounds. Very soon he discovered an iron rivet and thought idly that this might indicate a Saxon ship buried in the mound. Happily he moved methodically towards the center and after only two hours he found himself removing earth from what looked like the bow or stern of a ship. This is the moment that Basil Brown came into his own and frankly saved this great find from being completely ruined. Basil has often been depicted as a plodding amateur, using archeological techniques that nowadays would be treated with contempt by the experts. However he was very methodical and what’s more had great experience of the area and was very conversant with the effects of sandy acid soils on bio-degradable materials such as those to be found at Sutton Hoo. Because of this knowledge he quickly realized that none of the wood had survived the centuries, but what had survived were their imprint and the rivets that had held it all together, they were still in their original places.

With much painstaking work, gently removing the top layer of soil and following the lines of rivets, the full wonder of the ship became apparent. The timbers had rotted, and the by the process of oxidization had diffused into the sand creating a sort of fossilized cast that virtually showed the complete construction of the ship which appeared to be what we would know today as clinker built with the planks overlapped and riveted. The vessel had 26bulkheads and was over 27 meters long with a beam of 4.5 meters. A later survey suggested that the ship had been propelled by 40 oarsmen, 20 on each side. Because of its shallow draft it was assumed that the boat would have been used to carry goods along rivers and estuary’s rather than longer sea crossings, as fully laden it would have had hardly any freeboard and therefore would have been unseaworthy and difficult to handle in rough seas. There were also signs that repairs had been made to the hull, so this ship was not purpose built as a burial ship, but rather used for that purpose as necessary.

As the dig progressed poles were placed on top of the mound over the ship, so that Basil could work from a swing, thus avoiding damaging the ship. As they finished with one part of the ship, Basil and his helpers, recovered it with a layer of sand. As the ship became more and more uncovered, and the excavation approached the center of the mound, Basil came across signs of an earlier excavation. Here the refilled pit had only gone down 3 meters and Basil calculated that it had not reached the ship. For the first time Basil Brown allowed himself to contemplate the possibility that he might find a completely undisturbed burial chamber.

As the year turned to June and Basils methodical approach uncovered more and more of the ship, he must have been thinking endlessly about the burial chamber, and it is to his credit that he didn’t give in to temptation and rush straight for the prize. Unfortunately he was about to be robbed of the opportunity to find what he had strived for. By now word had leaked out about the Sutton Hoo ship and Guy Maynard the Curator from Ipswich decided that the dig should be put on a more academic footing. A team of leading archeologists led by Stuart Piggott were drafted in, and although Basil was retained, he was basically sidelined and left to do the donkey work while the experts got on with the detailed work. When it came to the burial chamber and all the other artifacts that were found, Basil Brown was forbidden to touch or remove any of them. This seems a bit harsh to me. Whilst it is true that Brown did not have the expertise to do the more delicate work and to take the excavation much further it must have hurt him deeply, especially as it was his knowledge and care that had led to the boat being discovered in the first place.

The burial chamber, situated between bulkheads 10 and 16 would have possibly had some sort of wooden roof over them to form a small cabin. In here would have been laid the King and his treasure. In the event all the wood and bones had rotted and oxidized into the soil so the shape of the chamber was hard to define, but there between bulkheads 10 and 16 was found the personal belongings of a very important person, King Raedwald. As the summer progressed and the outbreak of War came ever closer, all the finds were taken away to be put in storage for safe keeping. The site was recovered and as War became a reality research into Sutton Hoo tailed off. Many of the records and photographs were destroyed in the London Blitz, and because East Anglia was so flat, trenches were dug all over the place to deter German glider attacks. It seems impossible now, but two glider ditches were dug right through the Sutton Hoo site. Even more incredible, is the fact that the burial mounds were used for mortar practice. Well there was a War on, you know.

Amazingly after the War, and eight years since the treasure was uncovered, the site had survived well enough for the British Museum to send down a team under Bruce Mitford. He was even more methodical than Basil Brown had been, and wrote many books on the subject, some casting doubt on what the other experts had found. Even today that argument is ongoing. However one thing is very clear to me. Without Basil Brown and the enthusiasm of Mrs. Pretty, nothing would have been done. They discovered the ship. You can’t argue with that.

So who owned all the artifacts, and how did the ship get into the mound? Well the ship appears to have been dragged up the valley from the River Deben. That must have taken many men and a huge amount of effort. The ship was then buried with the King and a large mound raised over it. The artifacts were awarded to Mrs. Pretty as they were not considered to be Treasure Trove (the law can be very complex on this issue) The academics were dumbstruck as they thought they should have them. In the event Mrs. Pretty donated the whole lot to the Nation and gave Sutton Hoo to the National Trust so that you can visit it today.

What’s there? Well, earth covered burial mounds, and a lot of sheep, set in wonderful picturesque countryside overlooking the River Deben. You can also wander around Mrs. Pretty’s house, and see Basil Brown’s work room. It all sounds a bit tame, but it really is a great day out. The National Trust has done a great job with the interpretation center and has had some wonderful replicas made of the treasure. Mind, you ought to go to see the real thing at the British Museum. Also it is very atmospheric to walk in the footsteps of those far off Kings, along land that hardly seems to have changed down the centuries. To see their burial mounds is quite comforting, as it gives a sense of timeless continuity,that in some way, seems to be so typically British.

There is a great progam by the BBC called Chronicle, which did a program on Sutton Hoo in 1989. it is well worth watching. Just click the link below.

Chronicle/Sutton Hoo

How to get to Sutton Hoo

The Empire Harry was a deep sea tug of some 479 gross tonnage. Built in 1943 by the Goole Shipbuilding and Repair company, the Empire Harry was 136 feet long and about 30 feet in the beam. Although owned by the Ministry of War Transport, she was operated by the United Towing Company, and on the 6 of June 1945 she was towing two heavily laden lighters across Bigbury bay when she became caught up in a severe south westerly gale. With the two heavy lighters acting as a sort of reverse drogue, the tug could hardly make any seaway. So slowly at first, but then with increasing speed the Empire harry began to lose ground as the fierce winds started to blow her towards the shore.

The nineteen men on board could see no way to escape. All they could do was hang on, and hope that the Lifeboat got to them before the coast did. In the event the coast won, and the Empire Harry struck the ridge of rocks that jut out from Beacon Point. Fortunately the Salcombe lifeboat got to the tug shortly after and successfully rescued all nineteen crew just in the nick of time as the two lighters were smashed to pieces and their contents were scattered underneath the cliffs from Warren Point to Hope Cove. Soon after the Empire Harry was declared a total loss and started to break up, and her wreckage joined that of the lighters underneath the cliffs.

I first stumbled upon this wreck with my young son Christopher nearly thirty years ago. We had taken a walk along the beach towards beacon point so he could try his luck at scrambling over the steep high rocks that surround the wreck. It is only a few hundred yards from the beach but it’s quite hard going and the first thing he found was the gun mounting turned upside down on the rocks. This caused me a bit of a stir as usually tugs are not armed, but this one was, with what seems to be a four inch or 4.5 inch gun. The gun was situated towards the rear of the tug, and I suppose that with the Second World War just ending they had not got around to dismantling it.

All around were bits of metal, and inside a nearby cave, we could just make out the barrel of the gun almost buried in shingle and rocks. Over the next few years it became completely buried and lost from view and that the way I thought it would stay, until in 2010 mark ---- sent me this great photo . He had been out walking during the early summer and stumbled upon the barrel which had been moved right out of the cave by the storms. When my son had found the mounting we both climbed up on top of it and I saw the remains of the boiler far out on the edge of the rocks. The gullies leading out from the beach to the boiler were full of bits of metal all smashed up and jammed in the rocks but bollards, pieces of scupper and parts of a winch are all quite recognisable.

I was going to describe this wreck as a shore dive, but after trying it once or twice, I must say it’s a bit too much like hard work. Anyway lugging a tank is really not necessary as a snorkel at low tide will suffice just as well. Entry from the beach is very easy and all you have to do is follow the rocks that lead out to the tip of Beacon Point. It is not a very long swim to the boiler, about 200 yards and if you get tired you can easily rest on the rocks. Wreckage is strewn in most of the gullies leading out to the boiler, largely consisting of the stern and pieces of the superstructure, these are smashed to small pieces now, but bollards, pieces of scupper and parts of a which are quite recognisable, as is the gun mounting which was situated at the aft end of the tug and is now wedged and stove in at the bottom of the cliffs. It seems surprising to think of a gun mounted on a tug, but then the Second World War had only just ended and I suppose that they had not got around to dismantling it.

So there it is, the wreck of the Empire Harry. Not one of the greatest dives, but certainly a pretty one. It’s easy to access at low tide so it makes it a wreck that all the family can enjoy, weather they are divers or not. With the acres of sandy beach surrounded by a genuine Devon fishing village,Ithink that your family will actually encourage you to go diving instead of moaning about it.