The fishery protection vessel, Freya, was built by William Denny & Bros Ltd of Dumbarton, being launched in November 1954. The ship was a twin screw motor vessel of 274 gross tons and 58 net tons. She was 145 feet long, 24 feet beam and 11 foot depth. The engines were made by British Polar Engines Ltd of Glasgow and were each 4 cylinder, of 500bhp giving a speed of 14.5 knots.
Commissioned in April 1955, she patrolled mainly around the Moray Firth but it seems that she never had the confidence of her crews and gained a reputation for instability. On the 8th of January 1959 the Freya anchored at 1500 hours in Sinclair Bay just North of Wick. The wind was NW Force 4. At 0315 hours on the 9th the Freya heaved up anchor to move southwards, as the wind had veered to the northeast increasing to Force 6 - 7 with squalls of Force 8. At approximately 0440 hours the Freya heeled to port and veered to starboard. She never recovered from the roll and lay over on her beam ends with the funnel lying in the water. She foundered approximately 15 minutes later. The first that the wider world knew of the sinking was around 0930 hours when the trawler Summerlee passed a message to Wick Radio stating that 16 men had been picked up from a rubber dinghy by the Belgian trawler Berchmans. Unfortunately 3 of the crew were missing. The 17 year old cabin boy sang pop songs on the raft while waiting to be picked up. Despite a search by Coastguard, lifeboat and helicopter the missing 3 men were never located.
Today the wreck of the Freya lies in 45m of water about 1.5 miles off Clyth.
An excellent underwater video of the wreck of the Freya was taken by Mike Gunn from Wick in 2022 and can be viewed here.
Commissioned in April 1955, she patrolled mainly around the Moray Firth but it seems that she never had the confidence of her crews and gained a reputation for instability. On the 8th of January 1959 the Freya anchored at 1500 hours in Sinclair Bay just North of Wick. The wind was NW Force 4. At 0315 hours on the 9th the Freya heaved up anchor to move southwards, as the wind had veered to the northeast increasing to Force 6 - 7 with squalls of Force 8. At approximately 0440 hours the Freya heeled to port and veered to starboard. She never recovered from the roll and lay over on her beam ends with the funnel lying in the water. She foundered approximately 15 minutes later. The first that the wider world knew of the sinking was around 0930 hours when the trawler Summerlee passed a message to Wick Radio stating that 16 men had been picked up from a rubber dinghy by the Belgian trawler Berchmans. Unfortunately 3 of the crew were missing. The 17 year old cabin boy sang pop songs on the raft while waiting to be picked up. Despite a search by Coastguard, lifeboat and helicopter the missing 3 men were never located.
Today the wreck of the Freya lies in 45m of water about 1.5 miles off Clyth.
An excellent underwater video of the wreck of the Freya was taken by Mike Gunn from Wick in 2022 and can be viewed here.