In December 1959 one of the worst storms in living memory brought disaster to shipping and caused great loss of life around Scotland. The full fury of the gale broke on Sunday 6 December abating on Thursday 10 December. For four days mountainous seas lashed the coast and ships on voyage were at the mercy of the storm. On the Caithness coast, two vessels were wrecked and 13 lives were lost.
Around midnight on Sunday (6 December) the Aberdeen trawler, George Robb, bound for the Faroese fishing grounds, was swept ashore near Duncansby Head and her crew of twelve perished. A Wick coastguard who had gone out with the L.S.A. (Life Saving Apparatus) to Duncansby collapsed and died on his way to the wreck.
The Leith cargo steamer, the Servus, was lost at Dunbeath on 7 December despite every effort to save her. She had been held in tow by another ship for some time, but in the end the master and crew of seven had to be taken off by the Cromarty lifeboat, and the derelict steamer was driven to her doom below Dunbeath Castle.
The people of Wick learned of the distress call from the George Robb when they heard the rockets sent off by the coastguards to call out the local Lifesaving Company. The Scarfskerry Company were also summoned. Meanwhile Longhope lifeboat had been launched and was heading towards the scene in heavy seas with the gale at its height, the Wick lifeboat being unable to leave harbour because of the gale and the immense breakers at the harbour entrance.
When the coastguards and L.S.A. Companies, under the command of Commander John L. Woolcombe, Coastguard Inspector for the Northern District, arrived at Duncansby Head Lighthouse, they learned that the trawler had already been located by some local persons. Among those who heard the George Robb's S.O.S. on their radio sets was Mr William Ham, farmer. Along with his wife Betty, (a trained nurse), he set off at once in his car from their home in Mey for John O'Groats and to the home of Mrs Ham's father, Mr John Green, New Houses. Accompanied by Mr Green, his son, John and daughter, Nina, and a neighbour, Mr Alexander Sinclair, contractor, they set off carrying torches, towards the cliffs to the south of Duncansby Head.
After proceeding more than a mile over the moor in the worst weather they had ever experienced, the party reached the cliff top and heard a siren sounding from the beach below. Mr Green said afterwards that he thought someone still aboard the trawler had seen their torches and sounded the ship's siren. "The siren was being sounded at five minute interval," he said, "but after it went four or five times it suddenly became silent."
With storm driven spray dashing over the cliff top it was difficult to see anything. "We could make out the faint outline of the hull," he said. "We got a glimpse of her between waves. The sea was crashing over her. We thought we saw a light in the wheelhouse but otherwise there was no sign of life." As there was nothing they could do, the party made for Duncansby Head Lighthouse and there met the Coastguards and Lifesaving Companies, and returned with them to the scene of the wreck.
The ferocity of the gale was such that men at times had to hold on to each other as they fought their way to the cliffs, guided by hand torches, crossing broken ground over which they manhandled heavy equipment, which had to be carried over fences, and ditches and streams flooded with water. Blinded and drenched by the spray they groped their way forward.
It was while the Coastguards were on their way that Station Officer Eric Campbell (50) collapsed. He was bringing up the rear with another man. They were carrying heavy equipment. The rest of the party were well ahead and were not aware that one of their colleagues was in distress. Two Wick volunteers in the Lifesaving Company - Hugh Green, 30 North Murchison Street, Wick and William Tait, 13 Argyle Square, Wick were also on their way and came upon Mr Campbell and his companion who were both exhausted. Mr Campbell appeared to be in a serious condition and Mr Green and Mr Tait decided to get help. They went ahead and met Commander Woolcombe who was on his way back to the Lighthouse.
Returning to Mr Campbell they found he was now unconscious. Commander Woolcombe remained with him while Mr Green and Mr Tait proceeded to the Lighthouse for aid. Police Sergeant Robert Dunnett, Wick, who was about with a patrol car, along with Constable David Coghill, immediately organised a stretcher party and Station Officer Campbell was carried to the Lighthouse. Dr J.P.B. Gill, Canisbay, was summoned and when he arrived he found that Mr Campbell had died. The following Monday his body was removed to the Police Mortuary at Wick.
Meanwhile the party ahead had reached the scene of the wreck. Using a powerful searchlight they could see the George Robb lying head on to the beach, and only a short distance from the cliffs. The trawler was in darkness and there was no sign of life aboard. The stricken ship lay as helpless as a toy at the mercy of the elements. Foaming seas swept over and around her. Inspector Woolcombe, coastguard service, said the trawler was located by searchlight. "we fired a rocket line but there was no one on deck to take it," he added. "It is most unlikely that anyone was alive on board at the time." When there was no response to the rocket line, it was decided to suspend rescue operations until day-break.
Out at sea stood the Longhope lifeboat, but there was nothing that rescuers could do by land or sea. Commander Woolcombe decided to recall the lifeboat and a message was sent to the Lighthouse to be relayed to Wick Radio Station which notified the lifeboat. The watch on the cliff tops was kept in case survivors had reached the shore. Nothing could be seen, however. The search resumed at day-light. The George Robb was now seen lying over on her port side and her back was broken in several places. The beach was strewn with wreckage, including a large number of fish baskets. Lying on the shore, too, was an open suitcase, personal property of some member of the trawler's crew. Mr. Green's son, John, 26, and a friend, 36-year-old Alex Sinclair had descended to the beach by means of a path, a short distance north of the wreck, and they found a body, half-clothed and barefooted. Coastguards lowered a stretcher from the top and the body was hauled up and taken to one of two Land Rovers which the police had brought to the scene. It was conveyed to the Police Mortuary of Wick later.
On 8 December, Mr A. Robb, a representative of the owners of the George Robb, who had travelled north by train, identified the body as that of Bruno Saborowski (39), second fisherman, Crombie Road, Torry. The Lighthouse became the base for the operations. Motor vehicles crowded the narrow road outside. On this, the highest point of the coast, the force of the gale was terrific. As men left the shelter of the building they were whirled along, almost off their feet, and had to grab at the wall, nearest vehicle or anything they could to stop their progress.
Such were the conditions which a John O'Groat Journal representative found when he reached the scene on the Sunday night. Accompanying the Lifesaving Company to the wreck, he saw these volunteers on duty in conditions such as they had never experienced before, and most of them had been out on many wrecks in all kinds of weather.
Exhausted men returned to the Lighthouse for warmth and shelter. In addition to attending to their ordinary duties the lighthouse staff - Alexander Matheson, Principal keeper, Fred Bruce, second keeper, and Charles Thomson, third keeper - were rendering every possible assistance. Mrs Matheson was kept busy serving hot drinks to men who were drenched and who had eventually to return to Wick for dry clothing.
The body was conveyed by road to Aberdeen on the Thursday. Another body was found washed up on the shore at Freswick Thursday (10 December) and was taken to the Police Mortuary.
The Crew
The crew of the lost Aberdeen trawler were; Marshall Ryles, (Skipper); Peter Dempster, (Mate); B. Saborowski, (Second Fisherman); William McKay, (Chief Engineer); R. Dugan, (Second Engineer); J. Findlay, (Deckhand); A. Smith, (Deckhand); George Duffy, (Deckhand); John Christie Adams, (Deckhand); David Lockhart, (Deckhand) - all of Aberdeen; W. Farquhar, (Third Engineer) from Portknockie and W. Duthie, (Cook) from Cairnbulg.
Skipper Marshall Ryles, who was 31, took over command of the George Robb when she was recently converted to diesel. Married with four of a family, he told his wife in a radio-phone call a few hours before disaster overtook the vessel that the weather was very bad and that he was in for a rough night. Before she went to bed that night Mrs Ryles was a sea widow - something she had feared always, but never put into words to her bright-eyed, sea-loving husband. At 23, Marshall Ryles was a mate - one of a successful crew. A measure of their success was that Marshall was paying super tax at that age. At 24 he became the youngest skipper to sail out of Aberdeen on fishing trawlers. Given a fine, powerful ship in the George Robb, the young skipper handled her with pride. "He liked plenty of power under his feet," said his wife. "He loved to use all the modern sea aids," said a friend. "He liked to sail as if he were driving a car along a signposted street."
Peter Dempster, the 24-year-old mate of the trawler, was married only four months ago. He had been going to sea since the age of 15. His wife, Ulvjean Dempster, 22-year-old, was tyding their spick-and-span new home in Alexander Drive when her brother broke the news to her. "It was to have been our first Christmas together in our new home." she said.
Polish-born Bruno Saborowski, had been sailing on Aberdeen trawlers since his demobilisation 12 years ago. In Torry, Aberdeen his landlady, Mrs. C S Graham looked around her stripped living room in Crombie Road as she was due to move to a house in Kincorth. Her eyes red-rimmed with weeping, Mrs. Graham said: "We don't have any family. Bruno was just like a son to us. We are all ready to move-all our best stuff is out of the house. Bruno had stayed with us all these years. Now we don't know if we're on our head or our heels. I don't know if we'll bother with that new house. We had it all planned that Bruno would stay with us." She went on to say that "I think his pet spaniel, Teddy, knew there was something wrong. He had been uneasy all night."
William Mackay, the 35-year-old chief engineer, hated the sea and spent every minute in port at his home in Strathmore Drive, Aberdeen. He was the father of three children - aged from 13 months to seven years. His last words to his wife as he left home were: "Maybe I'll be back. It looks gey rough." His wife said: "He'd been hoping for a shore job so that he wouldn't have to go to sea."
Second Engineer Robert Dugan, who would have been 39 next month, was coming home for Christmas to his wife and two sons - aged 5 and 9 - and his daughter Maureen, aged 7. Mrs. Nancy Dugan said: "He was anxious to get the house painted before he left and he had been working hard to have it ready for Christmas and the New Year. I was getting the little girl ready for school when I heard about the boat on the radio. It was a terrible shock." Fair-haired Nancy Dugan, summed it up when she said: "Bob was so pleased about the new boat. He even invited me down to see it. I said what will people think if they see me on a trawler? But he said the chief had already shown his wife around, so I went down, and it was a lovely boat."
On board, as the trawler hammered through the hissing seas was 30-year-old James Findlay, of Davidson Place, Aberdeen who was married with four children. This was the third time he had been involved in a sea accident. He was aboard the Sturdee when it went aground on Aberdeen beach about four years ago, and when the George Robb grounded in Orkney earlier that year. He and his wife were to have celebrated a wedding anniversary and Mrs. Findlay was expecting a message from him. Mr. Findlay was a native of Govanhill, Glasgow, and former pupil of Abbotsford Place School. He was christened Peter McPhedran, the son of a lorry driver. Later his parents separated and he took the name Findlay. His mother - remarried and living in Ayr - said yesterday: "Peter was a wanderer. He moved around a lot and worked for a time on some hydro-electric scheme in Inverness-shire. Then he went to Aberdeen and married and settled there."
Albert Smith (45), married with four of a family, held a mate's certificate, but sailed as a deckhand because he had been unable during the past few weeks to get a mate's berth.
George Duffy (25) the only son in a family of five, had an artificial limb. He lost a leg when he was five. He had been at sea since he was 17.
John Christie Adams (45) left a family of six. He served on minesweepers during the war.
David Lockhart (30), deckhand, lived with his mother at 72 Grampian Place, Torry. His brother Findlay was killed in a "million to one" mystery electrical blast at Countesswells, Aberdeen, in January 1959.
And in Portnockie, Banffshire and Cairnbulg - village of another recent sea tragedy - there were more mourning for the two other victims W. Farquhar and W. Duthie.
Fishermen in Aberdeen were surprised that the George Robb had made the Pentland Firth in such quick time. But the gale that hounded her at times gusted at more than 80 mile an hour.
Cause Unknown
No one knows what went wrong aboard the trawler when she was caught in the teeth of the gale. Was her steering smashed? Did her engines fail? Or did some other fault develop which put her at the mercy of the cruel sea? The only clue was the radio message from the stricken ship about 11.30 on the Sunday night (6 December). It read: "Making water rapidly. Require immediate assistance."
The George Robb
She was built in 1930 by Hall Russells of Aberdeen for Newhaven owner Robert Carnie as the as the Elise I. Carnie and registered in Granton as GN24. She was bought by George Robb & Sons Ltd. in 1936, re-named George Robb and registered in Aberdeen (A406). She was taken up by the navy on 30/08/1939 and served as a minesweeper until her release in February 1946. In 1959, when almost all of Aberdeen's fleet of steam trawlers had already gone for scrapping it was felt that the George Robb at less than 30 years old had some years of life left in her sturdy hull and she was therefore taken in hand for conversion to diesel power, the work being completed at Lowestoft in October 1959. She was 36m long, 7m wide and 91 tons.
Around midnight on Sunday (6 December) the Aberdeen trawler, George Robb, bound for the Faroese fishing grounds, was swept ashore near Duncansby Head and her crew of twelve perished. A Wick coastguard who had gone out with the L.S.A. (Life Saving Apparatus) to Duncansby collapsed and died on his way to the wreck.
The Leith cargo steamer, the Servus, was lost at Dunbeath on 7 December despite every effort to save her. She had been held in tow by another ship for some time, but in the end the master and crew of seven had to be taken off by the Cromarty lifeboat, and the derelict steamer was driven to her doom below Dunbeath Castle.
The people of Wick learned of the distress call from the George Robb when they heard the rockets sent off by the coastguards to call out the local Lifesaving Company. The Scarfskerry Company were also summoned. Meanwhile Longhope lifeboat had been launched and was heading towards the scene in heavy seas with the gale at its height, the Wick lifeboat being unable to leave harbour because of the gale and the immense breakers at the harbour entrance.
When the coastguards and L.S.A. Companies, under the command of Commander John L. Woolcombe, Coastguard Inspector for the Northern District, arrived at Duncansby Head Lighthouse, they learned that the trawler had already been located by some local persons. Among those who heard the George Robb's S.O.S. on their radio sets was Mr William Ham, farmer. Along with his wife Betty, (a trained nurse), he set off at once in his car from their home in Mey for John O'Groats and to the home of Mrs Ham's father, Mr John Green, New Houses. Accompanied by Mr Green, his son, John and daughter, Nina, and a neighbour, Mr Alexander Sinclair, contractor, they set off carrying torches, towards the cliffs to the south of Duncansby Head.
After proceeding more than a mile over the moor in the worst weather they had ever experienced, the party reached the cliff top and heard a siren sounding from the beach below. Mr Green said afterwards that he thought someone still aboard the trawler had seen their torches and sounded the ship's siren. "The siren was being sounded at five minute interval," he said, "but after it went four or five times it suddenly became silent."
With storm driven spray dashing over the cliff top it was difficult to see anything. "We could make out the faint outline of the hull," he said. "We got a glimpse of her between waves. The sea was crashing over her. We thought we saw a light in the wheelhouse but otherwise there was no sign of life." As there was nothing they could do, the party made for Duncansby Head Lighthouse and there met the Coastguards and Lifesaving Companies, and returned with them to the scene of the wreck.
The ferocity of the gale was such that men at times had to hold on to each other as they fought their way to the cliffs, guided by hand torches, crossing broken ground over which they manhandled heavy equipment, which had to be carried over fences, and ditches and streams flooded with water. Blinded and drenched by the spray they groped their way forward.
It was while the Coastguards were on their way that Station Officer Eric Campbell (50) collapsed. He was bringing up the rear with another man. They were carrying heavy equipment. The rest of the party were well ahead and were not aware that one of their colleagues was in distress. Two Wick volunteers in the Lifesaving Company - Hugh Green, 30 North Murchison Street, Wick and William Tait, 13 Argyle Square, Wick were also on their way and came upon Mr Campbell and his companion who were both exhausted. Mr Campbell appeared to be in a serious condition and Mr Green and Mr Tait decided to get help. They went ahead and met Commander Woolcombe who was on his way back to the Lighthouse.
Returning to Mr Campbell they found he was now unconscious. Commander Woolcombe remained with him while Mr Green and Mr Tait proceeded to the Lighthouse for aid. Police Sergeant Robert Dunnett, Wick, who was about with a patrol car, along with Constable David Coghill, immediately organised a stretcher party and Station Officer Campbell was carried to the Lighthouse. Dr J.P.B. Gill, Canisbay, was summoned and when he arrived he found that Mr Campbell had died. The following Monday his body was removed to the Police Mortuary at Wick.
Meanwhile the party ahead had reached the scene of the wreck. Using a powerful searchlight they could see the George Robb lying head on to the beach, and only a short distance from the cliffs. The trawler was in darkness and there was no sign of life aboard. The stricken ship lay as helpless as a toy at the mercy of the elements. Foaming seas swept over and around her. Inspector Woolcombe, coastguard service, said the trawler was located by searchlight. "we fired a rocket line but there was no one on deck to take it," he added. "It is most unlikely that anyone was alive on board at the time." When there was no response to the rocket line, it was decided to suspend rescue operations until day-break.
Out at sea stood the Longhope lifeboat, but there was nothing that rescuers could do by land or sea. Commander Woolcombe decided to recall the lifeboat and a message was sent to the Lighthouse to be relayed to Wick Radio Station which notified the lifeboat. The watch on the cliff tops was kept in case survivors had reached the shore. Nothing could be seen, however. The search resumed at day-light. The George Robb was now seen lying over on her port side and her back was broken in several places. The beach was strewn with wreckage, including a large number of fish baskets. Lying on the shore, too, was an open suitcase, personal property of some member of the trawler's crew. Mr. Green's son, John, 26, and a friend, 36-year-old Alex Sinclair had descended to the beach by means of a path, a short distance north of the wreck, and they found a body, half-clothed and barefooted. Coastguards lowered a stretcher from the top and the body was hauled up and taken to one of two Land Rovers which the police had brought to the scene. It was conveyed to the Police Mortuary of Wick later.
On 8 December, Mr A. Robb, a representative of the owners of the George Robb, who had travelled north by train, identified the body as that of Bruno Saborowski (39), second fisherman, Crombie Road, Torry. The Lighthouse became the base for the operations. Motor vehicles crowded the narrow road outside. On this, the highest point of the coast, the force of the gale was terrific. As men left the shelter of the building they were whirled along, almost off their feet, and had to grab at the wall, nearest vehicle or anything they could to stop their progress.
Such were the conditions which a John O'Groat Journal representative found when he reached the scene on the Sunday night. Accompanying the Lifesaving Company to the wreck, he saw these volunteers on duty in conditions such as they had never experienced before, and most of them had been out on many wrecks in all kinds of weather.
Exhausted men returned to the Lighthouse for warmth and shelter. In addition to attending to their ordinary duties the lighthouse staff - Alexander Matheson, Principal keeper, Fred Bruce, second keeper, and Charles Thomson, third keeper - were rendering every possible assistance. Mrs Matheson was kept busy serving hot drinks to men who were drenched and who had eventually to return to Wick for dry clothing.
The body was conveyed by road to Aberdeen on the Thursday. Another body was found washed up on the shore at Freswick Thursday (10 December) and was taken to the Police Mortuary.
The Crew
The crew of the lost Aberdeen trawler were; Marshall Ryles, (Skipper); Peter Dempster, (Mate); B. Saborowski, (Second Fisherman); William McKay, (Chief Engineer); R. Dugan, (Second Engineer); J. Findlay, (Deckhand); A. Smith, (Deckhand); George Duffy, (Deckhand); John Christie Adams, (Deckhand); David Lockhart, (Deckhand) - all of Aberdeen; W. Farquhar, (Third Engineer) from Portknockie and W. Duthie, (Cook) from Cairnbulg.
Skipper Marshall Ryles, who was 31, took over command of the George Robb when she was recently converted to diesel. Married with four of a family, he told his wife in a radio-phone call a few hours before disaster overtook the vessel that the weather was very bad and that he was in for a rough night. Before she went to bed that night Mrs Ryles was a sea widow - something she had feared always, but never put into words to her bright-eyed, sea-loving husband. At 23, Marshall Ryles was a mate - one of a successful crew. A measure of their success was that Marshall was paying super tax at that age. At 24 he became the youngest skipper to sail out of Aberdeen on fishing trawlers. Given a fine, powerful ship in the George Robb, the young skipper handled her with pride. "He liked plenty of power under his feet," said his wife. "He loved to use all the modern sea aids," said a friend. "He liked to sail as if he were driving a car along a signposted street."
Peter Dempster, the 24-year-old mate of the trawler, was married only four months ago. He had been going to sea since the age of 15. His wife, Ulvjean Dempster, 22-year-old, was tyding their spick-and-span new home in Alexander Drive when her brother broke the news to her. "It was to have been our first Christmas together in our new home." she said.
Polish-born Bruno Saborowski, had been sailing on Aberdeen trawlers since his demobilisation 12 years ago. In Torry, Aberdeen his landlady, Mrs. C S Graham looked around her stripped living room in Crombie Road as she was due to move to a house in Kincorth. Her eyes red-rimmed with weeping, Mrs. Graham said: "We don't have any family. Bruno was just like a son to us. We are all ready to move-all our best stuff is out of the house. Bruno had stayed with us all these years. Now we don't know if we're on our head or our heels. I don't know if we'll bother with that new house. We had it all planned that Bruno would stay with us." She went on to say that "I think his pet spaniel, Teddy, knew there was something wrong. He had been uneasy all night."
William Mackay, the 35-year-old chief engineer, hated the sea and spent every minute in port at his home in Strathmore Drive, Aberdeen. He was the father of three children - aged from 13 months to seven years. His last words to his wife as he left home were: "Maybe I'll be back. It looks gey rough." His wife said: "He'd been hoping for a shore job so that he wouldn't have to go to sea."
Second Engineer Robert Dugan, who would have been 39 next month, was coming home for Christmas to his wife and two sons - aged 5 and 9 - and his daughter Maureen, aged 7. Mrs. Nancy Dugan said: "He was anxious to get the house painted before he left and he had been working hard to have it ready for Christmas and the New Year. I was getting the little girl ready for school when I heard about the boat on the radio. It was a terrible shock." Fair-haired Nancy Dugan, summed it up when she said: "Bob was so pleased about the new boat. He even invited me down to see it. I said what will people think if they see me on a trawler? But he said the chief had already shown his wife around, so I went down, and it was a lovely boat."
On board, as the trawler hammered through the hissing seas was 30-year-old James Findlay, of Davidson Place, Aberdeen who was married with four children. This was the third time he had been involved in a sea accident. He was aboard the Sturdee when it went aground on Aberdeen beach about four years ago, and when the George Robb grounded in Orkney earlier that year. He and his wife were to have celebrated a wedding anniversary and Mrs. Findlay was expecting a message from him. Mr. Findlay was a native of Govanhill, Glasgow, and former pupil of Abbotsford Place School. He was christened Peter McPhedran, the son of a lorry driver. Later his parents separated and he took the name Findlay. His mother - remarried and living in Ayr - said yesterday: "Peter was a wanderer. He moved around a lot and worked for a time on some hydro-electric scheme in Inverness-shire. Then he went to Aberdeen and married and settled there."
Albert Smith (45), married with four of a family, held a mate's certificate, but sailed as a deckhand because he had been unable during the past few weeks to get a mate's berth.
George Duffy (25) the only son in a family of five, had an artificial limb. He lost a leg when he was five. He had been at sea since he was 17.
John Christie Adams (45) left a family of six. He served on minesweepers during the war.
David Lockhart (30), deckhand, lived with his mother at 72 Grampian Place, Torry. His brother Findlay was killed in a "million to one" mystery electrical blast at Countesswells, Aberdeen, in January 1959.
And in Portnockie, Banffshire and Cairnbulg - village of another recent sea tragedy - there were more mourning for the two other victims W. Farquhar and W. Duthie.
Fishermen in Aberdeen were surprised that the George Robb had made the Pentland Firth in such quick time. But the gale that hounded her at times gusted at more than 80 mile an hour.
Cause Unknown
No one knows what went wrong aboard the trawler when she was caught in the teeth of the gale. Was her steering smashed? Did her engines fail? Or did some other fault develop which put her at the mercy of the cruel sea? The only clue was the radio message from the stricken ship about 11.30 on the Sunday night (6 December). It read: "Making water rapidly. Require immediate assistance."
The George Robb
She was built in 1930 by Hall Russells of Aberdeen for Newhaven owner Robert Carnie as the as the Elise I. Carnie and registered in Granton as GN24. She was bought by George Robb & Sons Ltd. in 1936, re-named George Robb and registered in Aberdeen (A406). She was taken up by the navy on 30/08/1939 and served as a minesweeper until her release in February 1946. In 1959, when almost all of Aberdeen's fleet of steam trawlers had already gone for scrapping it was felt that the George Robb at less than 30 years old had some years of life left in her sturdy hull and she was therefore taken in hand for conversion to diesel power, the work being completed at Lowestoft in October 1959. She was 36m long, 7m wide and 91 tons.