| Summary : 1914 wreck of Scottish drifter which foundered approximately 30 miles off the Tyne after being mined. Constructed of steel, she was a steam-driven vessel. She was one of six vessels all lost to the same minefield within 24 hours: for the other vessels, see GOTTFRIED, 1473042 / NU 31 SW 27; GAEA, 1002309 / NZ 56 SW 7; CRATHIE, 1002310 / NZ 46 NE 71; THOMAS W IRVIN, 1366041 / NZ 46 NE 93 and SKULI FOGETI, 1002311 / NZ 46 NE 70. |
More information : 27-AUG-1914: Vessel foundered and lost whilst fishing, after detonating a contact mine. Position of loss stated as off Tynemouth; vessel described as a drifter; tonnage stated as 86 tons. (1)
27-AUG-1914: A British trawler of 86 tons, mined off the Tyne whilst fishing. (2)
27-AUG-1914: BARLEY RIG, 70 tons, mined off the Tyne with the loss of five lives. (3)
Sept. 3 [sic: possibly the date the information appeared in the local newspaper, of which this appears to be a transcript for the year 1914]
'The Buckie drifter, BARLEY RIG, was blown up after striking a German mine 35 miles off Blyth, Northumberland. Five men lost their lives with four others being saved.' (4)
'On the morning of Thursday, August 27, 1914, we were lying in the Tyne, in touch, as usual, with our outlying patrols, when, at about 4.30am, we received a signal from one of our torpedo-boats...
'...an Icelandic trawler, the SKULI FORGETI [sic], had been blown up by a mine at 10pm last night. It happened about 30 miles to the eastward of the Tyne, right in the track of shipping, and in the midst of a favourite shipping ground...
'We heard later that the British steam drifter BARLEY RIG had also been lost...
'That particular minefield, containing 194 mines, had been laid by the German minelayer ALBATROS escorted by the cruiser STUTTGART soon after dark on August 26.' (5)
The five crew lost from the BARLEY RIG are commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial, the master being William Smith. (6)
'The trawler ST CLAIR yesterday brought to Hull the dead body of the engineer of the herring drifter BARLEY RIG, of Buckie, with four brothers named Clark, members of the crew, who had been picked up on a small boat off Blyth. The BARLEY RIG, with a crew of nine, had been blown up by a mine off the north-east coast on Thursday. The survivors had drifted about five hours before being picked up.' (7)
Propulsion: Screw-driven, 3-cylinder triple expansion engine (1)
Boilers: 1 (1)
Master: William Smith (6)
Crew: 9 (4)
Crew Lost: 5 (3)(4)
Date of Loss Qualifier: Actual date of loss |