Taylor

Towy - identical sister ship to the Taylor aground in Portrush

30 September 1937 57 29.603N 01 41.197W 53 in 58 metres

Built: 1914 by Day, Summers & Co Ltd, Southampton, Yard no 160

Construction: steel, 201 grt, length 110.3 ft (33.6m), beam 21.1 ft (6.4m), draught 10.1 ft (3.1m)

Propulsion: 300hp 2-cylinder compound steam engine, one 2-furnace scotch boiler

Registered: Sunderland

The Taylor was a steam coaster built as the Teign for the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company Ltd. In 1920 she was sold to Cardiff owners, in 1920 to the Spillers Steam Ship Co Ltd., in 1933 to Jersey owners and finally in 1935 to F.W. Taylor of Sunderland when she was re-named Taylor.

On the 30th September 1937 she was passing Peterhead on passage from Buckie to Sunderland - there was a choppy sea and a slight SSW wind. It was getting dark, and the Rattray Head light was lit.

John Olsen, the Norwegian skipper of the Taylor, sent Able Seaman Alexander Forbes aft to check the galley fire; he returned after a minute or two and told the Captain the aft deck looked low in the water. The hold, full of mining timber, was sounded but the engineer and mate reported no water to be found. The Captain left the wheel to investigate, and upon reaching the engine room was met by First Engineer George Oag running up - he said "She's filling down there!". The main deck aft was awash, and the ship began to go down by the stern. Looking through the engine room skylights he could see lamps shining on water in the machinery space.

The Second Engineer, John Blair, came up as well, and said "I can't stay down there any longer. She's filling fast." At around 7pm, the Taylor then began to list to starboard.

The crew tried to launch the starboard lifeboat, but while swinging it out the forward fall ran out and dropped the fore end into the water, half filling the boat. One of the A.Bs fell into the water himself, but managed to scramble back on deck. Captain Olsen tried to persuade the crew into the swamped lifeboat, but they were disinclined. As he started to cut away the port lifeboat falls with an axe, the Taylor lurched and Olsen found himself in the water. He held on to a piece of floating timber and saw the ship sinking rapidly, her bows almost vertical. The crew were wearing their lifejackets, but he was not. Two or three trawlers passed nearby but missed the debris field unawares in the dark.

Four and a half hours later, just after midnight, the Aberdeen steam trawler Ocean Princess ran into a mass of floating timber, Captain Alexander Bruce took to be wreckage. He heard a cry for help and after manoeuvring towards the sound, one of the crew saw light reflecting back from the peak of Captain Olsen's cap. They were unable to launch a boat due to the density of timber in the water but deckhand James Innes had a line tied around his waist and dived into the sea to recover the exhausted man. Olsen's first words were "Never mind me, look for the other five."

None of the other five men were ever found. Poignantly, John Blair found the time to scribble a quick SOS on the back of a cigarette packet and seal it in a bottle, throwing it overboard. It read "S.O.S. Life and Death - Help. Taylor cargo ship off Rattray Head. Hurry, Life or death. Signed Blair". The bottle and message were found on the Jutland coast of Denmark 6 months later.

Crew Lost: John Blair, Second Engineer, Fraserburgh; William Gedling, Mate, Sunderland; Alexander Forbes, Able Seaman, Fraserburgh; James Joiner, Ordinary Seaman, Whitehills; George Oag, First Engineer, Wick

In 2007 we found the wreck whilst performing an echo-sounder search at a local fisherman's Decca coordinates for the 'In-Bay' wreck. We dived the wreck and found a small well-decked steamer with machinery aft, a 2-cylinder compound steam engine and wooden beams in the cargo hold. Although nothing has been found to confirm the identity of the wreck, it is almost certainly the Taylor given position, size, construction, boiler design, engine and cargo.

The Taylor lies in 58 metres at 57 29.603N 01 41.197W orientated 010/190 degrees with the bow south and stern north. She is upright and intact with a slight list to starboard but the superstructure has now collapsed. She rises to a height of 4.5 metres, with the highest point at the focsle.