She set sail from Fleetwood with 13 hands on deck
The fishing trawler Michael Griffith, for Scotland her course was set.
Skipper Charles Singleton made the ship return to dock
A faulty pump valve changed their course and caused the trip to stop.
Repaired and ready to be on her way as Friday morning dawned
She put to sea in stormy winds so the journey was not prolonged.
The storm was brewing in the north and forced the tide to rise
The seas were rough, the night was long, and no-one heard her cries
The winds were wild the waves washed high up on the deck
And soon after midnight the mighty Michael Griffith floundered and became a wreck
The last message was received just eight miles south of Barra Head
Will some ship please come help us, full of water, no steam. Am helpless is what it said.
Lifeboats searched in heavy seas but no wreckage could be found
All lives were lost without a trace and in the storm they’d drowned.
© Alison Jean Hankinson
This is for Day16 of Napowrimo and is in memory of the lives lost in the storm of 1953.
The image is of Fleetwood and is from Wikimedia under CCSA licence:
Dr Neil Clifton [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons
The thirteen lives lost-
Skipper Charles Singleton, Mate Leonard Grundy, Bosun J T Wilson, Chief engineer Harry Anderson, Second Engineer Thomas Burns, Firemen W Hargreaves and R Bodden, Deckhands J Tucker, S J Johns, J Cryson, C Murdoch and G Palin. Cook A Bidle.
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