Not Set

The Royal Navy armed trawler HMT Abelard was wrecked on Plymouth Breakwater by a negligent skipper then sank during salvage attempts, claiming two lives.

Type

Royal Navy armed trawler

History

Now lying close to the east end of the Plymouth Breakwater, HMT Abelard was a Weymouth class side trawler built in 1909 by Smith’s Dock Company of North Shields along with her sister ship Macaw.  Abelard landed fish at Milford between February 1909 and August 1914 with port registration M17 under the command of skipper J. T. L. Clarke from Great Yarmouth.

Drawing of HMT Abelard by The SHIPS Project, click the image for a larger version

She continued to serve as a fishing trawler operating out of Milford Haven until August 1914, when Abelard became the first Milford trawler to be requisitioned into Naval service by the Admiralty. Once requisitioned, Abelard was re-registered as Admiralty Trawler number 151 and was taken directly into the role of minesweeping as one of the first ships that formed the famous Dover Patrol under Lieutenant-Commander WG Rigg.  The first trawlers arrived empty and, apart from old trawling wires, had no gear whatsoever, but just four days after their arrival, they were in the channel conducting sweeping operations.   The duties of the Dover Patrol included keeping the cross-channel route to France clear of mines and guarded from enemy U-boats and surface vessels.

Abelard was in Plymouth at the end of 2016, but the date she arrived, and the reason why she was there are unknown.  Her skipper at the end of December was William Henry Miners RNR, a 34-year-old Cornishman who had worked in Milford Haven for many years before the war as a fisherman and was attached to the Royal Naval Reserve. Miners somehow managed to ground the Abelard in the dark on the Breakwater at 5 am on the morning of 24th December 1916.   We do not know the details but the inquiry said that the cause of loss was negligence by the skipper.  Miners was described as being ‘not a suitable Officer for an independent command’ and was not given another ship.

The morning of Christmas Day 1916 found the Abelard lying sideways, aground on the east end of the Breakwater, she was intact and upright so work started on salvaging the ship.  The hull was patched up so she could be refloated and water that had made its way into the hold was pumped out by the salvage team.  On 28th December, the ship was considered safe enough to move, so a strong towing hawser was rigged between the Abelard and a salvage tug lying just offshore.  Charles T. Cowburn was in charge of the salvage team of 24 men who remained on board.  The tug took up the strain, and the Abelard slipped off the rocks with ease, but as soon as she floated, the ship gave a list to starboard and filled with water, sinking gradually by the stern.  Boats went to the rescue of the men now in the water, and they were taken to safety, but when the working party was mustered, they found two men were missing.  A search was made for the missing men with no success, so the tug returned to Devonport.  The missing men were 26-year-old Sydney Philip Lamerton, a Dockyard labourer and John Henry Ivey, a 42-year-old skilled labourer in the Dockyard.  A few days after the Abelard foundered, a diver named Henry J. Tall found Ivey’s body lying alongside the wreck on the seabed.  Sometime later, Lamerton’s body was picked up by John Bissett, coxswain of a steamboat, just inside the Breakwater.  It was reported later in the inquiry that all the lifebuoys and lifebelts were on board the tug and none had been put on board the Abelard for the salvage crew.

The cause of the sinking of Abelard was never proved, but was probably due to her starting a plate or plates when coming off the Breakwater.  The hull had been made seaworthy when she was stranded on the rocks, but she sank rapidly and almost immediately, so they probably tore away some bottom plates when they towed her off.  The consequent inrush of water to the hull increased her list and additional water came in over the deck, causing the vessel to sink (9).  Abelard sank in such shallow water that the masts showed 8 feet above the surface. The Royal Navy immediately began further salvage efforts, but work had ceased by 11 January 1917. The Admiralty put the wreck up for sale on 15th August 1921, but it seems that none of the offers were accepted, and the wreck was abandoned where she lay.

Location and Access

Site plan of HMT Abelard by The SHIPS Project, click the image for a larger version

Plymouth Breakwater, east end

Part of the Abelard site was first located by diver Chris Adams during a dive along the south side of the Plymouth Breakwater.  Chris and his buddy found lots of copper tubing in amongst the kelp, and later investigation revealed that this was the remains of a condenser from a steam engine.   Chris didn’t look for the rest of the ship; this was found by Alan Wright, who located the boiler and the untouched hull and fittings.

This wreck was originally thought to have been the tug Emelia, which drove on the Breakwater in February 1933 on a journey from Plymouth to Malta, based on records from the lifeboat.  But this vessel was refloated on March 15th, 1933, with the assistance of the salvage tug Restorer.

Most accounts of the loss of the Abelard say that she struck a mine, but we now know that she was driven onto the breakwater by a negligent Master and sank during salvage attempts.

The remains of the Abelard sit on sand in 10m depth, just off the large boulders forming the southern face of the Breakwater and alongside a large rock to the west. Although heavily salvaged, this 34m long wreck is not as widely scattered as some of the other Plymouth wartime wreck sites.  The most obvious feature is the 3m high boiler, which sits proud of the seabed but is open on one side, making it a good subject for photography. To the south of the boiler, towards the remains of the bow, is a 20m long section of collapsed hull covered in kelp and weed, which is easily identified from outside the wreck as the hull disappears into the seabed.  The anchor windlass is visible at the southern end and marks the remains of the bow itself.  On the starboard side can be seen remains of trawl gear and bollards lying on the broken and collapsed metal plates of her hull.  Little is visible of the stern section aft of the boiler, but some may be hidden in the sand; the engine, steering gear and propeller appear to have been salvaged.

Nearby wrecks include the FS Poulmic , the Fylrix , Yvonne and Vectis

Last updated 20 December 2025

Position GPS: 50° 19.920 N 004° 08.526 W
Depth: 12m

Show the site on OpenSeaMap