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The Royal Navy armed trawler HMT Abelard sank close to Plymouth Breakwater in mysterious circumstances.

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.  The single-decked ships were built for Frederick R. Greenish and Edward Gerrish of Muswell Hill, Middlesex.  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, she was re-registered as Admiralty Trawler number 151 and had a mounting fixed on her forward deck with a single six-pounder QF Hotchkiss gun manufactured under license by Elswick Ordnance Company of Newcastle. Unlike some trawlers, Abelard was taken directly into the role of minesweeping rather than initially being used as a harbour defence vessel. The trawlers fitted for minesweeping duties were dispersed to priority areas including Cromarty, the Firth of Forth, the Tyne, the Humber, Harwich, Sheerness, Dover, Portsmouth, Portland and Plymouth.  Once in naval service, all documents refer to her as 151, even though she would have still been displaying her port registration number, M17.

Lieutenant-Commander WG Rigg, Commander of the Dover Patrol, was given four old trawlers which had arrived at the port straight from the fishing grounds, having discharged their catch at Milford Haven en route, and one of these trawlers was Abelard. They 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. By the end of 1914, the Dover Patrol had approximately eight trawlers under the command of Lt. Cdr. Rigg. On arrival, each trawler was armed with a 6-pounder high-angle gun, a 7.5in howitzer and two depth charge launchers. They were also provided with a complement of Royal Marines to operate them.

Abelard was still in the Dover area in the spring of 1916 because she was damaged by a mine on 17th March and had to be assisted back to port by the Corona, earning her skipper, Lt. Irvine, a congratulatory letter from the Vice-Admiral.  Abelard was in Plymouth in the later part of the year, but the date she arrived, and the reason why she was there are unknown.  On 24th December 1916, Abelard sank near the Plymouth Breakwater, and although it is possible that she struck a mine, it was wrecked so close to the Breakwater that this may not be the case.  The wreck is also more intact on the seabed than it would have been had she struck a mine in such shallow water.  She sank in such shallow water that the masts showed 8 feet above the surface, the Royal Navy began salvage efforts immediately, but they had ceased by 11 January 1917. This may be because the 27-year-old Admiralty Salvage Labourer Philip Sydney Lamerton lost his life on 28th December during salvage work on the wreck; he was later buried in Weston Mill cemetery, Plymouth.  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.

We undertook research in the National Archives on this vessel because the cause of her loss was a mystery.  We found that the naval reports and logs from Plymouth at that time do not mention Abelard at all, or her loss.  We could not find any reference to the name in relation to Auxiliary Patrol vessels in Plymouth during the war; there are detailed lists of named vessels, but no mention of Abelard.  However, we know that engineman Charles Staines joined the ship on 17th October 1916 while her depot ship was still HMT Attentive III, part of the Dover Patrol, so she had not transferred to Plymouth by that date.  Staines was later discharged from Abelard to HMS Vivid in Plymouth in February 1917, after the Abelard had been lost.

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 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, based on records from the lifeboat.  But this vessel was refloated later with the assistance of the tug Restorer.

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 18 July 2025

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

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