High winds cause damage to beached historic trawler

HULL's historic trawler the Viola has taken a battering in high winds in the South Atlantic – leaving her funnel in danger of keeling over.

Viola, thought to be the oldest surviving steam trawler in the world with her engines still intact, is stuck on a beach in South Georgia.

Authorities at South Georgia, one of the remotest locations in the world, are exploring ways of finding funding to take remedial action, amid growing concern that the Beverley-built trawler will be suffer further damage in the area's coming winter.

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The ship is likely to feature in a forthcoming book, called The Ship, about 500 of the world's most famous vessels and Hull-based maritime historian Dr Robb Robinson said it would be a great shame if there was further deterioration of the vessel.

He said: "This is a true icon of the Great War and a symbol of the role played by fishermen and Hull sailors in the Great War in the struggle to keep the sea lanes open in the U-boat war.

"Although her hull is in remarkable condition for her age the vessel will deteriorate further in the long term without maintenance. Although a British dependency, as far as I understand it, the authorities there don't have access to funding such as the National Lottery heritage fund."

The ship has become a tourist attraction to some 8,000 Antarctic visitors on the cruise ships.

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Three years ago Hull museum service loaned the ship's original bell to the museum after it was tracked down to a Norwegian farm by Dr Robinson.

There was an ambitious move to return the vessel to Hull, but it needs an extensive conservation programme and an exhibition space, and so far funds haven't been forthcoming.

During the Great War, the trawler, built at Beverley by Cook, Welton and Gemmell for the Hellyer Steam Fishing Company Ltd, was requisitioned as a minesweeper and joined in a famous attack on the U-boat UB-30 off Whitby.

She spent 50 years as a sealer before finally being mothballed in the early 1970s, a short distance from Polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton's grave.

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