CLIPPER arrives at Ardrossan Harbour with containers from Larne

Tug "Forager " (1947-1962) sinks at Glasgow

Bobby Reid e-mails :

Loss of the Clyde Tug S.S. 'Forager' on Wednesday 23rd of May 1962

Apologies for the time it has taken, but I can now provide further details taken from the press of that time. We have covered most of the details of that tragic day already, but here is additional and supplementary information, some of which I was not aware of myself until undertaking this latest research, and which I am sure will be of interest to you.

The two Clyde tugs (owners Steel & Bennie) that were assisting the large NZSCL refrigerated cargo-liner Hororata upriver that day were the Forager at the stern, and Wrestler on the bow. The steam-engined Forager was under the command of Skipper James Bonner and her companion-tug Wrestler was under the command of Skipper Hugh Cooke.

Although she normally carried a complement of eight, on this occasion the Forager was down to seven men due to a last minute illness. On board :

Skipper - James Bonner, 51, Polmadie Road, Glasgow
Chief Engineer - James Cavanagh, 30, Weir Street, Greenock (51 years)
Mate - Malcolm Crow (36 years)
2nd Engineer - Henry Tait, 1, Minister's Brae, Rothesay, Isle of Bute (53 years)
Seaman - Frank Somerville, Bearhope Street, Greenock (38 years)
Seaman - Michael McMonagle, 70, Burnhead Street, Greenock (22 years)
Fireman - Joseph McFadden, 14, Hillend Place, Greenock (51 years)

The tow-line crossed over Forager's hull, fouling with her mast and funnel, turning the small ship over on her side very rapidly. Immediately, water started to enter the stricken vessel through open hatches, exacerbated by the backwash from the threshing propeller of the large Hororata.

Skipper James Bonner, Mate Malcolm Crow and young sailor Michael McMonagle (whose father, ironically, was on the companion tug Wrestler), seeing that she vessel was going to sink, jumped overboard and hung on to lifebelts that had been thrown down into the water by crewmen of the Hororata. Chief Engineer James Cavanagh and Fireman Joe McFadden had been on their way topside when the tug went over and they were submerged in the inflowing surge of water, but managed to find an open grating through which they reached the surface and grabbed lifebelts.

Chief Bonner had only just a few minutes earlier been relieved by 2nd Engineer HenryTait, who was now trapped down below.

Frank Somerville was trapped down below in the crew's accommodation.

Robert Donnelly, 3, Grove Street, Cowcaddens, Glasgow, a boatman employed by the nearby Blythswood Shipyard, heard the commotion on the River, and boat's sirens blowing off, and immediately set off at maximum speed from the yard jetty with his boat to render any assistance he could. As he arrived at the scene he saw three survivors had managed to clamber on to the uptuned side of the stricken vessel and walk down her length alongside her keel, arriving just as he nosed his boat in so that they were all able to step on board the rescue boat. Donnelly quickly transferred the men to the tug Brigadier that was standing by the scene.

Another boatman, David Inglis, with the help of three of the crew from the tug Brigadier also joined in the fight to save the men in the sinking. The Brigadier's crewmen involved in this valiant rescue attempt were James McGorra, Willie Rodger and Skipper Hugh Cooke. David Inglis, a Partick man, along with one of the Brigadier's crew then stepped on board the hull of Forager, determined to make every effort humanly possible to reach and rescue the two missing crew members trapped down below, one in the Engine Room, the other in the Accommodation. As she filled with water, the Forager came back on an almost even keel but their efforts were thwarted by the cascading torrent of water still flooding the vessel.

The Brigadier raced away with the five survivors to King George V dock where ambulances were waiting to rush them to a hospital.

Meantime, over the next two days, it was established that the tug was lying in 16 feet of water and sitting precariously on the edge of the mid-river deep-water channel and therefore any further attempts to retrieve the bodies of the two crewman still trapped on board would only put the lives of the divers involved at further risk if she suddenly rolled into the trench in the strong current. For this reason, no attempt was made until the vessel was raised, on Tuesday 5th of June 1962, and taken upriver to King George V dock. At this time, police removed the bodies of Henry Tait (53 years) and Frank Somerville (38 years), 12 days after they perished in this tragic incident.

Frank Somerville who had just newly joined the Forager, having been out of work for some three months, lived for the sea according to his Mother, Helen.

Henry Tait, Second Engineer, who died in the Forager's Engine Room, had already survived death during WWII when the Minesweeper in which he was serving was struck by a mine. According to a relative, "His ship was struck by one of our own mines in the Irish Sea. Luckily there was a Destroyer in the area and he and the rest of the crew were safely taken off the stricken vessel and on board the naval ship. Now this terrible thing has happened."

Mr. Tait, a married man with four grown-up sons, had been at sea all his life. After the war, he worked as a stoker on board Clyde pleasure steamers, then changed over on to the tugs.

Two weeks before the tragic events on the Clyde, he and his wife, Agnes, had moved into a new tenement house in Rothesay, on the Isle of Bute.

There are numerous photographs in the contemporary Glasgow newspapers showing crewmen and rescuers, and the wreck at Scotstoun with the tugs Flying Merlin and Flying Wizard standing by.FORAGER ( ) (1947 - 1962)
O.N. 180395. 244g. 106.7 x 26.7 x 11.6 feet.
T.3-cyl. (16?, 26? & 43? x 30?) engine manufactured by George Fletcher & Company Ltd., Derby. 175 NHP.

2.12.1944: Launched as EMPIRE BECKY by Henry Scarr & Ltd., Hessle, (Yard No.S 463), for the Ministry of War Transport, London.

30.1.1945: Completed.

1.2.1945: Handed over to Steel & Bennie Ltd., as managers.

1947: Sold to Steel & Bennie Ltd., for ?25,000, and renamed FORAGER.

23.5.1962: Capsized and sank whilst assisting and colliding with the British vessel HORORATA (12,090g./42) in the R. Clyde at the entrance to King George V Dock. Two of her crew were lost.

5.6.1962: Raised and offered for sale ?as lies?.

1962: Sold to Societa Rimorchiatori Napoletani, Italy, repaired and renamed MASTINO.

1984: Sold to Palermo Salvatore e Cia. S.N.C., Naples, for demolition.

18.6.1984: Work commenced.

Tug FORAGER sunk in River Clyde while assisting New Zealand ship HORORATA going upriver

This note is from the Dockmaster's Log Book

HANS leaves Ardrossan Harbour light-ship for Belfast (Northern Ireland, U.K.)

GRANTON KESTREL arrives at Ardrossan Harbour with her catch of 660 boxes of fish

CLIPPER leaves Ardrossan Harbour with containers for Larne

ELISA arrives at Ardrossan Harbour to load containers for Larne

POINTER leaves Ardrossan Harbour with trailers for Larne

ELISA leaves Ardrossan Harbour with containers for Larne

GRIETJE arrives at Ardrossan Harbour with a cargo of limestone from Carnlough (Northern Ireland)

SPANIEL arrives at Ardrossan Harbour with trailers from Larne

GRIETJE leaves Ardrossan Harbour light-ship for Carnlough (Northern Ireland)

Shell UK Tanker AMORIA leaves Ardrossan Harbour for Stanlow (on Manchester Ship Canal, England)

Tug STRONGBOW assists Shell UK Tanker AMORIA to leave Ardrossan Harbour for Stanlow

Tug THUNDERER assists Shell UK Tanker AMORIA to leave Ardrossan Harbour for Stanlow