Fred Everard
27th
November 1965
On voyage from Lervick in
Norway to London carrying a cargo
of paper the 1,542 ton Fred
Everard, of London, was caught in
south-westerly gale. She began to
list and became unmanageable as
paper on the deck soaked up water.
An attempt was made by the crew
to jettison the cargo but the
vessels fate was sealed and as
the wind increased she ran
aground between Peak Steel and
Blea Wyke, Ravenscar.
A
May Day was sent out and Whitby
lifeboat the Mary Ann Hepworth
was launched at 2:20am. Ravenscar
and Robin Hood’s Bay
Coastguards struggled through the
deep snow to the cliff top. The
lifeboat battled through the
heavy seas and squalls of snow to
the scene. In a brilliant
demonstration of seamanship Cox’n
William Harland rescued the
twelve crew who, having abandoned
ship, were laid alongside in a
rubber dingy, then returned for
Capt. William Conn and the Chief
Officer who had remained aboard.
A
Dutch vessel the "Wega"
which had been standing by almost
came aground, bumping the rocks,
but managing to regain deep water
and continuing her voyage to
Middlesbrough.
While
Captain and crew consumed soup in
Whitby’s Mission to Seamen,
the Fred Everard began to break
up as the waves pounded here
against the rocks. A tug from the
Tees stood by the next day but
the Fred Everard had become a
total loss.
Cox’n
William Harland was awarded the
RNLI's thanks on vellum for his
work.
This
however was not the end the Fred
Everard. The wreck was bought for
scrap and a small-scale salvage
operation was set up. A landing
craft, a caterpillar crawler and
two tractors were used. The
landing craft sank at it's
moorings in Whitby harbor, the
remains of one Fergison tractor
and the Vickers Vigor Caterpillar
can still be seen at Ravenscar.
Due to the inaccessible location
of the wreck little was actually
recovered and the operation went
bankrupt. On a low tide part of
the wreck can be seen.
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