# Lesrix, Yew Valley..



## stevo7 (Nov 7, 2006)

Dear all
Just found this site and am very impressed. I was wondering if anyone knew anything of casualties involving the British ships - Lesrix (1960), Yew Valley (1953), Clam (1950) and Eleth (1951)


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## Thamesphil (Jul 22, 2005)

The "Lesrix" (ex Whitehaven -1964) built Papenburg 1957 / 726gt was a familiar sight around the U.K. south coast until 1986 when she was sold and renamed "Nan 1". I'm not aware of any casualty involving her, or are you referring to an earlier "Lesrix"?

Phil


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## awateah2 (Feb 12, 2005)

There was a 'Lesrix' French built that was lost with all hands between St Catherines Point and Portland Bill in 1960. She was Westbound in loaded condition with Coal possibly for Hayle,possibly loaded in Amble.


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## john shaw (Jun 23, 2006)

ELETH ex "Black Rock", steam coaster

lost 1951 off St Johns Point, Co.Down,Ireland whilst carrying coal

There is a pic of Eleth and another coaster at

http://www.gwynedd.gov.uk/DATRhagorol/cgi-bin/dangosdelwedd.english.pl?itemid=91442

The following details suggest the ship was ancient (built late 19C)?

Built 1891 as BLACKROCK, for Tedcastle, McCormick & Co. Ltd. Dublin by R Williamson and Sons, Workington
grt 369, length 152ft, beam 23ft
1913 ELETH, Wm.Thomas & Sons, Liverpool.
1941 EMPIRE LETHE, MOWT.
1946 ELETH, Wm.Thomas & Sons, Liverpool.
1.2.51 Cargo shifted, capsized and sank near Dundalk.


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## john shaw (Jun 23, 2006)

With regard to "CLAM", could you be referring to the 1927 built tanker by that name, of 7404grt,recorded as wrecked 1950 -- a pic is available on the South African "John H Marsh" site for sale, believed taken in the 1930s.

I cannot help further on that one.



YEW VALLEY is actually "Yewvalley"-- one word-- and can be found at:

http://www.clydesite.co.uk/clydebuilt/viewship.asp?id=9079


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## stevo7 (Nov 7, 2006)

Thanks for all your replies on this, it's much appreciated


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## Ian (Mar 27, 2004)

the Lesrix I knew sank in the channel, with the loss of all hands, she was only about 500 tons, and had loaded stone in Newlyn, she was only a few miles ahead of us, passing the isle of wight, when the S.O.S. went out, she sank very quickly, we went into Weymouth for shelter,I was on one of the Queenships, we also had a cargo of stone from Newlyn, the following day the Weymouth lifeboat brought the poor souls back home, think the lifeboat was out all night, in atrocious conditions.


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## benjidog (Oct 27, 2005)

Welcome to the site Steve.

I see you are already getting some answers.

Regards,

Brian


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## awateah2 (Feb 12, 2005)

*Lesrix*

M.V. Lesrix, built 1938 by BELIARD CRIGHTON, OSTEND as 'Francine' 590 tons grt, bought by J.R. Rix 1954. Sank 31st October 1960,


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## rebel6 (May 13, 2007)

the lesrix was lost between portland bill and start point. All nine crew were lost at sea.It was carring coke from goole bound for hayle. i would like to know more about this tragedy as my father was one of the men on board.


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## R58484956 (Apr 19, 2004)

Welcome rebel6 to the site. Sorry to hear about your father RIP.


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## melliget (Dec 3, 2006)

Information gleaned from The Times:

LESRIX 1960
Lesrix, Hull collier (owners J. R. Rix and Sons), 590 tons, lost with crew of nine in the English Channel (between Portland Bill and Start Point) on 31 Oct-1 Nov 1960, while taking a cargo of coal from Goole to Hayle, Cornwall. The casualties were:

Captain George Simison (master), aged 63, of Park Avenue, Hull.
William Thomas Hughes, aged 24, of Longfellow Road, Bootle.
John Henry Lee, aged 22, of Hull Road, Hessle.
George William Acey, aged 39, steward cook, of Priory Road, Hull.
Lewis Buchan Coull, aged 45, chief engineer, of Camelon Street, Thornaby-on-Tees.
Dudley Charles Priddle, aged 18, of Barbican Hill East, Looe, Cornwall.
Frederick Walter Furness, aged 34, second engineer, of Queensgate Street, Hull.
James Owens, of Carrickfergus, co. Antrim.
One other crewman unnamed.

No trace ever found of the skipper and one member of the crew.

YEW VALLEY 1953
Glasgow coaster Yew Valley, 823 tons gross, lost with all hands in the storm of January 31, 1953.

CLAM 1950
Twenty-seven members of crew of British tanker Clam, Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company, were lost 28 Feb 1950 after two lifeboats capsized. The tanker was stranded at Reykjavik and was being towed to Britain by the tug Englishman, when she broke away and was driven aground near Reykjanes lighthouse on the south-west of Iceland. The shore was only 100 yards away, but some of the crew climbed into two lifeboats which were soon swamped by heavy seas. Four were washed ashore alive. Nineteen members of the crew who had remained on board were later rescued by breeches buoy by a party from the village of Frindavik. The crew of the Clam included 14 British and 36 Chinese. The owners of the Clam announced that of the 50 persons on board there were seven British missing and seven British saved. The latter were uninjured and taken to Reykjavik. Of the remaining 36 on board, all of whom were Chinese, 16 (?) were saved.

The seven British missing:
Second Officer H. F. H. Thomas, Anglesey.
Third Officer H. Curtis, Cork.
Fourth Engineer T. M. Morris, Gateshead.
Fifth Engineer H. W. Pike, Monkseaton, Devon.
Fifth Engineer G. J. Hornsby, Grays, Essex.
Fifth Engineer J. Daley, Cardiff.
Deck Apprentice C. G. Wilson, Halifax, Yorkshire.

ELETH 1951
Steamer Eleth, 369 tons, of Liverpool (William Thomas and Co.), built at Workington in 1891 (formerly named Black Rock and also Empire Lethe), proceeding from Birkenhead to Dundalk with 305 tons of coal slurry as cargo, developed a list which had gradually become more pronounced, when the ship foundered 8 miles south-west of St. John's Point, Ireland. Nine of the crew of ten were lost. Mr Hugh Ellis, of Grove Street, Liverpool, was the sole survivor. The master was Captain Alexander Smith.

Can email images of newspaper articles if anyone is interested.

Martin


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## Andrene847 (Mar 25, 2021)

rebel6 said:


> the lesrix was lost between portland bill and start point. All nine crew were lost at sea.It was carring coke from goole bound for hayle. i would like to know more about this tragedy as my father was one of the men on board.


My dad was also lost at sea on board this vessel


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## LColombo (Feb 9, 2014)

Hello,
I know that this is an old thread, but I would like to add some information regarding the loss of the Yewvalley. Just yesterday I was reading Alan Villiers' "Posted Missing" whose first chapter deals precisely with the loss of the Yewvalley. She was one of nine small ships (all but one below 1,000 GRT) that were lost with all hands in storms around the British Isles in the night of 31 January 1953. She had a crew of twelve under the command of Captain James A. Potts and was carrying a cargo of cement clinker. At the time, nothing of her was found except for two lifebuoys. The inquiry was unable to establish the exact cause of her loss - it appeared that everything was fine with her, she had no known defects, was certified by the Lloyd's, had been loaded properly and her radio and lifesaving equipment were in order -, but a likely hypotesis was that her cargo had shifted, and that one or two unmanned vessels that were adrift in the area that night - the old tanker Olcades, which had broken her tow while being towed to the scrapyard, and a lightship - and that had crossed her expected course might have a had hand in that. (Both the Olcades and the lightship were found and inspected, and neither showed signs of a collision on their hulls. Villiers' hypothesis was that Yewvalley's cargo had shifted while she was trying to steer clear of one of them). The possibility that she had struck an old WWII mine was considered unlikely as no wreckage had been found (except the two lifebuoys, which showed no signs of an explosion), nor had anyone on the nearby coast heard an explosion, whereas according to the inquiry, ships sunk by the explosion usually leave behind a lot of wreckage. The Admiralty also discounted a mine as unlikely as the area had been cleared after the end of the war and anyway both German and British mines were fitted with a device that rendered them harmless in case they broke from their moorings. Yet, several drifting mines (or objects that looked like them) were sighted in that period, and a trawler fished and brought back to port a live mine.

However, in 2012 a wreck that fit the size and description of Yewvalley was dived in the area where she had gone missing (off Cromer, where she had last been heard of, at a depth of 27-34 meters). "The bow section has been separated and is laying to the port side, damage would be consistent with large explosion". So, it would seem that the cause of the loss was really a mine after all.


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