Whitley Bay, William Hallet (William Hallett)

A 115 feet long trawler, which struck a mine on 13th December 1939. She lies in 37 metres of water. N 55 03 45 W 01 21 18 (Collings). Steel, 202-ton 35.05m long, 6.7m beam, Strath-class steam trawler. She was built in 1918 by Forest, Rennie and her single propeller (possibly bronze) was powered by a three-cylinder, triple-expansion steam engine which used one boiler. She was sold again in 1921, but retained the name. Then in November 1939 she was requisitioned by the Admiralty and converted to an armed patrol vessel. On 13 December 1939 this RN trawler was on patrol off the River Tyne, when she foundered and was lost after detonating a German-laid mine. The only survivor of the ten members of the crew was Charles Hobson (42) of Stafford Street, Sunderland.

The wreck, probably that of the William Hallet, lies orientated in a north-north-east to south-south-west direction on a hard sand and stone seabed, in a general depth of 38m (depths of 37-40m recorded in the Spokes and NMR database). She stands about 4m high at the stern end, which is fairly intact, but is broken in two and collapsed down onto the seabed in a jumbled pile amidships.

Grid reference conversion made 18.01.2011 with http://gps.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/etrs89geo_natgrid.asp with Lat/Long referenced as N 55 03 45 W001 21 24 (Spokes database also records the grid ref NZ 2570 8305) Built: 1918
Builder: Forest, Rennie
Construction: single propeller [bronze?]
Propulsion: Screw driven, 3 cylinder triple expansion engine
Boilers: 1
Owner: Royal Navy This ship is listed three times on the NMR database the alternative NMR numbers are NZ 46 NE 115 and NZ 47 SE 5.