The steel steam trawler Sophron was launched from the Cook, Welton and Gemmell yard in Hull (Yard No.348) on 25th May 1903. She measured 113.6′ x 21.0′ x 11.2′ and her tonnage was 195 gross tons, 62 net tons. She was powered by a triple expansion steam engine by Amos and Smith delivering 59 nominal horse power. Her official number was 113244.
Extract Lloyd’s Register 1915
Owned by the Standard Steam Fishing Company Ltd., Grimsby and registered in Grimsby (G1270) she operated successfully in the North Sea, Northern Isles and Icelandic fishing grounds until the outbreak of World War One.
Steam trawler Sophron under way
Requisitioned in 1914 by the Admiralty for war service the Sophron was to become yet another Grimsby fishing vessel lost during World War One. Owned by Standard Steam Fishing Company in peacetime she was registered as GY 1270. She was skippered by Robert Daubney with a crew of thirteen men aboard when she struck a mine in the Tay estuary on 22nd August, 1917. Ironically it is believed the mine was laid only days earlier by the German U-boat UC-41 which itself had been sunk only the previous day. She had been laying mines in Tay estuary which she was attacked by the British trawlers Jacinth and Thomas Young. It appears that UC-41 fouled one of her own mines and was lost with all her crew on 21st August.
Sophron, which had been successfully employed on minesweeping duties for much of the war, was dispatched the following day aiming to clear any mines laid by UC-41 before she was discovered and sunk. While sweeping duties close to the Tay Fairway Buoy with another trawler, HMT Thomas Young, a violent explosion occurred. The stern of the ship had collided with a mine and instantly the wheelhouse and everything to the rear of it vanished in a shower of metal, wood and smoke. She sank within three minutes. Most of the crew were below decks and had no chance. The skipper, although injured in the thigh with fragments from the explosion, managed to escape and was picked up by the Thomas Young. The skipper later stated that he had seen two or three men in the water and on a raft but did not know if any of these men survived. Seven men lost their lives in the incident.
The wreck of the Sophron has not yet been positively identified and our allocated position on the East Scotland chart is approximate.
