RV George Bligh

	RV George Bligh
History
United Kingdom
Name	RV George Bligh
Owner	Royal Navy ; Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (United Kingdom) ; Inch Fishing Co Ltd., Granton Edinburgh;
Builder	Cochrane & Sons Ltd., Selby
Yard number	Admiralty 2542
Launched	24 March 1917
Commissioned	July 1917
In service	3 March 1920
Renamed	'Inchkenneth' 1947
Homeport	Lowestoft
Fate	Scrapped Charlestown, Fife, November 1954
General characteristics
Class and type	Mersey-type trawler; Minesweeper ; Boom Defence Vessel ; Research vessel ;
Displacement	324 long tons (329 t)
Length	138.5 ft (42.2 m)
Beam	23.7 ft 6 in (7.4 m)
Draught	12.8 ft 9 in (4.1 m)
Propulsion	87 hp T.3-cyl by Campbell Gas Engine Co Ltd, Halifax
Speed	11kts
Complement	15, up to 18 with wireless
Armament	1-12pdr, 1-7.5in BT

Last updated December 29, 2023

RV George Bligh (LO309) was a fisheries research vessel that was operated by the Directorate of Fisheries, now known as the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas).

Like some other the Mersey-class naval trawlers were given names taken from the roll-call of Nelson's ship HMS Victory. George Bligh was named after Captain George Miller Bligh (1780–1834), an officer of the Royal Navy, who saw service during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, eventually rising to the rank of captain. He was present aboard HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar, and was badly wounded during the action.^[1]

Construction and World War I

The Admiralty trawler George Bligh was constructed by Cochrane & Sons Ltd, Selby (Yorkshire), with Yard Number 802 and Admiralty number 3542. She was launched on 24 March 1917 and completed fitting out during July 1917.^[2] She was sold into Mercantile service during 1920, and was purchased by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF), London and converted for Fishery Research work. Her draught was found to be too deep for inshore work, so her lifeboat was converted to carry out this work.^[2]

A grant of £15,000 was allocated to the Ministry for the purchase of George Bligh, and this was followed by a further grant totalling £10,500 to allow conversion into a research vessel. The Fishery Board for Scotland obtained a similar Admiralty trawler which it renamed FRV Explorer. The Mersey-class John Quilliam became the Danish research vessel Dana II .^[3] A fourth Mersey-class trawler, the John W Johnson was renamed Cape Agulhas was operated by the Newfoundland Fisheries Research Station for several months each year from 1931 to 1935. All had the same hull form, but each had a different superstructure, depending on the nature of scientific research for which they were intended.

RV George Bligh was not commissioned into service until April 1921. To allow investigations to proceed before then, Commissioners made available a grant for charter of the trawler SS Joseph & Sarah Miles from the Fishermen's Mission, over the period May 1920 to May 1921.^[3]

Service as a fisheries research vessel

RV George Bligh was the primary fisheries survey vessel used by the MAFF throughout the period 1921 to 1939. She was used extensively to assess the status of fish stocks in the North Sea, Irish Sea and English Channel as part of the UK contribution to the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES)^[4]

The maiden voyage of RV George Bligh took place in April 1921. During this period she was tasked with investigating bathymetry and suitability to trawling off northwest Scotland. George Bligh Bank a seamount in the Rockall Trough, was discovered during this survey and is named after the George Bligh.^[3]

In July 1921 George Bligh was engaged in an extensive studies of the benthos on Dogger Bank, with the aim being to study the bottom living food of commercial fishes.^[3]

The need for financial stringency and a lack of fuel, brought about by a miner's strike, made it impossible to run her full time during her early days with the Ministry.^[3] Similarly, she was laid up in Lowestoft for five months during 1930 as a requirement for ‘national economy’ during the Great Depression and due to staff shortages. On 10 June 1931 she was re-registered at London.^[3]^[2]

By the mid 1930s the situation was improving, so much so that, not only did the RV George Bligh return to full-time working in 1935, but the Ministry made the gesture of sending the ship to Iceland in order to preserve continuity of Danish researches there, the Danish research vessel (and sister ship to the George Bligh) having been lost at sea in a collision.^[3]

Extensive research was carried out aboard RV George Bligh by C.F. Hickling into hake populations in an area southwest of Ireland. Starting in 1936 a forecast based on the analysis of year-class-strengths was prepared for the Fleetwood fishermen. By 1938 the technique was thought to be reliable.^[3]

Alister Hardy, while working for the Lowestoft laboratory studied the planktonic food of North Sea herring (Clupea harengus) aboard RV George Bligh. Hardy proceeded to study the stomach contents of different herring life stages and the associated vertical migrations of the plankton. During this period Hardy developed a ‘plankton indicator’ which could be deployed from a commercial herring drifter (fishing boat). This device used a clockwork mechanism and spool of fine silk mesh. It was to become the forerunner of his Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR).^[3]

World War II and post-war service

In September 1939 RV George Bligh was requisitioned by the Admiralty and converted to a Boom Defence Vessel (Pennant number Z178). The primary function of a Boom Defence Vessel was to lay and maintain steel anti-torpedo or anti-submarine nets. Nets could be laid around an individual ship at anchor, or around harbours or other anchorages.^[2]

At around 11 A.M. on the morning of 3 February 1940 HMT George Bligh was attacked by enemy aircraft while operating off Gorleston, near Great Yarmouth. At the time, the primary role of HMT George Bligh, was to check the papers of all vessels, before they entered the harbour.^[5]

In January 1942 HMT George Bligh was listed among many similar Boom Defence Vessels allocated to the Scapa Flow Auxiliary Patrol in Orkney.^[6]

In December 1945 George Bligh was returned to the MAFF. In 1947 she was sold to Inch Fishing Co Ltd, Granton Edinburgh and renamed Inchkenneth. She was re-registered to Granton as “GN 26”. On 13 November 1954, George Bligh was sold as scrap to the British Iron & Steel Corporation (BISCO) for £2400, and arrived at Charlestown, Fife. She was subsequently scrapped by Shipbreaking Industries Ltd at Charlestown.^[2]

Related Research Articles

The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) is an executive agency of the United Kingdom government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). It carries out a wide range of research, advisory, consultancy, monitoring and training activities for a large number of customers around the world.

Naval trawlers are vessels built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes; they were widely used during the First and Second World Wars. Some—known in the Royal Navy as "Admiralty trawlers"— were purpose-built to naval specifications, others adapted from civilian use. Fishing trawlers were particularly suited for many naval requirements because they were robust vessels designed to work heavy trawls in all types of weather, and had large clear working decks. A minesweeper could be created by replacing the trawl with a mine sweep. Adding depth charge racks on the deck, ASDIC sonar below, and a 3-inch (76 mm) or 4-inch (102 mm) gun in the bow equipped the trawler for anti-submarine duties.

George Bligh Bank is a seamount that lies in the Rockall Trough. It is a roughly circular feature in the northeast Atlantic, west of Scotland, centred at approximately 59°N, 14°W at the northern end of both the Hatton and Rockall Banks. The bank is approximately 75 km in diameter with a summit at approximately 450 m rising from a depth of over 1000 m. The ‘moat’ around the base of George Bligh Bank deepens from north to south and is deeper than 1650 m in the south.

RV Corystes is an ocean-going, research vessel operating around Northern Ireland. She is equipped with specialist fishing gear and acoustic techniques for surveys of fish stocks.

RV Cefas Endeavour is an ocean-going fisheries research vessel based at the port of Lowestoft and owned by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas).

Cochrane Shipbuilders was a shipbuilder at Selby.

RV Cirolana was a fisheries research vessel used by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science and originally built for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. She was initially intended to replace the RV Ernest Holt operating in arctic waters around Bear Island (Norway) and Iceland, but following the Cod Wars spent most of her working life conducting fisheries surveys in the North Sea, Irish Sea and English Channel. For the first part of her career RV Cirolana was based in the fishing port of Grimsby, but after bridge and channel dredging work improved the depth, it was deemed acceptable to bring her to Lowestoft.

RV Huxley was the first research vessel used by the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom explicitly for fisheries research and is regarded as the first vessel yielding data for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food - Directorate of Fisheries, now known as the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas).

RV Sir Lancelot (LT263) was a fisheries research vessel that was operated by the Directorate of Fisheries, now known as the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas).

RV Ernest Holt (GY591) was a fisheries research vessel that was operated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food - Directorate of Fisheries, now known as the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas).

RV Corella (LT767) was a fisheries research vessel that was operated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food - Directorate of Fisheries, now known as the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) between 1967 and 1983.

RV Clione (LT421) was a fisheries research vessel that was operated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food - Directorate of Fisheries, now known as the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) between 1961 and 1988.

RV Platessa (LT205) was a fisheries research vessel that was operated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food - Directorate of Fisheries, now known as the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) between 1946 and 1967.

SS Joseph & Sarah Miles (LO175) was a ‘mission ship’, constructed for the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen and operated from 1902 until 1930. She acted as a hospital ship during the Dogger Bank incident on the night of 21/22 October 1904, when the Russian Baltic Fleet mistook a British trawler fleet for the Imperial Japanese Navy and fired on them in the North Sea.

RV <i>Tellina</i> British fisheries research vessel

RV Tellina (LT242) was a fisheries research vessel that was operated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food - Directorate of Fisheries, now known as the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) between 1960 and 1981.

RV Onaway (LT358) was a fisheries research vessel that was operated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food - Directorate of Fisheries, now known as the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) between 1930 and 1960. She was briefly requisitioned by the Admiralty, to serve as a Boom Defence Tender during World War II, but returned to Ministry service in 1946. In 1960 the RV Onaway was replaced by the RV Tellina.

The SY Hildegarde and the SY Hiawatha were steam yachts chartered by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food - Directorate of Fisheries, now known as the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) between 1912 and 1914 to carry out fishery investigations.

Dana was a Danish research vessel, best known for the circumnavigation of the world in the third Dana expedition 1928–1930. It sank in 1935 after a fishing vessel collided with it in fog.

USS Richard Bulkeley was a minesweeping trawler leased from the British Royal Navy. Built as HMT Richard Bulkeley, the ship was a Mersey class trawler, purpose-built for service with the Auxiliary Patrol. On 12 July 1919, it was sunk by a mine while removing minefields in the North Sea.

The Mersey class was a class of Admiralty naval trawlers built for the Royal Navy prior to World War II. Admiralty meant they were built for military service as opposed to conversions of existing boats. The majority of the vessels were built to a standard pattern but a few included in the class were built differently.

References

↑ Russell, E.S (1929) The work of the fisheries laboratory, Lowestoft. Science Progress in the Twentieth Century (1919-1933), 23 (91): 457-467.
1 2 3 4 5 "Inchkenneth GN 26". www.grantontrawlers.com. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 MAFF (1992). The Directorate of Fisheries Research: Its Origins and Development. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Lowestoft. 332pp.
↑ Cefas (2014). Trawling Through Time: Cefas Science and Data 1902-2014. Lowestoft: Cefas. p. 5.
↑ "Enemy attack on the George Bligh. 1940". Archived from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
↑ Kindell, Don. "Royal Navy Ships, January 1942 (Part 1 of 4)". British and Other Navies in World War 2 Day-by-Day. Retrieved 28 December 2023– via www.naval-history.net.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[:1-1] Russell, E.S (1929) The work of the fisheries laboratory, Lowestoft. Science Progress in the Twentieth Century (1919-1933), 23 (91): 457-467.

[:3-2] 1 2 3 4 5 "Inchkenneth GN 26". www.grantontrawlers.com. Retrieved 28 December 2023.

[:2-3] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 MAFF (1992). The Directorate of Fisheries Research: Its Origins and Development. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Lowestoft. 332pp.

[:0-4] Cefas (2014). Trawling Through Time: Cefas Science and Data 1902-2014. Lowestoft: Cefas. p. 5.

[:5-5] "Enemy attack on the George Bligh. 1940". Archived from the original on 13 June 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2018.

[:6-6] Kindell, Don. "Royal Navy Ships, January 1942 (Part 1 of 4)". British and Other Navies in World War 2 Day-by-Day. Retrieved 28 December 2023– via www.naval-history.net.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]