DANES STUCK IN TERMONFECKIN FOR SIX MONTHS
MV Asnes crew had to wait for high tide
I WONDER are there any local ‘folklore’ stories around Termonfeckin about an incident 80 years ago.
In March 1937, the MV Asnes, a Danish ship, ran aground on the beach and there she stayed for six months - with the crew having to base themselves in the nearby village.
In October of the same year, a salvage operation finally set her free on the high Autumn tide (pictured) and she sailed majestically up the river Boyne under her own power and berthed at the deep water berth. Her pumps were working as she came up the river and it was thought she was making water but it was later understood that she was discharging her water ballast.
The Liverpool and Glasgow Salvage Association had charge of the operations to refloat her. This party was under Mr. H. Thomas. For three days, they worked together with the crew, day and night, to have everything ready for the attempt to get the vessel off the strand on the high tide.
They dredged a trench with a huge 40-ton excavator, the whole length of the vessel. The vessel was let into this trench by way of a list. The trench was 340 feet long and was dredged in easy stages seawards. The vessel was moved down this cutting in stages until she was refloated and ploughed her way under her own power out to sea.
Capt. A. P. Ankensen, master of the vessel, which was owned by Olaf Svendesen, Copenhagen, Denmark, had a crew of seven.
There is a crew of seven aboard, all of whom are looking none the worse of their stay at Termonfeckin.
‘I am very glad to be released from my imprisonment on Termonfeckin Beach,’ said Captain Ankensen, shortly after his vessel was moored in Drogheda.
Capt. Ankensen was 59 years old at the time and had 45 years experience of the seas. He was already lost at sea three times. .When a boy of 16 years he was shipwrecked in a Danish barque at Croix Island in the Bay of Biscay. In 1897 he was a member of the crew of the British full rigged ship “Zuleika” which was shipwrecked and twelve of the crew drowned at Pallasdene Bay, New Zealand.
In the “Norge”, one of the Scandinavian-American liners trading between Copenhagen and New York, he was third mate when it was lost with 625 passengers and crew. The shipwreck took place at Rock Hall and there were 800 altogether on board.
I wonder did he ever return to Termonfeckin and where did the crew stay I wonder?
It would be great if the Danish Eambassy got wind of this and arranged for some of the descendants to return to Termonfeckin all these years later.
Now that would be a story!