Mystery of Mogen’s sinking
This week we look at the mysterious sinking of the £1million pound bulk carrier Mogen in the River Wear and how a 50-year-old fire steamer helped to save her.
Mogen was a 14,661 gross tons bulk carrier launched by Sir James Laing and Sons Ltd at Deptford on February 17, 1961.
She was built for Victor Jensens Rederi A/S of Oslo, Norway and one of three large Scandinavian ships completed by the yard that year.
During fitting out, the 566-foot-long vessel was towed to George Clark Ltd’s Southwick Quay, for installation of her North Eastern Marine – Gotaverken six cylinder diesel engine.
On May 28, 1961, she was found to be severely flooded due to an open inlet valve.
Sunderland Borough Fire Brigade unsuccessfully attempted to pump out the vessel and called for the fire boat Fire Queen operated by the River Wear Watch, which was due to be disbanded at the end of the following September.
Crewed by a party of river policemen under command of Inspector Ernest Stark, Fire Queen arrived alongside Mogen at midnight.
At this time, it was estimated some 6,000 tons of water were on board with the engine room being flooded to a depth of 15 feet.
Lengths of six-inch diameter hose were connected and passed aboard the bulk carrier through a hole cut in her shell plating.
Fire Queen carried out pumping operations lastrefloat ing over 12 hours which involved discharging 3,000 tons of water, this being sufficient to allow the ship to at half-flood tide.
As foul play was suspected, Sunderland Borough Police CID launched a major investigation.
A Laing’s spokesman said: “We think the sinking was caused by an unauthorised person playing around with the valves on the seacocks,” but added, “I don’t think the valve was opened by anyone who had the intention of flooding the ship.”
After extensive inquiries last a fortnight, during which hundreds of workers were interviewed, the police became satisfied that the incident had not been one of deliberate sabotage. Perhaps someone can still solve the mystery?
On June 5, Fire Queen was recalled to ballast Mogen and bring her into the correct trim for drydocking, the ship being down by the stern.
During an 11-hour period, the fire steamer pumped about 2,600 tons of water into ballast tanks - almost as much as she had pumped out a week earlier!
After serving the Wear magnificently since 1911, these were the last duties of Fire Queen, which was eventually scrapped in 1966.
Mogen met a tragic end in 1975. Sailing as Freights Queen, she broke in two in the Atlantic off the West Coast of North Africa after suffering an explosion. Twenty-five of her crew of 32 lost their lives.