Save the rusting Viola... heroic little WW1 ship that sparked the Falklands War Fishing boat saw active service hunting down U-boats
With her hulk rusting in the icy waters of the South Atlantic, it is a job to imagine the Viola in action in the First World War and harder still to fathom how she later sparked the Falklands War.
For almost 50 years the British trawler that once battled German U-boats has lain neglected in the harbour in South Georgia, her part in history forgotten.
But now a band of volunteers aim to return Viola, the world’s oldest steam trawler, to her original port of Hull to tie in with its year as City of Culture.
And one of those behind the campaign is former Labour Home Secretary Alan Johnson, who announced on Tuesday that he is quitting politics.
The Hull West and Hessle MP has been helping raise the funds to bring Viola home, and says: “Viola epitomises the spirit Britain showed in 1914.
“Like so many trawlers, she and her men did the most dangerous of jobs. Bringing her back would be like bringing back a First World War heroine. “She is part of our country’s history.” Built in 1906, Viola trawled the North Sea until 1914, when she was requisitioned for duty in the First World War and the crew turned to catching German U-boats and sweeping for mines.
PM Herbert Asquith had told his admirals to save Royal Navy warships for the battle with the Imperial Germany Navy, and ordered the use of trawlers to patrol the British shoreline.
Fitted with a 12-pounder gun, Viola joined His Majesty’s Armed Trawlers and was quickly drafted in for minesweeping duties – one of the first vessels equipped with anti-submarine weapons and hydrophones to listen for the U-Boats.
Skippered by Charles Allum, a Hull-based captain, the crew proved they were as skilled with depth charges as they were with nets. On August 13, 1918, on a patrol with other trawlers, they sighted a Uboat periscope. With another ship, the John Brooker, Viola hunted down the sub, which had sunk 18 Allied merchant ships. It was then sunk by two depth charges dropped by HMS Landrail.
Weeks later, the trawler, built by the Cook, Welton & Gemmell shipyard in Beverley, East Yorkshire, was patrolling off Northumberland, when a German submarine, UB-115, was spotted by an airship. Viola destroyed her, no doubt saving many British lives as a result. Historian Dr Robb Robinson, of Hull University, believes Viola’s homecoming is a perfect way to honour the men who found themselves serving aboard. He says: “You could visit many of the major exhibitions in London and never realise that 3,000 fishing vessels and more than 39,000 fishermen were on the frontline of the war against mines and U-boats in what was known as the Auxiliary Patrol. Many of these fishing vessels were involved in what were almost pitched battles just off our coast.”
He adds: “If you could drain the North Sea you’d still see this long forgotten battlefield, which is littered with wrecks. Viola is our one major reminder of this crucially important dimension of the story.”
After the war, the 108ft trawler changed ownership several times and in 1927 was bought by Compania Argentina de Pesca and moved to Grytviken Harbour, South Georgia, and the South
Sandwich Islands – a British territory in the South Atlantic – where she was used to hunt elephant seals.
In 1960, she was bought by UK firm Albion Star, but remained in Grytviken. When it closed as a working harbour four years later, she was mothballed.
Then in 1982, she found herself at the centre of another conflict, The Falklands.
Argentinian scrap metal merchants travelled to South Georgia to see the Viola, but among them were undercover Argentine marines, who overcame a small band of British marines and raised Robinsontheir flag, says: sparking“You couldthe conflict. Dr.argue this is
The Viola and her men did the most dangerous of jobs ALAN JOHNSON LABOUR MP FOR HULL
the only vessel to see action in both the Great War and the Falklands War. The spark for the Falklands War was the arrival of Argentinean scrap metal merchants.
“One of the ships they were due to cut up was the Viola, by then known as Dias. They rose the Argentinean flag instead and the rest is history.” When British forces arrived to retake the island, the battle played out in front of the Viola.
Since then she has stayed in the harbour, but surveys have shown she should still be strong enough to be loaded on to a cargo ship for the 7,750-mile trip home, where she will be restored to become a floating museum in a £3million project. Mr Johnson adds: “We plan to get apprentices and college students to refurbish her to her former glory. We have raised all the funds privately.” Donations have come from all over the world, one of them from Eric Tharratt, who is almost 100 and the son of one of Viola’s skippers. Dr Robinson says: “His ambition is to stand on the deck of his father’s trawler before he dies.”