The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Vessel’s salute to Gable Endies
Today’s main picture captures a nowadays almost unrecognisable scene from central Dundee around 65 years ago.
Referring to the image, which shows a British-built minesweeper with strong Courier Country connections berthed a stone’s throw from the city’s landmark Caird Hall – with the top section of the long-gone Royal Arch also visible on the skyline to the right – Dundee University archivist Kenneth Baxter writes: “It shows HMS Nurton, aka HMS Montrose, in Dundee’s Earl Grey Dock.
“It was almost certainly taken between 1957 and 1960 when the ship was allocated to Tay Division of the Royal Naval Reserve/ Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.
“HMS Nurton was built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast between 1955 and 1957 and was in service for over 36 years. She came to Dundee to replace her sister ship HMS Chediston – known as HMS Montrose while attached to Tay Division.
“Tay Division was then based in HMS Cressy – as HMS Unicorn was known between 1941 and 1959 – which was berthed in Earl Grey Dock. It was soon announced that Nurton would also be renamed HMS
Montrose while based in Dundee. This tradition of so naming the vessel attached to Tay Division as a sea tender was a tribute to the 6th Duke of Montrose, who had played a key role in founding the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.
“She reverted to her old name after leaving Dundee for Portsmouth in 1960. In early 1983 she was badly damaged after colliding with HMS Brocklesby and underwent major repairs at Rosyth.
“Following this she continued in service for another decade.”
Dr Baxter continues: “The Ton class costal minesweepers were designed to deal with the threat of mines in shallow coastal waters.
“Over 100 ships of the class served in the Royal Navy with some going on to be sold to other countries. The name of the class reflects they fact they were named after towns and villages ending with ‘ton’.
“Largely built from aluminium, all bar the final vessel built in the class, HMS Wilton, had wooden planked hulls.
“This meant when HMS Nurton retired from service in late 1993, having outlasted all her sisters, there was considerable media interest as it was argued she was the Navy’s last wooden vessel in active service; sadly she was scrapped a couple of years later.” of Belmont Castle, was a major sponsor for the South Pole exploration, with the most effective vessel in the support flotilla to the mother ship Endurance named The Caird.
“Later in 1915 the entrapped main ship was breaking up under pressure and Shackleton and five of his assistants set off on an 800 nautical miles journey from Elephant Island to South Georgia in The Caird to accomplish their mercy mission.
“Polar historians of the day later described the voyage as one of the greatest small-boat sailing feats in maritime history. As a later tribute to Sir James, who sadly died in Scotland weeks prior to the success of the mission, the vessel was duly returned to the UK three years later to take pride of place in the Shackleton Museum in his former school, Dulwich College.”
Mr Elder adds: “In the four-hour TV drama screened in 2015 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the expedition, starring Sir Kenneth Branagh in the leading role, the longboat was prominently highlighted and referred to as... The Caird.”