A Monthly Publication

 By Dr Simon Draper, Trustee and Non-Executive Director, Nautical Archaeology Society.

All residents and many visitors will know of the wreck on Hunstanton beach. It lies in the intertidal zone south of the historic lighthouse. Built in 1907, the Sheraton represents an historic phase in trawler construction as metal replaced wood. Between 1915 and 1918, the vessel was used during boom defence work and in WW II served as a patrol vessel. She was wrecked in 1947.

Survey and excavation work carried out over the weekend of 5-6 September this year, uncovered parts of the wreck of the S.T. Sheraton unseen for many years and also revealed additional details of the vessel’s capabilities and design.

Construction

The builder was Cook, Welton and Gemmell of Beverley, Yorkshire. The vessel was owned by the Standard Steam Fishing Company of Grimbsy.  Of gross weight 283 tons, she was 39.6m overall length, with a beam of 6.7m and draught 3.7m. When the builder closed down all plans appear to have been destroyed.

Power was provided by a 3-cylinder, triple-expansion steam engine built by Amos & Smith of Hull. Triple expansion engines were widely adopted for marine applications as they were efficient and also because they recycled condensed water back to the boiler. The internet encyclopedia Wikipedia provides a good account of these engines. The original single-ended boiler, with a corrugated furnace, produced steam at 200 lb per square inch, giving 94 horsepower.

Lloyds Registers

The Lloyds Registers give details of shipping and any losses. The details in the 1944/45 Register are similar to previous entries but she appears to have been re-boilered with a single-ended boiler with 3 plain furnaces, and allocated the Code Letters GYNW. In addition the Register records that the Sheraton was fitted with an Echo Sounding Device.

The Sheraton seems to have disappeared from references relating to the Grimsby fleet after1944/45. “The 'Loss List of Grimsby Trawlers 1800-1960' does not mention the Sheraton, nor does 'Grand Old ladies: Grimsby's Great Trawler Stories', by Steve Richards. Maybe she changed ownership after the war and was re-registered in another port? Possibly when the vessel came to the end of her working life and ended as a hulk for target practice such re-registration, or de-registration would have occurred. Maybe use as a target involved more than simply towing the vessel to a suitable position in the Wash? If a full de-commissioning took place this would provide an explanation for the unusual extra ballast observed in the wreck.

Fitted with a naval gun

Many trawlers were brought into naval service in wartime as minesweepers and auxiliary patrol vessels. In WWII, the Sheraton was requisitioned and fitted with a naval 6 pound gun. The same weapon was fitted to Motor Torpedo Boats. The gunner had to press the trigger for each shot and could achieve a rate of around 40 rounds per minute. It was probably the most powerful gun fitted to naval craft of this class. Complete in its mounting, it weighed 1,747 kg.

The stranding of the Sheraton

During a gale in 1947, while still under naval orders, she broke free of her mooring in the Wash and drifted onto the beach at Hunstanton, just below the historic lighthouse. Later she was partly salvaged with much of the hull being removed. When surveying the vessel in May 2008, NAS members met several people who remembered the stranding.

Comparison with modern trawlers

No design drawings of the Sheraton remain but those obtained of steam trawlers of that era show a vertical stem and counter-like stern, the latter hung over a finely drawn underwater section. These two design features owe much to the legacy of sail.  The finely drawn bow of sail-driven fishing craft was needed to make to windward and the design of the stern would have helped prevent the vessel being pooped, or swamped, by a following sea. These features, which survived into the age of steam, would undoubtedly have contributed to the fine sea keeping qualities attributed to deep-sea steam trawlers taken into wartime naval service. In modern fleets, horsepower has increased hugely, the trawl is hauled over the stern and the lines are completely different.

Survey in 2007/08 by the Nautical Archaeology Society (NAS)

A survey of the wreck was undertaken in 2007/08 by members of the Nautical Archaeology Society in East Anglia. The hull outline was measured by triangulation and by a laser survey method. A photo mosaic of the aft part of the hull was assembled using computer techniques, drawings were made and photographs taken of the construction details. A small sample of the timber used for framing was removed and registered with the Receiver of Wreck. The wood was identified as oak.

Hull measurements matched against data in the Lloyds Register confirm that the lower part of the ship along the keel line is intact.

`The construction has been variously reported as “riveted metal with plates cast into ribs” or “timber framed with a metal outer casing”. The survey confirmed the use ferrous metal plating, over ferrous metal runners and ribs. The spacing of the welded or cast metal ribs varies from 0.52-0.55 m. Plates were riveted together. There is evidence of timber framing, especially in the area from amidships to the stern. The timber framing appears to have supported the superstructure and decking rather than being an integral part of the lower hull structure, an interpretation supported by entries in the Lloyds Registers. 

`Dressed stone ballast blocks were identified both within the wreck and scattered across the beach. The pattern of scatter of the blocks and the current orientation of the wreck matched against archive photographs both suggest that the vessel has moved very little since stranding and break-up.

Survey work in September 2009

Sheraton survey 2009

Once again working between tides, NAS members spent two days in further survey work with some exciting results. As well as completing the photomosaic which is made up of around 160 x 1.0 metre squares and will provide a high resolution record for all time, two excavations were undertaken. The first across the width of the hull at a point targeting the presumed site of the engine room, uncovered brass and ferrous metal fixings and what appears to be a 30 cell battery. In the excavation trench the steel plates of the hull and the surrounding sand were heavily discoloured with an oily residue. The second excavation, at some distance from the hull itself, revealed what appears to be a section of the foremast with a heavy steel circular surround which may have located the mast at either deck or keelson. Sheraton mast

Judging from the depth below the sand of the structure it is unlikely that it has seen the light of day for over 50 years. The wood is in excellent condition but the metal component is concreted making it difficult to determine the original shape. Finally, a right angle through-hull fitting was located. A heavy duty insulated electrical cable runs through the fitting. This is almost certainly a lead to the echo sounder that the Lloyds Register records as being present in 1944/45. After photography and measurements the excavation trench and pit were refilled with sand to preserve the artefacts.

`The photo mosaic has yet to be computer-processed but when completed it should prove possible to identify all the major compartments of the ship including the fish room, where fish were stored, the engine compartment, the accommodation and the wheel house.

What next?

The Nautical Archaeology Society welcomes interest and help from any individual, schools or colleges, historical societies or museums interested in this project. We always need more pairs of hands! We can also consider providing a guided tour for larger groups to demonstrate how the remaining structures relate to the original working vessel.

NAS can always provide training for individuals at its Portsmouth base or if there is sufficient demand and funding may consider delivering courses locally.