Trawler Viola, lying South Georgia

[Colin Wood]

Have just read an interesting article in a Klippings newsletter I get daily about an over 100 year old steam trawler lying in South Georgia which a trust is trying to recover. Originnally built in Beverley as a steam trawler her engines are still intact and they hope to return the vessel to Hull as a museum and apprentice training vessel. A great idea and I hope they are successful.
The site to see is Help the Viola Trawler make her final voyage | Viola Trawler

[Captain Kong]

.
In 2009 I was in the Antarctic and on the way back called in at Grytviken, South Georgia, The Viola which was half sunk and then dragged up on the beach, I climbed aboard her, she was in a bad state , OBVIOUSLY, but is salvageable, They had plans then to bring her back to UK.
I have photos of her on the beach , but I am in Fleetwood until tomorrow or Friday , and my photos are at home in Bolton. I will post them when I get home. I had a job to go for the six month season there but I was injured in the Antarctic by a Bull Elephant Sea and had to wait ten months for an operation, so I missed out on going back. The site is operated by South Georgia Heritage Trust in Dundee, Scotland.

below
the Elephant seal that injured me, and Grytviken and the VIOLA.

[Chris Allman]

Viola ( Dias ) is the outboard ship I understand - the inboard ship is the Albatross.

[Captain Kong]

Hi Spencer
the nearest one is the VIOLA,.
the other one is a whale catcher, the Albatross. . The Albatross still has its harpoon gun on the focsle
Grytviken was vandalised again by Argentino Scrap metal men just before the war, and an Argentine submarine was captured there by the British and a Argentine Sailor was killed,. He is buried on the hill in the little cemetery where Ernest Shackleton is buried

There is a nice little Chapel there and a small museum looked after by the South Georgia Heritage Trust.
I was hit by an Elephant Seal when I was in the Antarctic, I went to take a photo of him with all his cows, He thought I was after his cows so he chased me, I fell down a crevasse, upside down and was stuck, he left me then, The Expedition Leader heaved me out and I had a broken collar bone and torn Ligaments in my shoulder . I had to wait two months before I got home to see a Doctor and hospital.
Cheers
Brtian

[Captain Kong]

BELOW ARE THE PHOTOS I TOOK,
The ALBATROSS whale catcher, showing her Harpoon Gun. she is about 200 yards further along the beach from the two fishing vessels which are side by side, one one the left is the VIOLA,

Then the Cemetery, around 20 graves, behind me , the only grave facing South is Shackleton`s, all the others face east, the nearest one is the Argentine Sailor`s grave who was killed when his submarine was captured in the war in the Falklands.
Cheers
Brian

[Kevin Murphy]

There was a very interesting presentation by the Humber NI branch, regarding the VIOLA, in September, both about its history, and the current planning to recover the vessel and transport back to the UK, and the plans in Hull (Kingston upon Hull)for the restoration and maritime project to be centered around it.
Rgds
Kev

[Ivan Cloherty]

Having sailed on trawlers, I would venture to suggest that the 'Viola' depicted in the photos is a whaler and not a trawler, never sailed on a trawler with an harpoon gun.

[Captain Kong]

Hi Ivan ,
On my photos, the vessel with the Harpoon gun on the focsle is the Albatross and she was a Whale Catcher, .
a few hundred yards away are the two fishing vessels side by side, the Viola and the Petrel.

Cheers
Brian