World class salvage and marine engineering businesses are joining forces to try and bring a historic steam trawler back from a beach in South Georgia to its home in the UK''s Humber.
Paul Escreet, chairman of Hull-based SMS Towage is leading the campaign to re-float, lift and return the Viola 100 years after the vessel last sailed from the port.
He has formed the Viola Trust, led by experienced industry figures under the patronage of former Home Secretary Alan Johnson MP, to raise the estimated project cost of £3 million.
As fundraising gets underway, Solis Marine is sending John Simpson and Rosalind Spink to spend two days examining the Viola in South Georgia to determine whether the vessel can be delivered to Hull as early as next spring to take its place in a maritime heritage programme.
Ms Spink said: “The only drawing we have is from 1905 and covers the class of vessel rather than the Viola specifically. She has never undergone a full inspection in the modern era so essentially we will look at her condition and whether she has the strength to survive the journey back.”
The Viola, which is also known as the Dias, was built in Beverley in 1906 and sailed off to war in September 1914 with a crew of local fishermen after being requisitioned by the Admiralty. She was in the maritime front line throughout the Great War and involved in sinking two U-boats, making only a brief visit to Hull whilst still on Admiralty service in 1918.
After demobilisation in Milford Haven, the vessel worked around the world as a trawler, a whaler, a sealer and an exploration vessel.
In 1982 the Viola was one of the vessels targeted by Argentine scrap metal merchants in the landing which sparked the Falklands War. In 2015 the Viola was featured in a set of stamps which were released in South Georgia, where it still sits on a beach.
To find out more and to offer help and donations please contact Paul Escreet at PEscreet@smstowage.com
