MV Druid built Papendrecht, Netherlands 1958.
steel, 159 grt, 112ft x 22ft10in x 8ft11in.
Owned J.J. Hays of Glasgow.
Voyage Clyde to Preston in ballast to load coal for Belfast.
Captain William John Ross and 5 crew.
22 August 1962, in W force 8 wind, broached and grounded on Salter's Bank,
St Annes, at mouth of Ribble.
Her hatches were off and she rapidly filled and capsized.
3 crew rescued by Lytham St Annes lifeboat Sarah Townsend Porritt; Preston no. 1
Pilot cutter, St. Annes, and helicopters from RAF Valley and Wharton. 3 lost.
Subsequently refloated on 20 Sept and towed into Peston.
MV Druid in service (circa 1960, from Roy Cressey collection)
MV Druid at Preston after being towed in (from Lancashire Evening Post).
From Belfast Telegraph - Thursday 23 August 1962
POLICE AND COASTGUARDS continued their search of the seashore at Lytham St. Annes
(Lancs) to-day for the body of a seaman missing when the motor vessel
Druid (197 tons) sank in the mouth of the Ribble yesterday after
hitting a sandbank.
The skipper and the mate - both Ulstermen - were
drowned.
They were Captain William John Ross, of
Ballystrudder Gardens, Islandmagee, and Cyril MeCosh, of Murney
Cottages, Glenarm. Both men, aged 45, were married.
The missing man is
29-year old George Cameron, of Rothesay, Isle of Bute.
Despite a long
search by lifeboats, helicopters and surface craft, no trace of him was
found and the sea search was abandoned last night.
The three survivors of the crew of six spent a fairly
comfortable night and are improving, a Lytham Hospital spokesman said
today. One of them. Angus McCusbic (23), of Totarder, Isle of Skye,
was "still in poor shape and having difficulty with his breathing."
the spokesman said.
The other survivors are Alistair McKinnon (23), of
Shore Street, Bowmore, Isle of Islay, and Mark Bulger (29), of
Drumchapel, Glasgow.
Druid, owned by J. J. Kay. of Glasgow, was bound
for Preston to pick up a cargo of coal when it hit a sandbank at
Preston Bar, about six miles south of Blackpool.
Directors of the firm traveled to Lytham to-day to
formally identify the bodies of the dead men.
A gale force wind was
blowing when the coaster capsized off St. Annes.
The three survivors
were rescued in air-sea operations by three helicopters, the Lytham lifeboat
and the Preston pilot boat.
One member of the crew clung to a raft for
more than an hour. He was picked up by a helicopter and put aboard
Lytham lifeboat, from which he helped in the search.
Three men were taken to the nearby English Electric
aerodrome by helicopter. One was dead and the other two were taken to
hospital. A second body was brought ashore at Lytham.
Captain Ross had
two children, a boy and a girl. Mr William Hawkins, a Ballystrudder grocer,
described him as "a very devoted family man."
"One of his habits was to ring his wife at the telephone
kiosk outside my shop. By arrangement, Mrs. Ross was usually at the
kiosk at 8-30 p.m. to accept the call.
"I understand he was to have
phoned her last night."
Captain Ross, who had been in the Merchant Navy all his
life, was a member of Islandmagee Loyal Orange Lodge 1962.
Mr. McCosh
had a son and two daughters. News that he was missing was telephoned
to Glenarm police, who informed his wife.
The Druid had sheltered off
the Isle of Man yesterday morning.
First indication of her
difficulties came when the alarm was raised by an amateur radio
enthusiast at Thornton Cleveleys, near Blackpool, who picked up an SOS
message and told the police.
Among other vessels which joined in the
search was the Bardic Ferry.
From Liverpool Echo - Saturday 15 September 1962
Capsized coaster refloated
The 197 ton Glasgow coaster Druid, which was capsized by gale force
winds off St Annes, on August 22, was refloated and towed down the
Ribble to Preston docks by the Preston tug John Herbert.
When the boat sank,
three of the crew of six lost their lives