Rob the Ranter wooden steamship built William Jarvis, Anstruther, 1892, ON 97937
90 grt, 33 nrt, 89.0 x 18.9 x 9.0 ft, screw, engine C.2cyl. (14 & 28 - 20in) 100psi. 34hp.
Built as a steam drifter and registered Fishing No. KY458, then
sold to Peterhead, reg. PD329.
Owned 1920 John Hyland, Garston, Liverpool, for cargo, still registered Peterhead.
Voyage Dublin to Runcorn with scrap, foundered on 29 June 1920.
Rob the Ranter when a registered fishing vessel: KY458.
Aberdeen Press and Journal - Saturday 07 April 1917:
STEAM DRIFTER FOR SALE. .... the STEAM DRIFTER ROB THE RANTER (KY
458), which vessel was built under Lloyd's special survey by William
Jarvis, Anstruther, and which has all along been maintained in good
order. She is at present ready to prosecute the net or line fishing,
and is provided with Steam Capstan and Steam Line Hauler. A new tail
shaft fitted 1914.
Her dimension are:- Length, 89 feet; Beam, 18 ft. 9 in.; Depth 9 ft. 5
in.; Gross Tonnage, 90 tons; Register Tonnage, 33 tons. Engines by Cran
& Co., Length Cylinders 14" and 28": Stroke, 20"; H.P. 34. ...
Lying slip at Macduff ...
From Western Morning News, Thursday 1 July 1920:
The coasting
steamer Rob the Ranter, Dublin for Runcorn, with cargo of scrap, sprang a leak
and foundered eleven miles from the North-West Lightship at 10 a.m. Tuesday 29th June 1920.
No lives were lost.
From Wicklow People, Saturday 3 July 1920:
Sailors' Escape - The ship, Rob the Ranter, the property of Captain
Hyland, Wicklow and Liverpool, sprang a leak near Liverpool, when bound with
scrap for Runcorn in a thunderstorm, and foundered. The crew, comprising
Captain Charles Hunter and some other Wicklow sailors, took to a boat and
were subsequently picked up.
Postscript Newspapers quote a location of the sinking as 11 miles from the NW Lightship. The Hydrographic Office, however, quotes 6 miles WNW of the NW Lightship. No wreckage was found at the latter location in a 2013 survey: see here. An unknown wooden wreck, possibly carrying scrap, has been located and dived near the wreck of the Ocean Monarch - this is 6.6nm at 203° from the NW lightship.
The unusual name "Rob the Ranter" comes from a Scottish folk-song about a piper (Rob the Ranter, where rant here means lively music) going to Anst'er Fair.