HMD THISTLE IV, wooden steam drifter built in 1906 by Alexander Slater at Lossiemouth.
71gt, 24nt; 80.7 x 18.6 x 8.4 ft; official number 123371.
Steam engine built Cooper & Greig Ltd., Dundee, C.2cyl., 16", 20hp, screw propulsion
Rammed and sunk by SS Tarquah (3,859grt) on 30 June 1915
Location described as "off Great Orme"
Image of Steam drifters returning to Lossiemouth:
The drifter belonged to the port of Inverness, having formerly had the fishing number INS163. The drifter had been hired by the Admiralty for use as an anti-submarine net tender (number 2861). The THISTLE was rammed and sunk by the Elder Dempster steamship TARQUAH on 30 June 1915. Sources suggest that the TARQUAH believed the drifter to be a U-boat. No lives were lost.
From Liverpool Daily Post - Saturday 03 July 1915
TARQUAH. - The steamer Tarquah,
which arrived from the West Coast ot Africa last night, reports having
collided with and sunk the drifter Thistle, Orme's Head yesterday afternoon.