HMS Richard Bacon was a Castle class naval trawler

Naval trawler

A naval trawler is a vessel built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes. Naval trawlers were widely used during the First and Second world wars. Fishing trawlers were particularly suited for many naval requirements because they were robust boats designed to work...

 completed in 1918. She served through both world wars under two different names and also had a lengthy career as a civilian fishing trawler and as a support vessel for a famous transatlantic flight by a group of Italian bombers. She was scrapped in 1954 after her boiler failed.

First world war and subsequent civilian service

Richard Bacon was one of 217 Castle class trawlers laid down for the British government in the First World War

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. Displacing 360 tons standard, and armed with a single 12-pounder gun, she was mostly used for coastal anti-submarine patrols.

Richard Bacon was built at Cook, Welton & Gemmell

Cook, Welton & Gemmell

Cook, Welton and Gemmell was a shipbuilders based in Hull and Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire. England.The firm was founded in 1883 on South Bridge Road, Hull, on the Humber bank. The founding partners were William James Cook, Charles Keen Welton and William Gemmell...

, Hull

Kingston upon Hull

Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...

. Upon completion on 12 March 1918, she had a crew of 12 men, and served an uneventful few years on anti-submarine and coastal patrol duties. After the war, she was registered as a fishing vessel at London under registry number LO438, taking up that role officially on 24 August 1920. After two years under Admiralty ownership, she was sold to the Boston Deep Sea Fishing & Ice Co Ltd, Boston, Lincolnshire

Boston, Lincolnshire

Boston is a town and small port in Lincolnshire, on the east coast of England. It is the largest town of the wider Borough of Boston local government district and had a total population of 55,750 at the 2001 census...

, and her London registry was closed. As a result of the sale, she was renamed Haganby, and registered at Boston under registry number BN179 and manager Fred Parkes. In 1923 she was transferred to Fleetwood

Fleetwood

Fleetwood is a town within the Wyre district of Lancashire, England, lying at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 26,840 people at the 2001 Census. It forms part of the Greater Blackpool conurbation. The town was the first planned community of the Victorian era...

, near Blackpool

Blackpool

Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...

, when the company moved.

Some time in February 1925, she was sold again, this time to a French fisherman named Victor Fourny. She was renamed Professeur Bergonié, after Jean Bergonié, and registered at Boulogne. After several years in France, the Boston Deep Sea Fishing repurchased her on 4 March 1930, and she was renamed again, this time to the Daily Chronicle (FD69), registered at Fleetwood. She also regained the same manager as during her previous spell with the Boston company, Fred Parkes. It was during this time that she had her first unusual duty - on 5 July 1933, she was chartered by the Italian Government to support a transatlantic flight by 24 Savoia-Marchetti S.55

Savoia-Marchetti S.55

|-References:NotesBibliography* Yenne, Bill. Seaplanes & Flying Boats: A Timeless Collection from Aviation's Golden Age. New York: BCL Press, 2003. ISBN 1-932302-03-4.-External links:* *...

X seaplanes. The flight was remarkable in that it was led by General Italo Balbo

Italo Balbo

Italo Balbo was an Italian Blackshirt leader who served as Italy's Marshal of the Air Force , Governor-General of Libya, Commander-in-Chief of Italian North Africa , and the "heir apparent" to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.After serving in...

, and covered 6,100 statute miles (9,800 km), from Orbetello

Orbetello

Orbetello is a town and comune in the province of Grosseto , Italy. It is located c. 35 km south of Grosseto, on the eponymous lagoon, which is home to an important Natural Reserve.-History:...

 to Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, via Iceland

Iceland

Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

, in 47 hours 52 minutes. The next year, on 12 August 1934 at St Kilda

St Kilda, Scotland

St Kilda is an isolated archipelago west-northwest of North Uist in the North Atlantic Ocean. It contains the westernmost islands of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The largest island is Hirta, whose sea cliffs are the highest in the United Kingdom and three other islands , were also used for...

 fishing grounds, she collided with the steam trawler Jacinta (FD235). Although the starboard side of Jacinta was damaged, the Daily Chronicle remained undamaged. On 5 November 1934, her registry at Fleetwood ended, and she was sold to Thomas L Devlin & Sons of Granton

Granton, Edinburgh

Granton is a district in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland. Granton forms part of Edinburgh's waterfront along the Firth of Forth and is, historically, an industrial area having a large harbour. Granton is part of Edinburgh's large scale waterfront regeneration programme.-Name:Granton first appears...

, registered there, and renamed Commodator (GN6).

Second World War

On 29 August 1939, with the Second World War imminent, she was requisitioned by the Admiralty once more, and converted to a minesweeping trawler, becoming HMS Commodator (FY634). The hire rate was £84.6.0d per month. Some time in 1943, she was sold to Mrs E D Breen of Edinburgh, but remained in use by the Admiralty. In June 1945, after the end of the war in Europe, she was sold to Grimsby Merchants Amalgamated Fishing Co Ltd and gained pennant number GY57, but remained under military command. Finally, on 4 October 1945, she was re-classed at Glasgow and returned to her owner.

Post-war

After the war, she stayed briefly in Grimsby, before being sold to Don Trawling Co (Milford) Ltd, in Milford Haven

Milford Haven

Milford Haven is a town and community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is situated on the north side of the Milford Haven Waterway, a natural harbour used as a port since the Middle Ages. The town was founded in 1790 on the north side of the Waterway, from which it takes its name...

 in February 1946. On 20 April 1946 she was in the fishing grounds off the west coast of Ireland during an 85mph gale. The gale shifted 140 tons of coal in her bunker, forcing the ship onto her beam ends - so that the deck was near-vertical. The crew spent five and a half hours moving the coal by hand in order to restore her to an even keel, and were eventually forced to put into Berehaven, County Cork

County Cork

County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...

.

In July 1948, she was renamed again, to her final name: Lynandi. She had a relatively uneventful few years, until 1954, where she had an accident which ended her career. On 14 January 1954, she was fishing off Old Head of Kinsale

Old Head of Kinsale

The Old Head of Kinsale, is a headland near Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland. An early lighthouse was established here in the 17th century by Robert Reading...

 under her skipper W G King when her boiler developed problems. She was forced to blowdown her boiler and as a result, lost power. The steam trawler Inverforth began to tow her back to Milford, but two days and 100 miles later, during heavy weather, the tow parted and two attempts to reconnect it failed. She was in danger of drifting onto St Ann's Head, 23 miles distant. The Angle lifeboat and the tug Empire Rosa launched from Pembroke Dock

Pembroke Dock

Pembroke Dock is a town in Pembrokeshire, south-west Wales, lying north of Pembroke on the River Cleddau. Originally a small fishing village known as Paterchurch, the town was greatly expanded from 1814 onwards following the construction of a Royal Naval Dockyard...

, but were unable to reach the trawler, which was in the middle of 40' waves. Inverforth and another trawler, the Thomas Booth (M274) stayed close, however, and allowed Lynandi to keep her bearings. The storm abated through the morning, and by 11 am the Empire Rosa had returned and was able to connect a tow line. By 4:15 pm, the Lynandi was safely back in Milford harbour. Her skipper commended the actions of both his own crew and those crews who assisted, and praised the seaworthiness of his ship, saying "Although out of control, she proved a perfect sea ship and throughout the night never shipped a drop of water.".

Later in 1954, she was sold to BISCO and allocated to Thomas W Ward Ltd. On 27 August she was delivered to Castle Pill for breaking up, and finally, in October, her Grimsby registry was closed.