The SS ''Mount Ida'' was a

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...

built in 1938 by William Hamilton & Co. Ltd of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. Launched in 1938 as ''Arcscott'', she was renamed ''Mount Ida'' after being bought by the Atlanticos Steam Ship Company Ltd, of

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. She was wrecked in 1939 after being in service for only about 18 months.

Propulsion

''Mount Ida'' had eight corrugated furnaces with a combined grate area of that heated two single-ended

boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, central h ...

s with a combined heating surface of . She had also an auxiliary boiler. The boilers fed a three-cylinder

triple expansion steam engine A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages. A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure ''(HP)'' cylinder, then having given up he ...

rated at 380

nominal horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...

that was built by David Rowan & Co Ltd, Glasgow. ''Mount Ida''s service speed was about .

Final voyage

In the autumn of 1939 ''Mount Ida'', carrying a cargo of grain and timber, and with a crew of 29, left

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, bound for the port of

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by '' Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. On 9 October she was in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

and close to the north-east coast of

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, England. This is a particularly hazardous area, with many

sand banks In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. It o ...

. Despite being equipped with

direction finding Direction finding (DF), or radio direction finding (RDF), isin accordance with International Telecommunication Union (ITU)defined as radio location that uses the reception of radio waves to determine the direction in which a radio station ...

equipment and an

echo sounding Echo sounding or depth sounding is the use of sonar for ranging, normally to determine the depth of water (bathymetry). It involves transmitting acoustic waves into water and recording the time interval between emission and return of a pulse; ...

device ''Mount Ida'' ran aground on a sandbank. At 0625 hrs the

coastguard A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...

told the

coxswain The coxswain ( , or ) is the person in charge of a boat, particularly its navigation and steering. The etymology of the word gives a literal meaning of "boat servant" since it comes from ''cock'', referring to the cockboat, a type of ship's boat ...

of the

Cromer Cromer ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish on the north coast of the English county of Norfolk. It is north of Norwich, north-northeast of London and east of Sheringham on the North Sea coastline. The local government authorities are Nor ...

lifeboat Lifeboat may refer to: Rescue vessels * Lifeboat (shipboard), a small craft aboard a ship to allow for emergency escape * Lifeboat (rescue), a boat designed for sea rescues * Airborne lifeboat, an air-dropped boat used to save downed airmen A ...

Henry Blogg Henry George Blogg"Henry Blogg, the Greatest of the Lifeboatmen", Jolly, C., Pub: Poppyland Publishing, new edition 2002, GC BEM (6 February 1876 – 13 June 1954) was a lifeboatman from Cromer on the north coast of Norfolk, England, and the ...

, that the ''Mount Ida'' was aground and asked that the lifeboat be sent to assist her. Since the outbreak of the Second World War a month earlier,

RNLI The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. It i ...

lifeboats had been under the control of the naval authorities, and this was only the second rescue effort by the Cromer lifeboat under this arrangement. The

lifeboat '' H.F. Bailey'' was launched and set off towards

Haisborough Sands Haisborough Sands (or Haisboro Sands or Haisbro Sands) is a sandbank off the coast of Norfolk, England at Happisburgh.SC1408 Harwich and Rotterdam to Cromer & Terschelling Admiralty Small Craft Chart Coastal planning chart of the Harwich and Rot ...

, which is where Coxswain Blogg had been told the ''Mount Ida'' was aground. The lifeboat had been at sea for an hour when the coastguard informed Blogg by radio that ''Mount Ida'' was not on Haisborough Sands but was grounded further north-east, on Ower Bank. The ''H.F. Bailey'' crossed Leman Bank and reached the ''Mount Ida'' around 1230 hrs. By this time the ship's starboard

had been carried away, she was listing heavily to

starboard Port and starboard are nautical terms for watercraft and aircraft, referring respectively to the left and right sides of the vessel, when aboard and facing the bow (front). Vessels with bilateral symmetry have left and right halves which are ...

and lying head on to the seas, and her position offered no

lee Lee may refer to: Name Given name * Lee (given name), a given name in English Surname * Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee: ** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname ** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese ...

for the lifeboat to come alongside. The ''H.F. Bailey'' made an attempt to throw a line to the stricken vessel but was twice struck by the heavy seas and flung back. Coxswain Blogg made another attempt to come alongside, before deciding that it was too dangerous and that he would have to wait for the sea to slacken. By 1415 hrs conditions had improved and Blogg, using the lifeboat's powerful engines with great skill, was able to maintain a steady position alongside the ship for over an hour. During this time all 29 crewmen were brought off successfully, though one suffered crushed legs when he hesitated to descend the rope ladder and was trapped between the lifeboat and the ''Mount Ida''; he later died of his injuries in

Cromer Hospital Cromer and District Hospital (formerly known as Cromer Cottage Hospital) opened in 1932 in the suburb of Suffield Park in the town of Cromer within the English county of Norfolk. The hospital is run by the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital ...

. During the rescue, the lifeboat was continually flung against the hull of the ''Mount Ida''. Because the ''H F Bailey'' was badly damaged, Cromer's no 2 lifeboat, ''Harriot Dixon'', was called out to bring the rescued men ashore. The ''Harriot Dixon'', too, was damaged as it was launched into heavy seas, but the rescue effort was successful. The ''Mount Ida'' was never salvaged and slowly sank into the sands of Ower Bank. Her position was .

References

Sources

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External links

The Cromer LifeboatCromer Lifeboat StationH F Bailey LifeboatLifeboat Museum Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mount Ida SS 1938 ships Ships built on the River Clyde Steamships of the United Kingdom Ships of Counties Ship Management World War II merchant ships of Greece World War II shipwrecks in the North Sea Maritime incidents in October 1939 Shipwrecks of Norfolk