HMT ''Amethyst'' was a

naval trawler Naval trawlers are vessels built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes; they were widely used during the First and Second World Wars. Some—known in the Royal Navy as "Admiralty trawlers"— were purpose-built to ...

requisitioned by the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral * Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings *Admiralty, Tr ...

prior to the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. She was sunk in the second year of the war. ''Amethyst'' was built as the commercial trawler ''Phyllis Rosalie'' by

Smiths Dock Company Smith's Dock Company, Limited, often referred to simply as Smith's Dock, was a British shipbuilding company. History The company was originally established by Thomas Smith who bought William Rowe's shipyard at St. Peter's in Newcastle upon Tyne ...

, South Bank-on-Tees and was launched on 15 January 1934.History of ''Phyllis Rosalie''
/ref> Her first owners were the Boston Deep Sea Fishing & Ice Co Ltd, based at Fleetwood. In 1935 she set a number of records for catches landed at Fleetwood, and was present at King George V's Silver Jubilee Spithead Review, representing the port of Fleetwood. She was sold later that year to the Admiralty, who had her converted into an

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are t ...

trawler with the addition of ASDIC and a four-inch gun. They classed her and a number of other trawlers as the Gem group, and the name ''Amethyst'' was selected. She continued to serve during the Second World War, but on 24 November 1940, whilst under the command of T/Lt. the W.K. Rous,

RNVR The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Ro ...

, she struck a

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

in the

Thames Estuary The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain. Limits An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salini ...

and sank.Record of trawlers lost
/ref> There were no casualties, and the survivors were landed at Southend, where they were briefly arrested under suspicion of being survivors from a sunken German craft.

References

External links

''Amethyst'' listed in ships launched from Smith's dock
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amethyst Anti-submarine trawlers of the Royal Navy Shipwrecks of the River Thames 1934 ships Maritime incidents in November 1940 Ships sunk by mines