> Re: maystone

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: : : Hello; : : I am Charles from Malta. I am searching information : : about a steamer MAYSTONE shipwrecked near Farnes : : Island in Scotland on 18 th October 1949. My : : grandfather CARMEL (or Charlie) BUTTIGIEG was one of : : the workers on the steamer when it collied with HMS : Hello Charles : Regarding the MAYSTONE: : The MAYSTONE was a steel 2,025 ton British steamship registered at the port of Llanelly and had dimensions of 82.9 metres length, by 12.19 beam and 52.3 metres draught. She was built as an "ICEMAID" class Empire collier called EMPIRE WAPPING at Grangemouth Dockyard Company Ltd at Grangemouth in 1945 and owned by the Ministry of Transport, however in 1947 she was sold to the Thomas Stone Shipping Company Ltd. Her single screw propeller was powered by a three cylinder triple expansion steam engine that used two boilers and her aft machinery was built by North East Marine Engineering Company Ltd at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. She had a cruiser stern, one deck and a superstructure consisting of a 49.5 metre quarter-deck and a 7.9 metre forecastle. Her bell, when located, will probably read 'EMPIRE WAPPING', '1945'. : On the 18th October 1949, the MAYSTONE was on passage from Methil for London with an unspecified cargo of coal when she foundered and was lost during a gale, five miles north of the Outer Farne Islands, following a collision with the aircraft carrier H.M.S. ALBION. It is understood that some of her crew were picked up, but it is not known how many. : The wreck of the MAYSTONE was visited by divers from Liverpool University Club in 1998 and taken there by Ian Douglas, skipper/owner of Sovereign Divers at Seahouses, Northumberland, England. Ian, sadly dived last year, but his son carried on with their diving charter boat business. The wreck is about 50-minutes voyage from Seahouses harbour and lies about 5-miles north of the Outer Farne Islands. : Sorry I don't know anything else about the incident, but there may be something in the Public Records Office at Kew , under HMS ALBION : Cheers Ron : : Albion. I would like to receive information or buy any : : material about the dynamic of the accident, or titles : : of newspapers of that date which narrate the accident. : : I would like to know if the corpes of the dead were : : recovered and if so where they were buried. I would : : like to visit at list the place where my grandfather : : was buried, if not i would like to visit the wrecksite : : at sea were he rests forever. Thanks for your help and : : information. My e-mail is doncharles99@yahoo.it : :