King Stephen

iBase ID

261441

Vessel name

King Stephen

Fishing number

GY1174

Type of vessel

ST

Year constructed

1900

Constructed by

Schofield, Hagerup & Doughty Ltd

Constructed at

Grimsby

Gross tons

162

Length

105.7 ft

Beam

21.1 ft

Depth

10.7 ft

Construction notes

Yard No. 9

Previous owner

Monarch S F Co Ltd

Date sunk

25/04/1916

Place sunk

North Sea

General notes

In February 1916 the trawler King Stephen set sail to fish off the Dogger Bank in the North Sea. In the early hours of Wednesday 2nd February, the Mate was keeping a close watch for u-boats when he saw lights on the horizon. Fearing that it might be a trawler in distress they steamed towards it. When they grew near the lights they saw the huge form of a German Zeppelin lying half submerged and crippled. Nineteen Germans were stranded on the platform shouting to be saved. The Germans and their commander were armed. It was decided to leave and find a British patrol boat. They decided not to take the Germans on board because if they had done so, it would have been easy for the Zeppelin crew to overpower the fishermen, take over the vessel and sail for Germany. Instead, the crew left to find a British patrol boat to help the men. However, a subsequent search by a British patrol boat in the area found nothing.
On returning to shore the trawlermen found that there was a lot of publicity surrounding the incident. The Secretary of the Admiralty issued a statement and the German press raved about the inhumanity of the King Stephen's crew. The trawler even went on the wanted list of the German Naval High Command. The hate was not confined to Germany and Skipper William Martin became the target of hate mail. His health deteriorated and he became obsessed with the idea that the Germans were tracking him down. He never went to sea again and died on 3rd March 1917 aged 45.
A few weeks after the encounter, the King Stephen was commissioned for special service under the command of skipper T.H Phillips of Lowestoft. Following a German bombardment of Great Yarmouth by a squadron of German warships, the trawler King Stephen was captured. Her crew were taken on board the German ship and the trawler was sunk with the aid of planted bombs.

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