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The Bosun's Watch
S.T. Red Falcon LO4
| Official Number | 164954 |
| Yard Number | 612 |
| Admiralty Pennant | FY 147 |
| Launched | July 08 1936 |
| Registered | August 20 1936 |
| Gross Tonnage | 449 |
| Length | 161.3 ft |
| Breadth | 27.2 ft |
| 114 nhp engine | C D Holmes |
| Speed | 11.9 knots |
| Built by | Cook Welton & Gemmell, Beverley, 1936 |
| Owner | Iago Steam trawlers Ltd |
| 1936 |
Built as Davy for F & T Ross Ltd, Hull (H 322).
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| August 12 1939 |
Aold to RN as A/S trawler. |
| 1945 | Sold back to F & T Ross Ltd, Hull (H 213).
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| November 17 1951 | Sold to Hudson Bros Ltd, Hull. |
| November 26 1951 | Renamed CAPE BARFLEUR.
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| September 07 1954 | Sold to Iago Steam trawlers Ltd, London.
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| September 13 1954 | Renamed RED FALCON.
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| Notes | On the 14th of December Red Falcon, under the command of skipper Alexander Hardy, was passing through the dangerous area of the South Minch of the west coast of Scotland, where seven tides in meet in a welter of raging waters. She was battling the 90 miles an hour winds of a WSW storm that generated 40 foot waves, as she returned from a trip to Iceland.
Some 50 miles ahead of her was her sister ship Red Sabre under Tom McKernan while the
Red Knight under John Mecklenburgh was some 150 miles astern. Tom Mckernan was the last person to have contact with the Falcon in a radio message. Alex Hardy called Red Sabre as the Falcon passed abeam of Skerryvore.
McKernan advised that he was heading for the lee of the Irish coast as he shaped his course from Skerryvore to Inistrahull and Alex Hardy agreed that it was the best thing to do. stating that he would do the same. That was the last time the ship or her crew was heard of. The skippers of Red Sabre and Red Knight later formed the opinion that the Falcon had been overwhelmed by a huge wave.
Red Falcon never berthed in Fleetwood's Wyre Dock on the 15th as she was expected to.
On the 16th of that month the villagers of Scarinish on Tiree, in the Inner Hebrides, discovered wreckage including floorboards from the lifeboats, a rocket container box and lifejackets stamped with the missing vessel's name were washed up on the beach, Red Falcon was gone and nineteen men had lost their lives.
Ironically, Alex Hardy had not been in the best of health and was considering retiring. That trip, which he undertook as a favour to the vessel's owners, would have been his last. But there is a further twist to this tale. Benjamin (Benny) Thomas was a long serving Chief Engineer with Iago and was signed on Red Falcon. One day a fireman was lowering an ash bucket into the engine room and it became detached from the rope and struck Benjamin on the head. This meant a trip to the hospital when they docked. The following trip he was thrown from his bunk and injured his arm. The vessel, he reckoned " ".....was trying to tell me something." As a result he signed off and sailed with Red Sabre instead. The next time that Red Falcon sailed she was lost with all hands.
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