Pictured above is Stina, a two-masted 100-ton steel and timber schooner built by Bodewes at Martenshoek in the Netherlands in 1902. Incredibly, this vessel still sails the seas today and her story is a remarkable one. Stina was originally a sail-powered cargo ship, designed to carry heavy loads across the North Sea. She was described in the book 'Coastwise Sail' by John Anderson as "a very handy type of shallow draught coaster". Her visit to Largo took place very soon after her construction and certainly before 1905. A clue to what Stina may have been doing in Largo can be seen in the newspaper snippet below (30 May 1903 Edinburgh Evening News) when she arrived at Burntisland with a load of oil cake.
At this time there was an oil cake mill at Burntisland, owned by David Russell of Silverburn. Russell also owned the Largo Oil and Cake Mill (pictured further below). This former flax spinning mill had been modified around 1860 by Russell so that box presses could be used to extract oil from linseed, cottonseed, rapeseed, etc. The leftover material was then turned into 'cakes' (e.g. linseed cake and cotton cake) which could be used as animal feed). Some years later, David Russell acquired the old sugar mill at Burntisland and converted it for similar purposes.
In 1905 the Stina (a female forename popular in the Nordic countries) was sold and renamed Adolf. She traded across the Baltic and North seas under the German flag until the outbreak of World War One. During this conflict she was taken as a prize of war by the British Navy and turned into a Q-ship - in other words a decoy ship intended to lure enemy submarines into making surface attacks. Q-ships had concealed weaponry which could then be used to open fire. Such vessels formed a fleet to sail in front of the Merchant Fleet to protect them from being torpedoed.
Around 1922, the vessel was sold to Dalbeattie-based shipping company John Carswell and Sons. There in the Solway Firth, she had a paraffin engine fitted and was given the name Solway Lass. For years she transported all sorts of general cargoes across the Irish Sea, often calling at Liverpool. One typical cargo example was maize brought into the Solway Firth to be processed for use as animal feed. Carswell sold her in 1935 to Kristian Andersen, a Swede who had settled in Portmadoc in Wales.
The Irish Times of 12 March 1937 above tells of how Solway Lass ran aground at Ringsend, on the sands at Sandymount on 11 March 1937 in "mountainous seas" and "the worst blizzard for many years" while bound from Liverpool to Wicklow. She could not be reached by rocket apparatus and the lifeboat could not get near her. The crew (including a 16-year-old on his first voyage) managed to wade ashore at low tide. It was feared that she would become a total wreck if the next tide took her onto nearby rocks. However, she survived, her cargo was unloaded, (see image below from the 15 March Irish Times) and soon afterwards she was re-floated.
Although this misadventure ultimately had a happy ending for the ship and crew, the following year brought about tragedy on board the Solway Lass. The vessel had been between Pwllheli and Criccieth Bay when the Captain Kristian Andersen had twice gone down to attend the engines and failed to return the second time. When another crew member went down to investigate, he too failed to return. The third crew member, and only other person on board, went down and found the other two unconscious. Dragging both to the deck, one was able to be revived, while the Captain died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Shortly after this sad incident, Andersen's widow sold Solway Lass to Peter Pedersen of Lemvig, Denmark. She was renamed Bent - a male forename of Danish origin which means 'blessed'. From there she once again carried cargo across the Baltic and North Seas. The Second World War interrupted her trading exploits. Some stories report that she was seized by the Germans, who then used her a supply ship. Her troubles continued beyond the end of the war. The book 'Coastwise Sail' states that "in 1946 she was struck by two mines and had to be beached in a sinking condition but was salved and repaired".
Around 1949 she was given yet another new name - Sundeved - and carried cargo for a Danish Shipping Company. Sundeved is an area on the east coast of the Jutland peninsula in South Denmark. After a couple of decades, in late 1971, Dane Leif Brochmann took Sundeved on a voyage from Dover to Fiji, via Barbados, the Panama Canal and Tahiti. The vessel then remained in Fiji for many years, where she was rechristened Lawendua. She traded between the Fijian Islands and at some point appears to have been given another new name - Tui Na Savusavu.
In 1983, Sydney businessman Tim Lloyd found her in Fiji in a rundown state but still being used to transport cargo. He bought her, took her to Sydney, restored the name Solway Lass and embarked upon a full refit. During this lengthy and costly process, her cargo hold was fitted out in teak as a large dining room to seat 60. Below is an image of the refit which appeared in the 26 June 1986 Galloway News. Once restored, Solway Lass operated out of Sydney Harbour and was quite the tourist attraction as an historic tall ship.
In a proud moment, in 1988, Solway Lass took part in Australia's bicentennial celebrations, participating in the First Fleet re-enactment. Several tall ships were chosen to follow part of the route of the First Fleet which sailed from Portsmouth in May 1787, arriving in Sydney in January 1788. The 18th century fleet of eleven ships carried around 1400 colonists, including 759 convicts, who founded modern Australia. The original route went from Portsmouth, via Tenerife, Rio de Janeiro and Cape Town. Solway Lass followed the last part of the route from Botany Bay to Sydney. The image of Solway Lass below appeared in the brochure for the event and was reproduced in the 9 January 1986 Galloway News.
Her time in Sydney ended in 1999, when she was purchased by Australian Tallships Cruises. Her interior was again remodelled, to suit overnight cruises, with bunks for 32 guests. Since then Solway Lass has operated in the Whitsunday Islands, between the northeast coast of Queensland, Australia and the Great Barrier Reef. From her base at Airlie Beach, she offers cruises around the Islands including snorkelling dives on the Reef.
More information about that here: https://solwaylass.com.au/
Sami Keinänen, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Having survived two world wars, almost becoming a wreck twice and having given many decades hard service around the globe (not to mention many name changes) the warm, calm waters of the Whitsundays seem a most fitting place for Solway Lass to enjoy her old age. Recent images of her are shown above (from Wikipedia) and below (from John Downie). Having celebrated her centenary in 2002, and had another major refit in 2018, she continues to be an important and iconic ship. Her present life is certainly a world away from carrying oil cakes along the Fife coast.
With thanks to Jimmy Simpson for the image of Stina at Largo Harbour and for the prompt to investigate her story.
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