David Cressey joins the ship
Family notes place David Cressey at St Andrew's Dock joining Arctic Viking for a three-week trip off Norway.
Final voyage · 27 September 1961 · St Andrew's Dock
The Final Voyage Begins
On 27 September 1961, Arctic Viking left Hull for the fishing grounds off the north coast of Norway. Twenty men sailed. One would be landed injured before the fishing began in earnest. Nineteen would later turn for home.
The departure
Leaving St Andrew's Dock
The final voyage of the Arctic Viking began at St Andrew's Dock, Hull, on 27 September 1961. At that moment it was not yet a disaster. It was another distant-water trip by a Boyd Line sidewinder, outward bound for the northern fishing grounds.
The Ministry of Transport inquiry records the answer plainly: the Arctic Viking left Hull on 27 September 1961, under Skipper Philip William Garner, with 20 all told upon sailing from Hull. Her destination was the fishing grounds off the north coast of Norway.
For the men aboard, the voyage belonged to the hard routine of Hull's deep-sea fleet: sign on, sail north, work the grounds, fill the pounds, return to Hull, discharge, and wait for the next trip. But this departure now carries the weight of everything that followed. It is the opening movement of the most important part of the Arctic Viking story.
The site treats this page as the start of the final-voyage sequence because the later capsize cannot be understood only from the morning of 18 October. The story begins with the crew, the ship's working condition, the outward voyage, the fishing, the catch, and the decisions that brought her homeward in mid-October.
The crew aboard
Twenty men at the start
The final crew list in the Arctic Viking Obsidian research vault records the men connected with the last voyage. The list contains survivors, the five later lost at sea, and J. Kiel, the third hand who was put ashore in Norway on the outward voyage.
Among those aboard were Skipper Philip Garner, Mate Ronald Dodsley, Chief Engineer Joseph Thomas Bartle, Radio Operator William Campbell Marshall, Bosun Samuel Waddy, helmsman and spare hand David Cressey, and the deck, engine room, galley and spare-hand crew who made the trawler function as a working vessel.
David Cressey had joined Arctic Viking for what the family notes describe as a three-week fishing trip off Norway. He was twenty-five, experienced, and close to the sea time needed before training for his bosun's ticket. It was his first trip on the Viking, a ship the notes say some men regarded as awkward or unlucky, but a berth was a berth and work was competitive.
By the time the ship turned home, the number aboard had changed. J. Kiel had been landed in Norway after injury, leaving nineteen men on the return voyage. Five of those nineteen would be lost on 18 October; fourteen would survive in the life raft until the Polish lugger Derkacz reached them.
Crew roll
Names attached to the final voyage
- Philip William Garner Skipper, survived
- Ronald Dodsley Mate, survived
- Joseph Thomas Bartle Chief engineer, survived
- William Campbell Marshall Radio operator, survived
- David Cressey Spare hand / helmsman, survived
- J. Kiel Third hand, landed in Norway after injury
- Raymond Dodsworth Spare hand, survived
- John Clare Galley boy, survived
- Alan Bailey Spare hand, survived
- Charles Kirk Deck hand, survived
- Dennis Petrini Deck hand, survived
- J. W. Rood Cook, survived
- Ray Hotham Crew member, survived
- Keith William Carr Spare hand, survived
- Harry Cooke Engineer, survived
- J. Clarke Crew member, survived
- Samuel Waddy Bosun, lost at sea
- David Craft Fireman, lost at sea
- Edward Kent Second engineer, lost at sea
- Dennis Lound Spare hand, lost at sea
- John Robinson Deck hand, David Cressey's Army buddy, lost at sea
The final voyage began as ordinary work: a Hull trawler sailing north with her crew, stores, gear and expectations. Only afterwards did the date become the first line of a disaster story. Interpretive summary from the Arctic Viking Obsidian research vault
Outward voyage
The injured third hand
Before Arctic Viking reached the fishing grounds, one crewman was injured. The crew list and one newspaper account identify him as J. Kiel, the third hand. He was injured before arriving at the fishing grounds and was landed at Honningsvåg, Norway, after which the ship continued without him.
The Honningsvåg landing has now been verified for the site. Earlier working notes included a Hammerfest variant, but the corrected account is that Kiel was put ashore at Honningsvåg.
What is consistent is the larger point: the Arctic Viking did not return with the same number of men who had sailed from Hull. Twenty left St Andrew's Dock. J. Kiel was landed in Norway. Nineteen remained aboard for the homeward passage.
In the later family and research story, that detail matters. Kiel was alive and back home when news of the disaster came. His removal from the voyage was accidental, but it changed the arithmetic of survival and loss.
Fishing grounds
North of Norway
The inquiry gives the destination as the fishing grounds off the north coast of Norway. Newspaper and later notes sometimes describe the trip as being to the White Sea or from the White Sea, but the Ministry of Transport record and several research notes place the working area off northern Norway.
Fishing began on 1 October 1961 and lasted for about eleven days. The weather during the fishing period was described as fine. By the time fishing was completed, Arctic Viking had loaded about 1,500 kits of fish, given in different notes as approximately 94 or 95 tons.
The fish was described in one note as mainly bulk and shelf fish. That catch was the purpose of the voyage: the labour, risk and distance were all aimed at bringing fish back to Hull. On 12 October, with the fishing completed, Arctic Viking left the grounds to begin the homeward run.
This matters because the ship was not returning empty or lightly worked. She was coming home with a substantial catch, after a normal fishing period, and with no documented alarm in her trim or behaviour during the early part of the run home.
Opening chronology
From Hull to the homeward run
Arctic Viking leaves Hull
The ship sails from St Andrew's Dock under Skipper Philip Garner with 20 all told, bound for the fishing grounds off northern Norway.
J. Kiel landed in Norway
The third hand is injured before reaching the fishing grounds and put ashore at Honningsvåg, Norway.
Fishing begins
Fishing starts off northern Norway in fine weather.
Fishing completed
Arctic Viking leaves the grounds for Hull with about 1,500 kits, roughly 94-95 tons, aboard.
Sources used include the Arctic Viking Obsidian research vault files for 27 September 1961, 12 October 1961, Crew List - Combined, J. Kiel, Ship Died In Curling Seas, The day the Vikings Luck Ran Out, the Ministry of Transport Inquiry S459, and the David Cressey St Andrew's Dock note. The site has been corrected to state Honningsvåg as J. Kiel's landing place.