Frau Minna Peterson |
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years 1877 and 1878 saw a spurt of building activity in Llyn and
Eifionydd. 18 vessels were built at Portmadoc and Borth y Gest.
This was a transition period as the builders and owners experimented with various rigs adapted for particular trades. Previously the favoured rig for general traders was the brig. However, regulations required that the master hold a square rigged certificate. The demand for qualified men was great but most local men held "fore and aft" qualifications. A compromise was the "Jack barquentine". This was a three masted schooner with square sails on the foremast and a staysail between main and fore. This allowed the schooner men command. This rig and the trade (Newfoundland and Labrador) which developed resulted, in the 1890s, in the evolution of the "Western Ocean Yachts" - fine three masted topsail schooners, strongly built with exceptional sea going characteristics. The FRAU MINNA PETERSON was one of these general purpose vessels. She was built by Simon Jones at Portmadoc. Her dimensions were:- 176 GRT, 102' LOA, 24.3' Beam and 12.6' Max Draft. Reg at Caernarvon. She was owned outright (64/64ths) by Hugh Parry of Borth y Gest. For twenty three years the vessel sailed the Atlantic Ocean, Baltic and Mediterrenean with visits to Portmadoc to load slate for Germany. Her launch, in 1878, was watched with great interest. She was the first vessel launched sideways but unfortunately stuck during the operation. This was considered a bad omen which proved unfounded as she was to sail for many years.
In 1901 she was sold to Fowey in Cornwal and renamed the JANE BANKS. From this port (which the author knows well) and nearby Par, china clay would have been her main cargo. She was in this trade for many years. There are some excellent photos of the vessel underway, taken during this period in Basil Greenhill's book Schooners and also several of her at anchor and alongside, in the National Maritime Museum collection She was sold to Estonia in 1938 and her story thereafter was uncertain until recently when I received some information from Torsten Hagnéus, of Sweden, who sent me the following extract from "Estland zur See 1918-1940" (Estonia at sea 1918-1940) :- |
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| The Frau Minna Peterson leads a fleet of Porthmadog ships past Gibraltar | |
| VIIR 3-mast schooner 176 grt - 156 nrt Dims: 31.08 x 7.34 x 3.80 m Built 1878 at Portmadoc by S Jones 1878 FRAU MINNA PETERSEN H Parry, Caernarvon, GB 1901 FRAU MINNA PETERSEN R May, Caernarvon, GB 1914 August, taken as prize at Emden, DE. Use during the war not known. 1919 given back to GB JANE BANKS The Shipping Controller, London, GB 1921 JANE BANKS (E Stephens, Fowey, managing owner) 1928 JANE BANKS T J Stephens, Fowey, GB 1938 Renamed VIIR Anton Vilu, Tallinn, EE 1940 taken by Soviet troops at the occupation of Estonia VIIR Estonian State Shipping Co, Tallinn, SU 1941 October 9; fallen into German hands in Tallinn. Use during WW2 not known. 1944 October; sailed with Estonian refugees to Sweden* 1949 deleted from Lloyd's Register *(All Estonian vessels which came to Sweden with refugees were given back to the Soviet Union. The former owners were however compensated economically by the Swedish Government.) |
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The
vessel was named after a German slate merchant's wife which was a
common practice. As mentioned above, she was one of the earliest
Newfoundland fish traders and proved an ideal vessel for the Western
Ocean passage, beating against the prevailing winds and handy amongst
the creeks and inlets of the Newfoundland and Labrador coasts.