Coot (trawler)
{{more citations needed|date = July 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2012}}
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{{Infobox ship image | Ship image=File: Coot-fyrsti-togari-sem-ísl-eignuðust.jpg | Ship caption=Coot, painted by Bjarni Sæmundsson }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header= | Ship name= Coot | Ship owner= William & John Hamilton | Ship operator= |Ship registry= Port Glasgow {{flag|United Kingdom|civil}} | Ship route= | Ship ordered= | Ship builder= William H. Hamilton & Co., Glasgow | Ship original cost= | Ship yard number= | Ship way number= | Ship laid down= | Ship launched= | Ship completed= 1892 | Ship christened= | Ship acquired= | Ship maiden voyage= | Ship in service= | Ship out of service= | Ship identification= GK 310 | Ship fate= | Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header=title | Ship name= | Ship owner= Fiskveiðihlutafélag Faxaflóa | Ship operator= | Ship registry= Hafnarfjörður {{flag|Denmark|name=Iceland}} | Ship route= | Ship ordered= | Ship builder= | Ship original cost= | Ship yard number= | Ship way number= | Ship laid down= | Ship launched= | Ship completed= | Ship christened= | Ship acquired= | Ship maiden voyage= | Ship in service= Operated from Hafnarfjörður between 1905 and 1908 | Ship out of service= | Ship identification= | Ship fate=Wrecked 14 December 1908 | Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header= | Header caption= | Ship type= Trawler | Ship tonnage= | Ship displacement= | Ship length= | Ship beam= | Ship height= | Ship draught= | Ship draft= | Ship depth= | Ship decks= | Ship deck clearance= | Ship ramps= | Ship ice class= | Ship sail plan= | Ship power= | Ship propulsion= Steam engine | Ship speed= | Ship capacity= | Ship crew= | Ship notes= }} |
Coot was a steel fishing vessel, built in Scotland in 1892, which became the first Icelandic steam trawler in 1905. After a short but profitable service it was wrecked in Iceland in 1908.
Construction
Coot was built in 1892 at Port Glasgow, then in the county of Renfrewshire, by William Hamilton & Co as Yard No. 87. It was measured as {{GRT|142}} and {{NRT|44}}. Overall length was {{convert|100.2|ft}}, beam {{convert|20.5|ft}} and depth {{convert|10.6|ft}}.{{cite web |title=Coot |url=http://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.php?ref=8854 |website=Scottish Built Ships |publisher=Caledonian Maritime Research Trust |access-date=29 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220529003631/http://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.php?ref=8854 |archive-date=29 May 2022}}{{cite book |title=Lloyd's Register of British & Foreign Shipping |date=1892 |publisher=Lloyd's Register of Shipping |location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/HECROS1893ST/page/n668/mode/1up |access-date=5 June 2022}} The trawler was powered by a triple expansion steam engine of 45 NHP and 225 IHP, made by David Rowan & Son, Glasgow, driving a single screw propeller and with a service speed of {{convert|10|kn|km/h}}.{{cite news |title=Ísafold: Fréttaljós úr Fortíð: Tjón og skaði við Keilisnes – Skipsstrand 1908 (Ísafold: news from the past – damage at Keilisnes – ships stranded 1908) |url=https://timarit.is/page/1742741?iabr=on&ui=embed#page/n30/mode/2up |access-date=4 June 2022 |work=Morgunblaðið |date=28 April 1991 |location=Reykjavík |page=31 |language=is}}
The trawler was launched on 9 September 1892,{{cite news |title=Launch of two steam trawlers today |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000472/18920909/068/0002 |access-date=5 June 2022 |work=The Greenock Telegraph |issue=9628 |date=9 September 1892 |page=2 |via=British Newspaper Archive}} completed the following month, then registered at Port Glasgow with official number 93937.
Fishing service
=Iceland=
Prior to the arrival of Coot there had attempts by various foreign-owned companies to run trawling fleets off Iceland but these had not proved commercially successful. An English fisherman from Devon, Mr. Pike Ward, registered the trawler Utopia in Iceland, but it was not a commercial success due to what might be termed "alcohol related human capital problems".{{cite web | url=http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/showthread.php?t=14767 | title=SEAGULL M4 – first Icelandic trawler |last1=Einarsson|first1=Gudmundur |publisher=Ship's Nostalgia | date=17 November 2007 | accessdate=27 August 2011}}
The Coot (GK 310) operated from Hafnarfjörður between 1905 and 1908. It was owned by Icelandic entrepreneurs who founded fishing business Fiskveiðihlutafélag Faxaflóa. It was driven by a steam engine and fished using a trawl.{{cite web | url=http://www.stampnews.com/stamps/stamps_2004/stamp_1166705913_395344.html | title=Iceland: The Trawler Coot | publisher=Stamp News International | date=13 March 2004 | accessdate=27 August 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160825201615/http://www.stampnews.com/stamps/stamps_2004/stamp_1166705913_395344.html | archive-date=25 August 2016 | url-status=dead }}{{cite web | url=http://www.melt.is/_opid/saga/old/19/island/timalinur/_valmynd/index_english.htm | title=Iceland Timeline: 1904 | publisher=The Road to Home Rule | accessdate=27 August 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722021827/http://www.melt.is/_opid/saga/old/19/island/timalinur/_valmynd/index_english.htm | archive-date=22 July 2011 | url-status=dead }}
Loss
On 14 December 1908, Coot sailed on a fishing trip, with another fishing vessel, Kópanes, in tow. In the evening, Kopanes damaged the propeller of Coot and both vessels drifted ashore on Vatnsleysuströnd at Keilisnes, about 5 miles west of Hafnarfjörður, becoming wrecks.
The ship's boiler is preserved in Hafnarfjörður, beside Reykjavíkurvegur, near the junction with Strandgata and Vesturgata.