Fishermen are a superstitious bunch, so what the hell they thought they were doing by naming one after a Shakespeare character who starts the play shipwrecked on a foreign shore is a mystery to me.

Any, for #ShakespearesBirthday, this thing here is (or was) the Viola:

Launched in 1906, and seen here in happier times, Viola was originally a steam trawler based in Hull. She didn't seem much of her own port though - Viola was worked hard and could be at sea for more than 300 days a year.

In 1914 Viola was requisitioned - like so many trawlers - for minesweeping and submarine hunting duties.

(this is here is stablemate "Cassio" - the owners went big on the Shakespeare theme)

Post-war Viola was bought, renamed, and converted for whaling by a Norwegian firm. Amongst the other changes a new bridge was constructed much further forward.

I'm assuming the defensive armament was also removed - unless someone had read Moby Dick and got really paranoid.

Viola, by this point known as Dias, later found her way to South Georgia, targeting seals. She also worked as a scientific support vessel, presumably working on important questions such as "how can we kill more stuff?"

The answer turned out to be that people were already disappointingly efficient at killing stuff. So efficient, in fact, that the whales were running out.

The South Georgia whaling industry disappeared, and Viola/Dias was left - like her namesake - shipwrecked on a foreign shore

As a historic ship in her own right, and a tangible link to the impact of the First World War, there's naturally some interest in preserving Viola. A fund has been set up to try and return her to Hull.

http://www.violatrawler.net/ 

For now though, Viola sits on the Grytviken strand waiting patiently for her fate, whatever that might be.

And lest anyone think that Viola is the least appropriate Shakespearean name for a vessel, let it be known I've found not one but two Ophelias.

And given how things ended for THAT character, I doubt I'll be rushing to sign up as crew...

(Apologies for the typos that I've only just noticed - the peril of trying to fit a whole thread into a lunchbreak. Shakespeare couldn't spell either though, so I guess it fits...)