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Hms Goldfinch: Start Point, Sanday, Orkney, North Sea
Destroyer (20th Century)
Site Name Hms Goldfinch: Start Point, Sanday, Orkney, North Sea
Classification Destroyer (20th Century)
Alternative Name(s) Hms Goldfinch
Canmore ID 102159
Site Number HY74SE 8002
NGR HY 78160 44107
NGR Description HY c. 789 435
Datum WGS84 - Lat/Long
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/102159
- Council Orkney Islands
- Parish Maritime - Orkney
- Former Region Orkney Islands Area
- Former District Maritime
- Former County Not Applicable
HY74SE 8003 c. 789 435
N59 16.7 W2 22.2
NLO: Start Point [name: HY 789 435]
Sanday [name centred HY 67 40].
Location formerly entered as HY 7816 4410 [N59 17 W2 23].
Quality of fix = PA
Horizontal Datum = OGB
Circumstances of Loss Details
-----------------------------
The H Class Destroyer HMS GOLDFINCH ran ashore in dense fog.
Sources: Dictionary of Disasters at Sea, World War I Shipping Loses.
Surveying Details
-----------------------------
24 April 1952. The vessel was holed and stranded ashore at Start Point, Sanday, Orkney Islands.
Report taken from a signal, no. 68, dated 19 February 1915.
9 November 1976. The wreck was sold in 1919.
Report by Ministry of Defence - Navy Contracts.
7 August 1986. Remains are reported to lie just to the NW of Start Point.
Report by B Winfield, 26 July 1986.
Hydrographic Office, 1995.
(Classified as destroyer: date of loss cited as 19 February 1915). HMS Goldfinch: this vessel stranded at Start Point, Orkney.
Registration: London. Built 1910. 747 tons displacement. Length: 74m. Beam: 8m.
(Location of loss cited as N59 16.5 W2 22.5).
I G Whittaker 1998.
Length: 240 ft (73.2m)
Beam: 25ft 6ins (7.8m)
Displacement: 780 tons
Propulsion: turbines, 3 screws, 13,500hp; 27-30 kts
Guns: 2x4ins (102mm)
Torpedo tubes: 2x21ins (533mm)
Complement: 72
This destroyer of the 20-strong H ('Acorn') class was built by Fairfield (on the Clyde) in 1910. She was wrecked in fog on 19 February 1915.
The location of the stranding and of the remains of this vessel (if any still exist) is unclear. Start Point forms the termination of a prominent eastwards projection from the low-lying island of Sanday into the North Sea. The coast of this unnamed peninsula is rocky while the seabed shelves fairly gently to the N and S but falls rapidly into deep water to the E of Start Point.
Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 16 October 2002.
H M Le Fleming 1961; I G Whittaker 1998.
HO chart no. 1954 (1982, revised 1993).
Plans and photographs of this vessel are held in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.
(For online catalogue of negatives, see www.nmm.ac.uk/historicphotographs).
Information from Ms G Fabri (NMM), 7 November 2003.
Field Visit (1999)
The WWI H class destroyer HMS Goldfinch is variously reported to have run ashore in dense fog and to have been holed and stranded ashore. The latter report was taken from a signal, dated 19 Febuary 1915. The wreck was sold in 1919. Remains are reported to lie just to the northwest of Start Point. May be the same as SY10, unidentified wreck.
Moore & Wilson 1999.
Coastal Zone Assessment Survey, 1999
Reference (2011)
Whittaker ID : 282
Name : HMS GOLDFINCH
Latitude : 591630
Longitude : 22230
Date Built : 1910
Registration : LONDON
Type : DESTROYER
Tonnage : 747
Tonnage Code : D
Length : 74
Beam : 8
Draught : 3m
Position : Position Approximate
Loss Day : 19
Loss Month : 2
Loss Year : 1915
Comment : Stranded at Start Pt, Orkney
Reference (19 April 2012)
UKHO Identifier : 000487
Feature Class : Wreck
State : LIVE
Classification : Unclassified
Position (Lat/long) : 59.28333,-2.38333
Horizontal Datum : ORDNANCE SURVEY OF GREAT BRITAIN (1936)
WGS84 Position (Lat/long) : 59.28288,-2.38504
WGS84 Origin : 3-D Cartesian Shift (BW)
Previous Position : 59.28333,-2.41667
Position Quality : Unreliable
Depth Quality : Depth unknown
Water Depth : 10
Vertical Datum : Lowest Astronomical Tide
Name : HMS GOLDFINCH
Type : DESTROYER
Flag : BRITISH
Length : 75.3
Beam : 7.6
Draught : 2.7
Tonnage : 747
Tonnage Type : Displacement
Date Sunk : 19/02/1915
Contact Description : Entire wreck
Original Sensor : Reported Sinking
Original Detection Year : 1915
Original Source : Other
Circumstances of Loss : **AN H CLASS DESTROYER. BUILT IN 1910 BY FAIRFIELD CO, GLASGOW. STEAM TURBINES OF 13500 SHP, TWIN SHAFT. 2 X 4 INCH, 2 X 12 PDR AND 1 X 3 PDR GUNS. 2 TORPEDO TUBES. PASSAGE FROM SCAPA FLOW. RAN ASHORE IN DENSE FOG. SOLD TO SALVORS 4.1919. (SIBI).
Surveying Details : **DOCKET BD 71/52 24.4.52 VESSEL HOLED & STRANDED ASHORE AT START POINT, SANDAY, ORKNEY IS. (SIGNAL DTD 19.2.15).
**N/CP 56200/76 9.11.76 WK WAS SOLD IN 1919. (MIN OF DEFENCE - NAVY CONTRACTS).
**H1310/86/20 7.8.86 REMAINS REPORTED TO LIE JUST TO THE NW OF START POINT. (B WINFIELD, 26.7.86). POSN 591700N, 022300W FOR FILING ONLY.
POSITIONS BELOW THIS POINT ARE IN DEGREES, MINUTES AND DECIMALS OF A MINUTE
**HH091/137/01 6.11.09 NOT SIGHTED. UNABLE TO SURVEY IN SHALLOW WATER. (NETSURVEY, HI 1137). NCA.
Charting Comments : POSN FOR FILING ONLY
Date Last Amended : 06/04/2001
Date Position Last Amended : 21/08/1986
