Burton upon Stather Heritage Group
The Sloop ‘Dora’
Introduction
Dora was a Humber Sloop of 53 tons, launched in 1891 at Wray & Son's yard in Burton Stather. She was registered at the port of Goole.
In 1922 she took part in the Barton Watermen's Regatta.
This was the first one to be held after it stopped for World War One.
Under captain J Codd she claimed third place in the Challenge Cup
race that year.
The End
Dora met her end on the 19th of September 1935. At the time she belonged to Joseph W Eastwood of Barmby on the Marsh and was captained by Herbert Rooke of the same place. She left South Ferriby that afternoon for Barmby after being loaded with more than 60 tons of chalk from the Ferriby quarry. Skipper Rooke was accompanied by mate William Hutton of Rowland Hall.
In the Humber the crew of two met with difficult conditions with a gale of wind blowing. The fore sail was blown away and control was lost, so they dropped the anchor, but it failed to get hold and the sloop continued to drift down river towards Hull with masses of water coming aboard all the time.
The two men had done all they could and were at the mercy of the elements with no control of the filling vessel as the tide carried them through the rough waters. So they launched Dora's cog boat and braved the waters in the tiny but more manageable vessel and made an arduous and perilous voyage back to Ferriby.
Two other sloops belonging to the same firm Brilliant Star
and Sunbeam
went to help.
Brilliant Star managed to get a rope onto Dora and took her in tow, but only pulled her out of the main channel on to Barton Sands where she foundered.
Vessel Details for Dora
Sources
- The Mercantile Navy Lists.
- Flying Sail - by Michael Ulyatt