110 Years Ago to the Day: Aground on Filey Brigg

22 December 1914

Despite the best efforts of the minesweepers, the continuing danger of the German minefield off Scarborough was soon made apparent. At 4am in the morning the Norwegian flagged cargo ship Boston, en route from Drammen to London with a cargo of wood, struck one, or possibly two mines, three miles east of Scarborough. The eighteen strong crew, comprising of fifteen Norwegians and three Russians, took to the ship’s lifeboats, nine were picked up and landed at Scarborough, while Captain Olsen, the second mate and six other crewmen were picked up by the Filey lifeboat, Hollon the Third. The Filey lifeboat was launched at 7.30am and rowed through what was described as, ‘a rough sea’ and strong north by north east wind. The survivors were transferred to the Filey lifeboat and two lifeboatmen rowed the Boston’s lifeboat to coble landing, Filey. By 12.30 they returned to Filey with eight crewmen on board from the Boston. The cook was the only crew member to suffer any injury. The eight survivors were accommodated at the Foords Hotel on Queen Street, Filey. The nine crew members landed at Scarborough caught the train to Filey where they were reunited with their ship mates. They viewed the Boston marooned on the rocks of Filey Brigg and then returned to the railway station where they travelled to Newcastle and finally by ship to Norway.

Whilst the rescue work was going on, the stricken 1,168 ton Boston drifted south before running aground on the Black Dinks rocks at Filey Brigg. The large ship made for a dramatic sight, marooned on the rocks with the waves crashing around her. The ship became an instant tourist attraction with locals and visitors flocking to the scene. Postcards were even produced. It was indeed a startling sight, where in the summer holidaymakers explored rock pools and anglers fished off the rocks, a huge ship now sat awaiting her fate.

A postcard of the Boston aground on Filey Brigg

Initially, it had been hoped to refloat the Boston, but a combination of the damage caused by the explosion of the mines and the running aground on the rocks of the Brigg, turned her into a total loss. She was dismantled on the Brigg, with the metal being reused in the war economy, whilst the salvageable goods were auctioned on 26 January 1915 at Crawford’s Curing Yard, West Road, Filey (today the site of Filey Gin Distillery). The remainder of the salvaged goods were sold at West Pier, Scarborough on the same afternoon. Among the items sold at Filey were the usual nautical detritus of ropes, lamps and fenders. But there was also a pram, nineteen cans of fish balls and a bucket of soft soap. The 104 lots raised a total of £139 2s, 3d. In the wake of the drama of the Boston there was even a spy scare in Filey. Apparently, a stranger to the town had aroused suspicions as he had been asking questions about Filey and its bay. When he was detained by the police, the discovery of a pair of field glasses and a revolver on his person seemed to substantiate rumours that he was an enemy agent. However, it transpired that he was a native of Leeds and was in Filey to attend the auction of salvaged goods from the wreck.

Cover of auction catalogue, inventory of goods from the Boston

The wreck of the Boston was broken up on Filey Brigg. Some remains do exist, they lie outside the Gully, between High Brigg and the foot of Carr Naze. A boiler just breaks the water at low tide at spring tides and there is some debris in the Gully itself. However, it is all very badly broken up.