Maritime Volunteer Mike Bartle recently visited Iceland to mark the anniversary of the loss of his ancestor at sea.
This is his story of a memorable visit:
My great grandfather Fred Bartle was Chief Engineer of the Steam Trawler Field Marshal Robertson (H104) lost in a great storm north west of Iceland on February 7 1925.
The vessel was lost without trace with all hands, six British crew and the 29 Icelandic fishing crew. An Icelandic trawler ‘Leifur Heppni’, with 30 Icelandic fishermen was lost in the same storm.
Despite long searches for the vessels over the next few weeks, no trace was ever found of the vessels.
Subsequently, the vessels owners of the Field Marshal Robertson, Hellyer Brothers of Hull commissioned a memorial plaque to the church in Hafnarfjordur.
As children, my brother Steve and I knew of the existence of the plaque, although we don’t seem to recall my grandfather or father talking about the disaster. Maybe it was too raw for my Grandfather, who was only 19 when his father was lost. My father wouldn’t have had the chance to see him as he was born 8 years after the loss.
In 2018, my brother in law and his wife were going on holiday to Iceland and I happened to mention the memorial to my grandfather’s vessel in Hafnarfjordur.
Luckily they had a spare day during the holiday and made their way to the church. As they approached the church, it seemed it was all closed up, but as they were about to turn away they heard the church organ start to play.
They managed to gain access to the church and attract the attention of the organist. It turned out he was the reserve organist and only by chance he had attended the church to practice. When they explained the reason for coming, he was only too happy for them to see the memorial and the church and take pictures.
Once they returned home and showed me the pictures, it sowed the seeds for my own visit. After talking to my brother, Steve, we thought it would be fitting to honour our great grandfather on the one hundredth anniversary of his loss.
March 2024 I made contact with the church about a visit for the anniversary and they forwarded my enquiry to Egill Pordarson, who being our point of contact for the planning and execution of our visit to Iceland.
We left Manchester on Wednesday 5 February and noted subsequent flights to Keflavik were being cancelled. A quick check revealed a big storm was expected later that day.
After a relatively smooth flight and landing at Keflavik we noted the arrivals screens only had two more flights arriving after us and then the authorities were closing the airport for 24 hours. Very lucky indeed, so somebody must having been looking after us. Iceland had been placed under a rare red storm warning.
Ironically, the fact that we can predict and prepare for such storms is something which wasn’t available to the fishermen of years gone by who were lost in great storms totally unprepared for them.
After settling in our hotel in Reykjavik we ventured outside to view the city and some of its sights in heavy rain and sleet.
The next day in better weather we again had a wander round before being picked up at the hotel by Magni, one of the volunteers onboard the coastguard vessel Odinn.
We were shown around the vessel by Magni and I have to say what a magnificent vessel she is. At 65 years of age and to be still seaworthy is a testament to all the hard work and expertise the volunteers must put into her.
After the tour we were given refreshments and the chance to chat to a lot of retired fishermen and others who reminisced about the bygone Cod wars between the gunboats and the British trawlers.
Egill then gave a short presentation about the vessel and then introduced us to Mr Agnar Jonsson. Agnar has been researching the loss of British ( and Faroese and French) trawlers. Agnar then presented us with two charts each detailing the position of 150 British trawlers lost in Icelandic waters.
An immense amount of research and we are very grateful for the gift. Since our arrival home, Steve had donated his charts to the Hull Fisherman’s Heritage Centre who will frame them and put them on display for the public to enjoy.
In the evening we ventured outside and had a very enjoyable meal of Icelandic cod and chips.
On our last full day, again we had a walk down to the harbour area for a final look around before being picked up at the hotel by Magni and driven to the church at Hafnafordur.
Inside we were introduced to the reverend Jonina and Thorvalur who conducted a short service for us before a congregation of about 40 people.
We were able to lay a floral tribute to our Great Grandfather and his shipmates. How we managed to get it from Hull and in relatively good condition, I will never know.
We were invited to light a candle in remembrance and I was given the opportunity to say a few words about what the visit meant to us a family, a little bit about the families seagoing tradition and then thank a few people who had made our trip to Iceland so memorable.
After the service we were approached by a member of the congregation who told me his great grandfather was also a member of the Icelandic crew who was lost on the Field Marshal Robertson so he was grateful our visit had given him the chance to remember him. I’m sure our forefathers would have been proud of what we had done.
We were then shown an exhibition which had been created by Egill and Thorvalur and displayed previously and resurrected for our visit, showing the disaster and subsequent search for the missing trawlers.
We were driven back to our hotel by another volunteer, Markus, who stopped off at the Seaman’s retirement home in Reykjavik to show us two models of Hull built trawlers which he has put on display. A really remarkable place to look after the elderly.
We flew home on Saturday, following snowploughs and gritters all the way to Keflavik.
A very enjoyable and emotional trip to Iceland and we thank all the people we met for the efforts they made on our behalf.
