Hms Braconburn

Braconburn was a steel steam trawler, formerly the Aberdeen fishing vessel A768, of about 203 gross tons. The Admiralty bought her in 1944 for use as a blockship, an old vessel intended to be sunk deliberately to close or protect a harbour passage. On 30 July she was on passage towards Scapa Flow before that planned use could take place. The trip turned a working fishing vessel into part of the Royal Navy's northern harbour defence preparations.

Near Bell Rock, Braconburn collided with the much larger Liberty cargo ship Le Baron Russell Briggs and sank on 30 July 1944. The casualty return places the loss close to 56 degrees 33 minutes north and 2 degrees 8 minutes west, which broadly fits the saved Angus offshore point. She therefore never became a deliberately placed blockship. The collision, not enemy attack or intentional sinking, ended the voyage while she was being taken to her intended station.

Six members of Braconburn's company died in the collision. The quickly checked sources do not give their names, the total number aboard or a full rescue account, so a survivor total is not added. The deaths show that moving an old vessel to become a harbour obstruction was still an active sea voyage with ordinary collision risks. A crew and casualty-list check would be needed to restore every person rather than leaving the loss as a bare number.

The national record gives a precise mapped point for a steam-trawler wreck, and an offshore survey report describes a possible HMT Braconburn target in the same general area. It does not cite a bell, builder's plate or numbered fitting that proves the name. The vessel's small steel hull may be broken or partly buried after eighty years. The point is a good match to the reported collision area, but the physical identification should remain qualified until a diagnostic find is recorded.

Braconburn connects Aberdeen fishing, Royal Navy wartime purchase, Scapa Flow's defences and the mass-produced Liberty ships supplying the Allies. Her loss shows that not every wartime naval wreck was caused by a mine, aircraft or submarine: crowded routes and difficult towing or passage work could be fatal too. The six deaths also prevent the planned blockship role from becoming a dry technical footnote. People died before the vessel ever reached the place where she was meant to be sunk.