What is recorded here
Christine Rose was a requisitioned steam drifter that ran aground on Knap Rock in Argyll on 10 September 1941. The national point and Royal Navy loss list agree on the vessel type, date and grounding, but the quick sources give no earlier fishing history, task, crew result or modern survey. The wreck is therefore a firm named wartime loss with an incomplete human and physical story, not a place to invent an enemy attack.
The vessel and voyage
Christine Rose was a steam drifter, a small vessel developed for drift-net fishing and later requisitioned by the Royal Navy. Such craft were used for patrol, boom, harbour and other local duties because they had experienced crews and could work close inshore. The saved record dates the loss to 1941 but does not give her builder, home fishing port, naval role, commanding officer, starting place or intended destination on the final movement.
How it was lost
The Royal Navy loss list says Christine Rose grounded on Knap Rock, Argyll, on 10 September 1941. No mine, aircraft, submarine or collision with another ship is recorded, so this was a navigation or sea-condition loss unless a fuller inquiry proves otherwise. The quick sources do not say whether darkness, weather, tide, mechanical failure or a mistaken course put her onto the rock. Grounding is firm; the chain that caused it remains unknown.
Deaths and survival
No death, injury, survivor or rescue total appears in the sources checked for this fast account. A grounding close to rock or shore often allowed escape, but that general pattern is not proof that everybody aboard Christine Rose survived. Equally, loss of the vessel does not prove death. The human result should be filled only from the naval casualty list, local lifeboat record or inquiry, rather than being inferred from the short word 'grounded'.
What remains
The national record gives an exact one-metre grid point for a steam-drifter wreck near Knap Rock. It does not describe the water depth, hull size, orientation, exposed boiler, engine, ribs or recovered fittings. A vessel stranded on rock could later break apart under waves or be salvaged, so the present condition cannot be assumed from the loss. The named map point is useful, but an underwater or shoreline survey is needed before promising recognisable remains.
Why it mattered
Christine Rose represents the many small fishing craft taken into naval work during the Second World War. Their loss records are often overshadowed by cruisers and destroyers even though local coastal duties depended on them. The grounding also reminds visitors that wartime danger included ordinary rock, weather and navigation as well as enemy weapons. Establishing the crew and rescue would connect this concise national entry back to the fishing community that supplied the vessel and people.
Sources for this account
- Trove Scotland, HMS Christine Rose record 322752
- Maritime Archaeology Sea Trust, Royal Navy loss list
Sources checked 2026-08-15.
Places near here
Photo credits
- Richard Webb, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Maker not stated on source page, www.getyourguide.com
- Alan Reid, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Dutyhog, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Alastair Muirhead, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Patrick Mackie, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Maker not stated on source page, commons.wikimedia.org
- E Gammie, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
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