Maritime record LWT 776 - Wreck of the Renown

1900 wreck of English lugger which foundered at the entrance to the Stanford Channel after a collision as she was returning with her herring catch from the North Sea to her home port of Lowestoft. Constructed of wood in 1896, she was a sailing vessel.
Status: Casualty

Vessel type specified as a ketch. Cargo stated as ballast [the default cargo in this source for fishing vessels.]

Vessel sank following collision with the steamship SARDINIA, of London, in wind conditions WSW force 3. (1)

"A collision, involving the loss of the Lowestoft lugger RENOWN and three lives, occurred just outside Newcombe Sand, off Lowestoft. It was daylight at the time, and the disaster was witnessed from the shore and piers. The lugger was making for Lowestoft with herrings, when the steamer SARDINIAN, of London, 600 tons register, came up under her lee and crashed into her. Lines were thrown from the steamer, but by this time the RENOWN had sunk. The steamer's boat was launched, and Charles Armes, skipper, Samuel Berick, and a seaman named Tunmore got into it, while Pearson, Meadows and Richard Armes saved themselves by clinging to the steamer's ropes, and were drawn on board. Three others, Charles Armes, a boy named Rumsby, and Richard Long, were sucked down by the sinking lugger and drowned. Samuel Berick had a narrow escape. He hung onto a rope for 15 minutes until exhausted, and thinking his rescue hopeless, made a desperate effort to swim to the lugger's upturned boat, which he fortunately succeeded in doing, and was eventually rescued by the steamer's boat. A Lowestoft tug hurried to the scene of the wreck and brought the swimmers to port." (2)

"The Lowestoft fishing-boat RENOWN, while making for Lowestoft yesterday monrning, and when about a mile off the port, collided with the steamer SARDINIAN, of London. The RENOWN was cut down to the water's edge and sank in five minutes. Three of the crew - Richard Long, Charles Armes, and Joseph Rumsby - were drowned, but six other men, who completed the crew, were saved...One of the survivors stated that the RENOWN was sailing for Lowestoft, with a good cargo of herrings, the result of two nights' work. When she was about a mile from shore, the steamer was seen coming along. It was then 8 o'clock and the weather was clear and bright. The crew of the RENOWN were all on deck...Seeing that the steamer did not alter her course, they shouted, but the SARDINIAN still kept on, apparently with the intention of crossing the RENOWN's bows. Instead of doing so, however, the SARDINIAN struck the fishing boat on the starboard bow, cutting her down. The water rushed in and all the crew were thrown into the water..." (3)

Built: 1896 (1)
Master: C Armes (1); Charles Armes (2)
Crew: 9 (1)(2)(3)
Crew Lost: 3 (1)(2)(3)
Owner: A S Gouldby, Kessingland, Suffolk (1)

Date of Loss Qualifier: Actual date of loss

Additional sources cited in Shipwreck Index of the British Isles:
BOT Wk Rtn 1900 Appx C Table 1 p145(793)