TL Devlin's Trawlers

T L Devlin's Trawlers

and the Liner, 'Grace'

1880s

From a small beginning in the 1880s, Thomas Leishman Devlin's fleet went on to become the largest private fleet of steam trawlers in Britain.

T L Devlin did not acquire his first trawler until 1890. His first vessel was a liner, named 'Grace'.

John Stevenson, Edinburgh, writes:

'Grace'

1884

Construction

"GRACE was a wooden 'steam fishing vessel' , described as a 'liner', i.e. using lines with baited hooks as opposed to the later 'trawl nets'.

She was built in 1884 at Hawthorn's, a small shipyard near West Pier, Granton, then towed to Leith to have her engine fitted.

She was then registered at Leith (Fishing No LH1133). This was the only vessel that any of the Devlin family registered at Leith. All subsequent Devlin trawlers were registered at Granton.

Ownership

"GRACE was then registered at Leith to Thomas Devlin (b.1854) on 12 September, 1884.

All vessels have 64 shares, to enable their ownership and profits to be shared. On 22 September, 1884, 45 shares in GRACE were transferred:

- 19 to Elizabeth Mossman Darney (T L Devlin's mother-in-law)

- 13 to John Darney, spirit merchant, Newhaven.

- 13 to N M Dowie, St Monans, Fife.

These may have been the people who supplied the finance to enable T L Devlin to acquire his first vessel.

In 1889, GRACE was sold by T L Devlin to a trawler owner in North Shiles."

Thank you to John Stevenson for providing the details above