Among the rocks beneath Speeton cliffs lies a rusting ship’s boiler. It marks the last resting place of the Hull trawler the Diamond. She was ran aground in thick fog in the wee hours of 9 January 1912.

The Diamond, a modern steam trawler, had been fishing on the East Fladen grounds, roughly 100 miles north east of Aberdeen, and was returning to Hull with a hold full of fish. There was a heavy sea running and a thick fog enveloped the coastline. A navigation error saw the Diamond run onto the rocks in almost zero visibility.

The Diamond’s distress calls were heard by William Hodgson of Bempton. With the tide running out he saw the Diamond’s crew beginning to man their lifeboat. He called out to them, warning of the danger of the submerged rocks that would have ripped their small boat to pieces. Fortunately, out of the gloom two fishing cobles, the Elizabeth and the Mabel from Flamborough appeared, they had also heard the Diamond’s distress calls. They took the Diamond’s crew on board and put them ashore at North Landing. The crew was taken to the North Star Hotel where they enjoyed a welcome meal thanks to Mr L. M. Bailey, the local representative of the Shipwrecked Mariners Society.

At Filey the Diamond’s distress signals had also been heard. The lifeboat was launched, but when they arrived at the Diamond they found a deserted trawler as the crew were already safely aboard the Flamborough cobles. Although firmly aground, the Diamond was not seriously damaged, so there was hope that she could have been re-floated on the high tide. It proved to be impossible and the Diamond was broken up on the shore. Her stern-post and boiler are still visible at low tide among the rocks.

The Diamond marooned on Speeton Sands

Images of the Diamond can be found on the Filey Bay Research Group’s website. They also state that the Engineer of the Diamond lived in Filey, but he was on leave at the time of the grounding. He was said to have been woke by cries of ‘she’s come for you Billy!’