Orkney Image Library

I never remember her looking other than this in my time.
Do you Allan ?

Yes stewart, I mind her when she had a smart coat of grey paint, and a water line she went ashore the night the george robb was lost, went ashore between the piers at lyness landed on top o the slip way. They took her away for repair and a tidy up. They did paint her once or twice but the plates were very thin by then and she was rough lookin I think in the end the boilers were hadit-----------allan

Not much fun for the guys that had to stay on that boat!

When i worked on the Elwick Bay (early 70s) we went alongside the Barneath one time and bunkered her with steam coal.I cant seem to remember where we load the coal but i recall it was mostly very large lumps. Round scuttles were opened on the deck which the crane man emptied his grab over and the coal fell through.

In the 60s local songs were made up, there was one with a couple of verses about the BARNEATH,

Nundy lives at Rinigill pier he works wae the salvage gear
amang wrecks o the battleships he is a dedicated man
Chorus
Frigates Destroyers the bounty lies beneath weel lift them
up fae the bottom wae the owld Barneath,
and Ray will take the p*** and Nundy he will sniff
and weel make him a welthy man

Ray commands the motorboat she was the safest one afloat
until the Watchfull, cut her doon noo she lies in Fara soond
Chorus

Regarding the BARNEATH aground at the west pier. I was aboard manning the pump
to keep the engine room dry until a concrete patch was put in place. She was refloated using a TIRFOR hand operated pulling device secured to the west pier.

Beryl,
hid wisna much fun for them the night I got me revenge on them. The crew were mostly aal young fullas and the divers used to pinch me peedie flattie and anchor hid in the middle o the bay which was a bit o a nuisance so wan night when the tide was low an I kent they wir aal aboard I slipped doon the pier an got the bigges shackle I could find an let hid rip I didna wait aroond to long but by the time I got to the top o the pier I could hear the howls following me, funny they never tamperred wae me flattie again.

I was on the tug Kestrel for this tow. We arrived in Lyness on Abeautiful sunny day. When we left it was snowing as far south as Wick then the sun cameout. Munro Fraser was captain and we towed the Barneath to the breakers in Inverkeithing

In late 1938 or early 1939,my father ,James Norquay, got a job on board a brand new "boom" boat called HMS Barfield. A civvy crew with navy officers. Their first job was to lay boom nets from Hoxa to Stanger Head. They often stayed at Lyness pier. Also she was painted white with buff coloured funnel. She ended up i think at Greenock,Glasgow.