CAPTAIN Murray Paterson recently featured a photograph of the coaster Ardgarvel in the Clyde Shipping Gazette.

Built in 1964, she was one of three vessels carrying the ‘Ard’ name constructed by James Lamont & Company, Port Glasgow, for Peter McCallum & Sons, Greenock.

The first was the Ardglen of 1952 and she was followed by the Ardgarry in 1957.

The Ardgarry was lost on Saturday 29 December 1962.

All 12 on board, including two Greenock men, perished. Their bodies were never found and the wreck itself was not discovered until 2006.

The Ardgarry left Swansea with a cargo of coal for Rouen in France on 28 December.

Weather conditions were appalling across much of the UK.

On 29 December a Dutch coaster reported seeing a vessel capsize and sink off Lizard Point.

The crew of the Lizard lifeboat Duke of Cornwall put their lives at risk in atrocious weather, spending 14 hours trying to find survivors.

The sinking could not be confirmed and while the Ardgarry did not reach Rouen on the Sunday, it was thought that she might be sheltering somewhere.

One suggestion was that she was the ship known to be sheltering in Bigbury Bay, near Plymouth, but it turned out to be another, smaller vessel.

The Telegraph of Thursday 3 January 1963, identified the missing Greenock men — acting chief engineer William Shumacher, 51, of 47 Brougham Street, and deck hand Hugh McQuillan, 23, of 7 Katrine Road.

The following day the paper reported that a lifeboat belonging to the Ardgarry was found by Coastgiards in the Scilly Isles, around 50 miles from where the coaster was last seen. It was empty.

On the Saturday, the Ardgarry was presumed lost and the Ministry of Transport started an inquiry into her mysterious disappearance.

Prior to her loading at Swansea, the Ardgarry arrived in Belfast from Canada on 21 December.

The crew were paid off and the master, Captain F M McLaren, of 3 Wood Street, Greenock, came home for two months leave.

In the Telegraph’s first story about the Ardgarry being missing, Captain McLaren expressed the hope that the vessel was sheltering, perhaps with her radio out of order.

He said: “She is a splendid ship.

“I have sailed her across the Atlantic a dozen times.

“We have sailed in the Arctic up in the Hudson Bay and Baffin Island area, where things can be very bad.” Captain McLaren was replaced by Captain E E Cooper, of Northern Ireland.

The sinking of the Ardgarry was a double tragedy for the Cooper family as the captain’s brother Maurice was the chief officer.

But for his act of kindness, William Shumacher would not have lost his life.

On Friday 4 January his sister Kitty Shumacher told the Telegraph her brother should have been home for Christmas but postponed his leave so that an English member of the crew could spend the festive period at home with his family.

She said: “Willie has been sea-going for about 30 years.

“He joined the Ardgarry three years ago after serving with Gem line, where he sailed with his brother-in-law. My brother had been in some pretty rough spots so far has the weather has been concerned during his sea career but he loved the sea and never complained.

“I simply cannot believe the Ardgarry has gone down. Willie always referred to her as a very sound ship.

“I keep hoping and praying the telephone will ring and someone will tell me that the Ardgarry is safe and that Willie is on his way home.” Earlier, it was revealed that in different circumstances, Hugh McQuillan might not have been on the Ardgarry when she went down.

His father William said: “My son liked the ship and the company so much that he decided to re-sign after paying off in Belfast after their arrival from Canada.” Former long-serving Lamont’s employee Harry Paul worked on the Ardglen, Ardgarry and Ardgarvel. He was on board all three during their trials. Harry said there was great sadness throughout the Port yard when it was finally accepted the Ardgarry had been lost with all hands.