The Beam Trawler ‘’Jutland’‘

Thank goodness for the Queens County Museum and its Director Linda Rafuse, and staff, for digging through the museum records, and finding a short piece I had written in May, 1957, and here it is: ‘Liverpool, an old seafaring town, boasts of one of the most unique monuments in Canada.’ “Fronting the old Liverpool Burying Grounds on Main Street, nestled among tablets dating as far back as 1777 stands a unique monument to many of her sailor sons. A pair of crossed anchors guards a marble tablet bearing the inscription ’God’s Mercy-Our Hope.’ This was in memory of the crew of the beam trawler Jutland that sank at sea, March 11th, 1920. The crossed anchors were recovered from the fishing banks on Jutland’s previous trip and placed as a symbol of hope that their souls were resting in eternal peace. “The anchors and tablet were placed on an existing boulder, with one fluke of each anchor buried in concrete. “The anchors were harvested by the trawler Jutland on the trip next to her last in 1920. Oddly enough, it was decreed that they were to be the gravestones for a crew never heard of again. It will forever remain a mystery whether the Jutland struck a floating mine or an unheralded storm took her to the bottom. “Whatever her fate, it remained for F.O.L. Patch, one of Liverpool’s most respected citizens, and builder of Chestnut Hall, one of Liverpool’s finest homes, (located on the site of the old Main Street liquor store) to grasp the significance between the loss of the Jutland with all her crew and her strange prize from the ocean bottom. “Mr. Patch, a veteran of the Royal Navy, the thoughts of ships and sailors were always with him. He contacted the owners of the Jutland, and they gladly donated the anchors. Under his guidance donations were received from far and near; from relatives of those who lost their lives on the ship, and from those who just wanted to convey their sympathy.”

Almost over night the monument took shape and it stands there today and for years to come, a fitting remembrance to those fearless seamen who perished on the beam trawler Jutland.

The monument was cared for, while she was alive, by Mrs. T.E.D. Watson, the daughter of Captain Patch, the monument’s creator.