SS Vina
The Steamship Vina was built in 1894 in Leith, Scotland by Ramage and Ferguson for JT Salveston & Co. of Grangemouth.
Tonnage: 1021
Dimmensions: 66.8 x 9.8 x 4.3m
Material: steel
Engine: 1 x 3 triple expansion stream engine with a single bronze propellor
Power: 99 h.p.
Speed: 9 knots
The SS Vina spent most of her life up until the Second World War working the Baltic trade routes.
Naval blockade ship
In 1940, as part of the war effort, she was requisitioned as a naval vessel under the command of Captain Pickering and brought to the port of Great Yarmouth with the plan to act as a blockage ship. This involved the hull of the vessel to be filled with concrete and wired with explosives and in the event of a naval invasion by the enermy forces she would be sunk preventing entrance to the port.This never happened and in 1943 the SS Vina was towed and anchored off the coast at Brancaster.
RAF Target Practise
In 1944 the SS Vina was purchased by the Ministry of War to be used as a target practice for RAF planes testing out new shells and was anchored further offshore. She was dragged from her postion in a North-Westerly gale to a sand bank in the entrance to Brancaster Staithe Harbour where, full of shell holes she subsequently sank, and has remained there ever since.