South African Maritime Museum

The ship started her career as Ship No. 280 in Blyth shipyard when her keel was laid on 15 April 1941. She was engined by Messrs Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson Ltd., Tyneside. On 8 April 1942 she was commissioned as HMS Barcross, one of a series of 76 of this class of vessel built during the war.

Later in 1942 she sailed for South Africa under the command of Lt. V.Sutherland RNR and commenced duties in Saldanha Bay by laying and servicing boom defence equipment. On January 23 1943 the ship was renamed HMSAS Barcross and continued to serve under that name until 1947 when she was laid up in Durban.

In 1955 the ship was re-commissioned and renamed the SAS Somerset, after the famous horse that carried Lt. Dick King from Durban to Grahamstown in 1842. This connection is perpetuated in the ship's crest that has as its motif a seahorse.

Some noteworthy highlights of her career have been:
During 1946 and 1947 she was engaged in dumping ammunition off Cape Town and Port Elizabeth under the command of Lt. J.C. Walters, subsequently Chief of the Navy.When the HMSAS Skilpad, previously HMSAS Spindrift, sank at her moorings in Durban, SAS Somerset, assisted by SAS Fleur, successfully raised the vessel. In 1955 she salvaged the remains of two Harvard training aircraft following a mid-air collision over Table Bay. Six weeks later she recovered a third Harvard that had crashed into the sea off Bok Point. In 1959 she laid an oil pipeline at Mossel Bay which served the offshore oil terminal. In 1961 she salvaged the SA Railways & Harbour tug Schermbrucker which sank in East London harbour. In 1968 her services were called upon again to assist the cable ship John W. MacKay to raise and repair the newly inaugurated overseas telephone cable in shallow waters off Melkbosstrand. In 1969 she raised the Wagter II in Saldanha Bay and subsequently towed her back to Simon's Town. In the same year she salvaged a floating crane which had capsized and sunk in Port Elizabeth.

In the early hours of Friday 26 July 1974 she was despatched to Cape Agulhas to assist with the salvage of the Oriental Pioneer. Poor weather conditions and bad luck rendered this effort unsuccessful.

In 1981 the fishing trawler Aldebaran was successfully raised in Port Elizabeth harbour, having lain on the bottom for approximately two and half years.
Her more run-of-the-mill duties included renewal of heavy moorings, the recovery and laying of buoys and targets, deep sea diving training, torpedo recovery; she also acted as a stand-by vessel during submarine shallow water diving operations.

In 1983 the SAS Somerset assisted in salvaging a barge and two whale catchers at Salamander Bay, which were cut up and then dumped by the ship.

Also in 1983 the Ship assisted at Gansbaai's new fishing harbour laying 24 mooring blocks. The SAS Somerset was decommissioned on 31 March 1986.

On 24 May 1988 she was towed from Simon's Town to Table Bay harbour where she was repainted and refurbished.

The chief of the South African Navy, Vice-Admiral G. Syndercombe, officially handed her over to the South African Maritime Museum, a satellite of the South African Cultural History Museum, on 2 September 1988.

The SAS Somerset was manned by one officer and 37 men. The ship's overall length is 59 metres. The full load displacement is 960 tons. The ship is propelled by one main engine, known as a triple expansion reciprocating engine, which develops 850-horse power and is capable of propelling the ship at 11 knots. Steam is supplied to the main engine via 2 single- ended boilers, fed by furnace fuel oil at a rate of ½ ton per hour and feed water at 8 tons per day. Originally the ship was coal-fired and she only became oil-fired in 1959. In 1967 new boilers and a reconditioned engine were installed.

The Commanding Officers of the SAS Somerset were: