Dana (1921)

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Dana II was a Danish research ship best known for the third Dana expedition, which circumnavigated the world from 1928 to 1930. It began life as a British Admiralty Mersey-class trawler named HMT John Quilliam, built in 1917. In 1921 Denmark bought the vessel and renamed it Dana II to avoid confusion with another Dana used in earlier expeditions. The ship was converted into a deep-sea research fishing trawler and continued Denmark’s work in ocean exploration, later being followed by Dana III in 1937.

Dana II measured about 42 meters in length and was powered by a 500 hp steam engine, allowing a speed of around 11 knots. It carried a crew of about 18 to 22 people.

On 22 June 1935, Dana II collided with the German fishing trawler Pickhuben in dense fog in the North Sea. All 22 crew aboard Dana II were saved, but the ship sank about ten minutes later. The crew directed Pickhuben to a nearby lightship, and a later inquiry blamed the Pickhuben navigator for driving too fast in the fog. The wreck was discovered in 2005 near Horns Reef off the Danish west coast.