Hello again,
Further to my last. I am still researching the North Sea Packet SS Vienna, impounded in Hamburg at the outbreak of war and later converted to the armed minelayer Meteor. I am trying to obtain photos of her in either guise as well as compile further history on her. My Grandfather was Quartermaster on board, when she was the Vienna, and was interned in Rhuleben prison camp for the duration of the war.

As the Meteor, she laid a field of 374 mines in the Moray Firth, off Banff, on Saturday, August 7th 1915, not all of which were removed. In all 280 were accounted for by that October. What became of the rest, I wonder? In 1917, on the 24th/25th of February, HMY Verona hit a mine, of Lossiemouth. I don’t know if it was a British or German mine, but she was lost with all hands. Could it be possible this was one of the un-swept mines, laid by the Meteor, which had perhaps broken loose? After so long in the sea, I suppose the moorings could have rusted and corroded through and the mine come free, to drift into the path of whatever came along.

It would be ironic if this were so, as my Grandfather’s brother, my grand uncle, was lost in this sinking. I have complete details of the Verona should anyone wish to have them.
Regards
Norrie Moir