Disaster

Built by Lady Bee Ltd. Of Shoreham, Sussex, ML 133 was 100 feet in length with a beam of 18 feet 3 inches; she was launched on 18th November 1940 and commissioned on 4th December 1940 and completed eight days later.   Early in the morning of 11th May 1943 a fire broke out on Motor Launch ML 133.  Local ferryman Archie McLean was a half a mile away but rushed to the scene as fast as his boat would carry him.  Once on scene Archie rescued some fourteen or fifteen men from the water.  Asking if there were any more on board, he was told that the coxswain was missing.  Deciding to make one last attempt to find the man, Archie steered his boat under the flames, right up to the stern of the burning launch.  At 08.25, while Archie’s boat was alongside the ML 133 blew up, splitting in two and killing its coxswain Chief Perry Officer Frank Hopkins, who was in the forward section of the boat.  The force of the explosion broke windows in Fort William and Corpach, Archie McLean and the fifteen people he had earlier rescued survived.  CPO Hopkins was later laid to rest in Glen Nevis. After the war Archie was awarded honorary membership of the Coastal Forces Veterans Association  and was proud to attend the association’s annual reunions held in the town thereafter.  The wreck of ML 133 can still be seen on the Camusnagaul shore at low water.