The Grey Seas Under

"The Grey Seas Under" is a non-fiction book by well known Canadian author Farley Mowat about the Atlantic Salvage Tug Foundation Franklin, operated by the firm Foundation Maritime in Canada's Maritime provinces from 1930 to 1948.

Foundation Franklin, (ex-HMS Frisky), was constructed by the John Lewis and Sons Shipbuilding at Aberdeen, Scotland. She was commissioned into service in 1919 and decommissioned and in 1924 sold to a German company as the S.S. Gustavo Ipland. Foundation Franklin was 156 feet long (overall), and had a 31 foot beam and 14 foot maximum navigational draft.

She displaced 700 tons once equipped for salvage duties (by Halifax Shipyards at Halifax, Nova Scotia) and was powered by a 1200 horsepower coal-fired, triple-expansion steam engine. Late in her career she was converted to fuel oil. Franklin made her last voyage in January 1948 while attempting to rescue the Motor Ship Arosa. Suffering severe damage, the thirty year old Franklin limped home, arriving at Halifax on February 5, 1948. The tow of Arosa was completed by another Foundation salvage vessel, Foundation Josephine

Foundation Franklin was scrapped in 1949-1950.

"The Grey Seas Under" is one of the few nonfiction books to detail the adventures of a salvage tug and its crews.

The Foundation Franklin rescued hundreds of vessels during her 18 years of service with Foundation Maritime.

Dozens of those rescues are detailed in "The Grey Seas Under".

The book was first published in 1958 and is still in print (ISBN 1-58574-240-6).

External links

* [http://www.hazegray.org/navhist/canada/fm/] Pictures of Foundation Franklin and other Foundation Maritime vessels at Haze Grey and Underway