HMS Pincher (1910)

HMS Pincher was a coal-fired Beagle-class destroyer of the Royal Navy built by William Denny and Brothers and launched on 15 March 1910.

Pincher spent the early part of the First World War in a local defence flotilla operating out of Portsmouth, but by June, 1915 had joined the 5th Destroyer Flotilla in the Aegean Sea, operating with them until December, 1917.

In January 1918, she was moved to the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla, operating for a half year with the Northern Division of the Coast of Ireland Station.

On 15 May 1918, Pincher was reassigned to the 4th Destroyer Flotilla at Devonport.

On 24 July 1918, whilst escorting the Standard Tanker War Hostage from Devonport through the Western Approaches with HMS Scorpion (1910), Pincher took a course that brought her dangerously close to Seven Stones Reef (the reef that would claim the supertanker Torrey Canyon in 1967). Errors in navigation due to the fog compounded the error and Pincher struck the reef at high speed. The impact tore open her hull and she sank at 03:33. After the accident, her commander — Lieutenant Patrick W.R. Weir — was subjected to a court-martial, at which he was sentenced to be reprimanded for steering an unsafe course.