The Viola: Rusting WWI trawler needs £3.5m to be rescued

The Viola is laid up at Grytviken, in South Georgia

A "significant philanthropist" is needed to fund the rescue of a World War One trawler in the South Atlantic, said the trust set up to save it.

The Viola is rusting on South Georgia 7,750 miles (12,500 km) away from its home port of Hull, East Yorkshire.

The Viola Trust said £3.5m was needed to rescue a vessel that had been on the "frontline of the Great War".

Paul Escreet, the trust's chairman, said it would be perfect for the vessel to come "down the Humber in 2018".

More stories from Yorkshire

If rescued, it is planned to berth the rare steam trawler as part of Hull's revamped maritime heritage, said Mr Escreet, who owns a maritime towing company.

"The rescue is going to be a tremendous story but we need a significant philanthropist", he said.

Mr Escreet hopes a rescue could coincide with the World War One centenary commemorations next year.

Rescue plans have been mooted for more than a decade and a survey of the ship was conducted in 2014.

The Viola and its Hull crew served as a submarine and mine hunter during World War One

After the 1914-18 war, the Viola was a whaler, seal-catcher and scientific support vessel but has since been rusting on South Georgia, a British overseas territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean.

In 1982 it was one of the vessels targeted by Argentine scrap metal merchants in the landing that sparked the Falklands War.

The Viola (also known as the Dias)

• Built in Beverley in 1906

• Thought to be the oldest surviving steam trawler

• Requisitioned by the Admiralty to sail to war from Hull in September 1914 with a crew of local fishermen

• Hunted U-boats and swept for mines

• After World War One was a seal-catcher and scientific support vessel

• In South Georgia since 1927

• Mothballed in the 1960s

The not-for-profit Viola Trust has appointed a professional fundraiser to try to raise the funding, said Mr Escreet.

"Without this vessel and its crew from Hull, the country's capacity to wage war would have been compromised. It was the backbone of our defence."

It sank two German U-boats and is one of only four vessels left that participated in World War One, he said.

"To be happy to let her rust on the beach - is that right?" he added.

The Viola - also known as the Dias - has been rusting in South Georgia for decades