EIGAMOIYA - Yard No 504 Update

There is now a correction on the pages about the MV EIGAMOIYA from someone who was activley involved in the dealings with the Nauru people and Government at the time. And in the interests of historical accuracy we are always happy to hear from people with first hand knowledge of events and only to willing to change things should they be found to be not quite accurate.

AGUARAY Update

We also have an update about the MV AGUARAY from our contacts in South America
She was built at the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb in 1928 as Ship No 112 and information shows that she was still around in 1986 although it is not known what happened to her after this time.

HMS CARDIGAN BAY Update

HMS CARDIGAN BAY seen in this postcard sent in by the Daughter of Stoker "Jack Parle"

Who served on her for three and a half years, she was of course built at the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb during the dark days of World War Two as Ship No 348 being the first of Three Bay Class Frigates built and launched from the yard. More about HMS CARDIGAN BAY here.

May we also take this opportunity to wish all our readers a very good New Year for 2013

Ship Photo's

We have been busy updating the ships photo pages and there are now many more great photographs of ships old and some right up to date.
So if you are interested or if you have some ships photograph's that you may want to have shown on the Leith Shipyards website then just make contact through the website and we shall feature them on the ever growing ships photo library.

Photographs such as this one of the classic old ZEALANDIA from the Late Don Ross Collection.

BAE Systems boss says shipyard may close

One of BAE Systems' major shipyards could be closed, the company's UK chief executive Nigel Whitehead has said.

He told the Sunday Telegraph a decision would be made by the end of the year.

The firm was working with ministers to explore all options for maintaining the UK's shipbuilding capability, he said.

The future of its three main shipyards - in Portsmouth, and Govan and Scotstoun on the River Clyde - after two new aircraft carriers are completed has been in doubt for some time.

There are fears there will be insufficient work available to keep all three busy and profitable as cuts in defence spending take their toll.

"The issue is how to consolidate... but make sure that we've preserved the capability to design and manufacture complex warships," Mr Whitehead told the newspaper.

"We anticipate that there will be a reduction in footprint and we anticipate... that part of that might actually be the cessation of manufacturing at one of the sites."

Earlier this year the company appointed consultants to carry out a review of the business. The firm's yard in Portsmouth is widely believed to be the most vulnerable, with 1,500 jobs at risk.

However, two bases on the River Clyde, at Govan and Scotstoun (The old Yarrow shipyard) are also under scrutiny.

BAE Systems says it is working closely with the government to explore all options for maintaining the UK's shipbuilding capability.

The Ministry of Defence says that it is up to the company itself to decide how best to deliver the naval vessels

For more on the story see BBC Scotland website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20483438

While the above news is not new to the shipbuilders involved what is pretty new is being regarded as “A Footprint” you just have to love the buzzwords being used today, the British Isle’s losing yet another hard pressed shipyard, is it any wonder that the last two ships ordered by the U.K. Government went to a yard in Korea, this was for the build of two new fleet oil tankers for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary a job that was only tendered by one of the remaining shipyards in Britain and even they dropped out of the running as they felt they did not have the required expertise anymore to build such a vessel,

along with another less well publicised ship to be built that being a research ship for work in the Antarctic by the National Environmental Research Centre.

All in all a pretty damming indictment on a country that just gives up on it’s skills base because the bean counters run it all now.

This ship is being built in Northern Spain and is due to be launched next autumn.

A ship to do the same work as the RSS BRANSFIELD which was built at the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb in 1970

Nothing against the shipbuilders of Northern Spain they have been building ships for many years but why is this work not being done in a British yard and helping to secure the future of the skills required to build ships of this type, a question that has been asked of successive governments since the demise of the fiasco which was British Shipbuilders in the 1980’s.

A picture above of the RSS BRANSFIELD at work in Antarctica (Photo by G.Hart)

doing the type of work that the new ship will also be doing the one that is just now being built in Northern Spain.

Lest we forget!

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Replica of HMS BOUNTY sinks

The replica HMS BOUNTY in happier times at the Tall Ships in Halifax 2012
(Photo from the Loftsman Collection)

The sad loss of the replica HMS BOUNTY and two of her crew including her Captain
(Photo credit unknown but probably by the U.S.Coastgaurd)

It was sad to see the loss of a fine old replica ship the past week and even sadder to see that two life’s were lost along with the old vessel going down in the surrounds of the huge storm that hit the Eastern Seaboard of The United States given the name Sandy.

This replica which was built for the movie that had Marlon Brando in it called “Mutiny on the Bounty” was built in Nova Scotia around 50 years ago.

Deck Boy on the MV KAWATIRI

MV KAWATIRI Ship No 399 (Photo credit unknown)

We have a story sent in to the website from Gary King about his time as a Deck Boy on the USSCo vessel KAWATIRI Ship No 399

Along with some photographs as well

You can read more of this story on the ship pages of the KAWATIRI on the website

ARCADIAN Ship No 473- A Whale of a Tale

MV ARCADIAN Ship No 473

A truly amazing story has come to light regarding a voyage by the ARCADIAN in June 1965 across the stormy North Atlantic from Canada to the U.K.

She had a very valuable deck cargo in the form of four live very rare Beluga Whales that had been caught by fishermen in the St Lawrence and were wanted by Cleethorpes Zoo in England.

There was a sad end to this voyage as only one of the precious cargo survived.

The female Beluga that survived was soon to die in captivity a couple of months later at  the Marine Land Zoo in England.

 

Now a request for help has came into the Leithshipyards website from the Aquarium of Quebec in Canada looking for information on this voyage.

A Beluga Whale of the type that they tried to ship on the MV ARCADIAN in 1965

The rare whale is on the endangered species list.

We shall soon have some new information about this amazing voyage.

SOUTH STEYNE on the Australian Register of Historic Vessels

An indication of the historical importance that Australians place on the SOUTHSTEYNE is shown by the fact that she is now on the Australian Register of Historic Vessels and this should also means that she will be kept up to a good standard of condition and maintenance which should mean that this fine old ship will be around for a lot longer yet.

SS SOUTH STEYNE at her berth in Sydney Australia

The photograph above is from the curator of the Historical Ships Register in Australia, a country that values it’s maritime heritage as the only means of getting there prior to around 50 years ago was by ship of course.

For more information visit the Australian Register of Historic Vessels

New Zealand Cement Carriers-update

GOLDEN BAY departing Wellington, New Zealand
(Photograph is courtesy of the Fletcher challenge Trust Archive)

The Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb were to build a total of three Cement Carriers for work in New Zealand and these highly specialised ships were a common sight around the caost of New Zealand for many years.

A fourth ship was also built for New Zealand although this ship was built at the Dundee yard of what was then know as Robb Caledon following the takeover of the old Dundee yard by Henry Robb shipbuilders in 1968

All were to work for the Golden Bay cement company which was eventually taken over by Fletcher Challenge

One of the ships engineers Tony Skilton who sailed on all four of the vessels has been helping the archivists at Fletcher Challenge Trust to identify some of the many photographs which have been uncovered and with the kind help of Dorothy there at the trust they have found many old photographs of the three vessels built at the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb

The original GOLDEN BAY Ship No 430 built and launched in 1953

The JOHN WILSON Ship No 478 built and launched in 1961 and

The Diesel Electric Vessel LIGAR BAY Ship No 488 built and launched in 1964

The Leith Shipyards website is pleased to be able to show the new photographs found and would like to thank Engineer Tony Skilton and the staff at the Fletcher Challenge Trust Archives (in particular Dorothy) for there time and help and of course for the permission to show them on the Leith Shipyards website.

Rescue from the Sea



Rescue of the crew of the MV INSISTANCE in 1993 (Reg M Collection)


Just as a wee reminder as if any was needed that a life at sea has it's own inbuilt perils in the form of Mother Nature and it is testiment to the bravery of the men who go down to the sea to rescue such unfortunate ships which may happen to run aground around the goast of the British Isles even more in the news right now as the incumbent british Government is trying to run down the amount of cover in place around the coast citing cost as a viable reason to put life in danger.

The MV INSISTANCE
The Motor Vessel INSISTANCE was built in 1975 at 475 grt she was owned by Crescent shipping of Rochester Kent, England
She sailed from the Tyne on Wednesday 15th Septewmber 1993 bound for Rotterdam, in ballast and with a heavy sea running with storm force winds she turned South and suffered an engine breakdown.
The small coaster was driven ashore on the Herd Sands at South Sheilds and the three man crew was rescued by a Sea King helicoptor of the Royal Air Force rescue on the 16th September 1993.
The vessel was refloated on Friday 17th September at 1700 hours with the assistance of the Tyne tug "Flying Spindrift" which floated a polyprop tow line to the vessel and with the aid of the incoming tide.
On refloating the ship was taken into the Tyne for survey at Tyne Dock Engineering Ltd



   

BALDER LEITH update

BALDER LEITH Ship No 532 is Launched at the Leith Shipyards of Robb Caledon 1983

We now have some more photographs of the oil supply ship BALDER LEITH Ship No 532 built and launched from the Leith Shipyards of Robb Caledon (Henry Robbs) in 1983, the photographs are part of a collection from shipwright Barry Booth and now on the Leith Shipyards website.
We are also delighted to be selected to show another fine collection of photographs on the website from another ex shipyard worker this time from the shipbuilding powerhouse that was Englands North East Reg Mordecai has entrusted the Leith Shipyards website to feature his fine collection of Sunderland built ships (1963-1989) from the shipyards of Austin and Pickersgills, Doxford, Shorts, Sir James Laing, Joseph L Thompson and Bartram and Sons.

A ship on the stocks at Sunderland from the Reg M Collection

MV KOONYA update

The MV KOONYA on route in the Bass Strait on the way to Burnie in this photograph sent in by Mike Gostt and shown her by permission.



We have some fine photographs of another Union Steam Ship Co of New Zealand ship built in the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb as Ship No 461 She was a sister ship to the MV KUMALLA Ship No 456

MV POOLTA maiden voyage out to Australia

A great tale told by a guy who sailed as “Peggy” on the maiden voyage of MV POOLTA Ship No 465 out to Australia on a ship which turned out to be the last ship built at the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb for one of the yards best customers the Union Steam Ship Co of New Zealand.


It’s a great story of how he survived as a young teenager the mad lunges of a drunken ship’s cook who was intent on carving out his liver at the time with a sharp blade.

So if you want to know what or who was a “Peggy” on the ship then read the story on the site as told by Rodney Giddens who also contributed a great photograph of MV POOLTA arriving in Sydney Harbour all flags while sailing under the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Henry Robb Shipyard photographs

A photograph of the TRINITY HOUSE Flagship PATRICIA fitting out at Henry Robb Shipyard, taken from the dockside crane by Barry Booth Shipwright



 We are indebted to the ex Henry Robb shipwright Barry Booth for allowing us to show a great collection of photographs taken at the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb while working there first as an apprentice shipwright then journeyman.


The photographs will start to appear on the website over the next few weeks so keep checking back to see what’s on the site.

There are many more photographs of various ships old and new in the ship photo library on the website which continues to grow thanks to the many contributors who are now sending in some great photographs of ships to be shown.

This is the part of the website which can only grow and get better with your help so we stress again if you have any ship photographs which you would like to share with the world then please contact the website and they will be shown on the ship photograph pages.

To the many who have contributed up to now we say thanks for your time and interest, and the website continues to receive more and more visitors with according to Google more than 60,000 visits and not yet 2 years old.

M/V UNDERWOOD Ship No 291 New Book on her Sinking

There is now a new book that has been written by Dave Betts about the sinking of the M/V UNDERWOOD she was attacked by German E-Boats in a daring attack which had Further tragic consequences in the build up to D-Day when American troops exercising of the South West Coast of England suffered some tragic losses which were attributed to the threat of E-Boat attacks by the fast and deadly boats.


15 crew and 3 passengers were lost in the attack on the M/V UNDERWOOD which had been built at the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb for the shipping company of France Fenwick, she was in fact still on the stocks at the outbreak of World War II on 3rd September 1939 and her build was completed during the early days of the war.

The author's Grand Father was a (DEMS) gunner on board her and the book can be found at http://bettsbooks.co.uk/   let him know that you heard about the book here.

Update on PORT TUDY

We have some news on the website about the small tanker PORT TUDY Ship No 506 and she could still be around having last been seen in the waters of Nigeria.
Now under the name of OCEAN CHALLENGER "Has anyone seen this ship recently"

We hope that someone out there will be able to shed some light on what has become of this old Leith Shipyards built ship, she was the first ship to be built at Henry Robb shipyards using the what was then the new European Metric System.

Review of the Boat Factory Play

Seems like the play at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival has been quite a hit going by the review sent to the Leith Built Ships Blog.

See "The Boat Factory"

The Boat Factory at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

The Boat Factory by Dan Gordon

HILL STREET THEATRE, EDINBURGH (VENUE 41)

2-26 AUGUST 2012 (NOT 14) AT 6.30PM - 1HR 20MINS

BOX OFFICE: WWW.EDFRINGE.COM

TEL: 0131 226 0000 / TICKETS £9-£13 (PREVIEWS 2+3 AUG £5)

 

A play about the life and times of the men at the famous Harland & Wollf Shipyard in Belfast

 

As sent to me and now endorsed by the Leithshipyards website

 

As someone who keenly preserves our shipbuilding heritage, I thought you might be interested in hearing about a play that we are bringing from Belfast to Hill Street Theatre at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August which celebrates the people, history and achievements of Belfast's Harland & Wolff shipyard - our tribute to a proud maritime heritage which I know is shared by Scotland. The play was written by Dan Gordon whose grandfather was a labourer who came from the shipyards on the Clyde to the shipyards of Belfast. Dan spent years researching the subject matter, talking to many shipyard workers and their families. He gathered material from interviews, anecdotal evidence, and historical research to recreate the background against which 1700 ships were built by Harland and Wolff Shipyards. He also drew extensively on his own close personal knowledge of the subject matter through his own family history. His father served his time as an apprentice Joiner in the Belfast Shipyard in the early 1950s, alongside his five brothers and the husbands of his two sisters, and worked on the last great liner they ever built - The Canberra. Set in 1947, the play follows the life of a young apprentice and is a poignant and humorous tale of friendship, pride, skill, nobility and, above all, heart.

As Dan says on writing the play: “I’ve lived in the shadow of those big yellow cranes all my life and I wanted to tell their story because they are so much a part of me and our collective heritage. Harland & Wolff  built Titanic, the greatest ship in history, but there is a great deal more to the achievements of the thousands of Yardmen. They built over 1700 ships with pride and skill unmatched anywhere else in the world, and we need to celebrate that. Every house in the East had a poker for the fire or a fire screen made in the Shipyard – every house had someone or a relative who worked there – by the age of four, I’d seen 5 ships launched – all across the East we could hear the morning Siren when it was time to change shift. My Father’s tales of the men he worked with and the ships they built were legendary – from craftsmen to wee crafty men he knew and worked alongside them – their nicknames – their personalities – their disagreements and their triumphs – I want to tell their stories as he told them to me.”



Dan performs in the play with fellow actor Michael Condron. Together they chart the history of the men who worked in the yard, conjuring up a host of colourful characters from the glory days of the shipbuilding era when, at the height of production, nearly 35,000 men worked on the 300 acre site complete with power station, docks, machine shops, engine works and saw mills. The Boat Factory has steadily grown in stature from its humble beginnings in the Westbourne Community Presbyterian Church (the shipyard church in east Belfast), travelling right across Northern Ireland to the very heart of our community, playing in prisons, orange halls, parish halls, schools, and Belfast City Hall. It went on to play to packed houses in the Barnett Room of the Belfast Harbour Office during the 2011 Belfast Festival at Queen’s and it was the headline production in the opening of Titanic Belfast, Northern Ireland’s newest visitor attraction.



We have been particulary delighted and moved by the response of former shipyard workers - these are just some of the many comments we have received:

"Saw `The Boat Factory` at Titanic Belfast last night. Just wonderful! Two men and a bit of scaffolding - had me completely entranced for two hours. What a fabulous bit of writing and performing. They made an inventory of the contents of a toolbox sound like a Shakespearean sonnet. I think you can take it that I really enjoyed it! Congratulations to Dan Gordon and Michael Condron"

“A skilfully crafted production, wholly befitting of the Belfast Men it celebrates. I marvelled, laughed out loud and cried sore - it quare took it out of me! The show left with me a new sense of pride about being born in Belfast and having grown up in the shadow of The Yard. Well done to all. Good on ye!”

“I was privileged to be at Westbourne Presbyterian to see the opening performance of The Boat Factory. It drew me in like a child listening to an incredible bed time story. Thank you Dan for opening up your heart and your talent to other people’s memories and for allowing me, for a brief moment in time, to work along side the east Belfast men and boys in the boat factory.”

“For an evening's entertainment "The Boat Factory" would be hard to beat. It was beautifully executed, fast, clever, funny and thought provoking- what more could you ask for? Brilliant!”

“A very moving and fitting tribute to all who have worked or been associated with H & W shipyard. We need to preserve this rich heritage and folk memory and I feel that last night's performance will go a long way to achieving that aim.”

“I don’t normally write appreciation letters when I attend a play I just wanted you to know how much I enjoyed it. It was very moving and a fitting tribute to all who have worked or been associated with H & W shipyard. My grandfather was a labourer and my father an Electric Welder until he became a foreman. My grandmother scraped the money together to pay for his apprenticeship. Last night's play has given me some insight into the sacrifice he made for me.”



http://www.happenstancetheatrecompany.co.uk/
www.facebook.com/TheBoatFactory@Boat_Factory

SS EXPLORER-Restoration Project

The SS EXPLORER

The SS EXPLORER is one of the last examples of a bygone era in shipbuilding and she is now berthed at Leith Docks, registered at Leith but built in Aberdeen this huge restoration project is all about giving back to the people of Leith in the hope that some of the old now, almost lost skills of shipbuilding can be passed on by willing volunteers.

A fine project that deserves all the support they can get, you can find out lots more by visiting the ship restoration pages on the Leith Shipyards website or at SS EXPLORER Preservation Society

Chipping and Painting her hull at the Edinburgh Dock, Leith

(Photographs are courtesy of the SS EXPLORER Preservation Society)



M.V.HERO-Conversion

Pleased to be able to show some new photographs of the unfortunate Ro-Ro Vessel HERO Ship No 511 built at the Leith Shipyards of Robb Caledon (Henry Robb)


The photographs are shown by permission of Rudi van der Sluis

Who runs an excellent website about the great shipyards of Amsterdam and can be found at
www.ndsm-werfmuseum.nl/

A very interesting site for any one with an interest in shipbuilding and the people who built the ships in Amsterdam, shipyards with a great history and unfortunately they also found the yards in the same position as the great shipyards of the British Isles.

 
 
The MV HERO just prior to her "Jumbosizing" in 1976 at the Amsterdam DryDock Company
(Photograph is shown here by permission)

PURIRI II and MAMAKU

Two ships built at the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb for one of the famous shipping companies of New Zealand


The coasters PURIRI II (Ship No 363) and MAMAKU (Ship No 389) were built for the Anchor Steamship Company, of New Zealand.

PURIRI II was a replacement vessel for the original PURIRI also built at the Leith Shipyards but sunk during World War II

PURIRI II with her old wooden Bridge House

(Photo is copyright of Barry Noel and shown here by permission)

The Twin Screw M.V. MAMAKU was very similar to other coasters built for New Zealand waters, real work horses and nothing too fancy about them, based on a design first conceived during the war. With the old classic look of wooden bridge structure.

M.V.MAMAKU with her wood Bridge Structure shown in port in New Zealand.

(Photograph is copyright by Barry Noel and shown here by permission)

Lots more new and exclusive photographs can be seen on the ships pages at Leithshipyards website.

(Thanks to Barry Noel photography)

Ship Photo Gallery

The WOLRAAD WOLTEMADE Ship No 516

(Photo courtesy of D.Walker)

The Leith Shipyards website goes from strength to strength with more and more interested visitors who are now contributing to the website and to the story of the Henry Robb Shipyard and the ships that started off in the yard at Leith.

Have a look at the featured pages on what at the time was the World’s mightiest Ocean Going Salvage Tug

The S.A.WOLRAAD WOLTEMADE Ship No 516 and also the largest Commercial Vessel built at the

shipyard, the Bulk Carrier GARRISON POINT Ship No 520

Our Ship Photo’s Gallery is also growing thanks to contributions by others and in particular Gordy Ross and Barry Noel for the many photographs sent into the website and they are not all ships built in Leith but a wide range of old and new ships make up the galleries now, we hope to build this into a gallery of ships to help with anyone searching for a particular ship.

LIGAR BAY-New Photo's

LIGAR BAY berthed at Queens Wharf Wellington New Zealand early 1970's

Thanks to Emmanual Mikarios who has sent in some fine photographs of the Cement Ship LIGAR BAY Ship No 488 a ship that he sailed on in New Zealand.
We have many more photographs to go onto the website at Leith Shipyards soon, and please keep sending in your photographs and stories about the ships built in the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb it is much appreciated and the visitors to the website and the Blog just keep growing so a big thank you to all.

WAVERLEY Ship No 196-Update

The Cabin Cruiser WAVERLEY Ship No 196

Seen here at her berth on the River Trent

We are pleased to be able to say that we have managed to track down some details of yet another old ship built at the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb.


She is the Cabin Cruiser WAVERLEY Ship No 196 her owners have been in touch with the Leith Shipyards website and have been kind enough to furnish us with some information on her and although launched in 1933 and now more than 85 years old she is still being well looked after and indeed still retains some of her original mahogany interiors, built to some of the highest craftsmanship around at the time she has stood the test of time. For more on the WAVERLEY

HMS HERALD-Updates

The photo above is from a booklet kindly sent to me some time ago by the then Commanding Officer of HMS HERALD I. M. Bartholomew, Commander Royal Navy, on the occasion of HMS HERALD celebrating 21 years of service in the Royal Navy in 1995.

(If the Commander should see this would he be so good to contact the BLOG

We now arrive at the ships built at the Leith Shipyards of Robb Caledon (Henry Robb) from around the late 1960's and into the 1970's with some fine and well known ships built in the yard at this time including Ship No 508 BRANSFIELD which was an Antarctic Survey Ship Ice strenghtend for work in the Antarctic in support of the British Antarctic Survey teams down there.

Also the launch of the biggest tug built in the U.K. at the time the mighty tug LLOYDSMAN Ship No 509

built for the famous United Towing Company of Hull.

Then onto a couple of Ro-Ro Container ships one of which tradically went down with the loss of one of her crew in the North Sea she was called the M.V.HERO Ship No 511

Then the next launch at the yard was the Oceanographic survey ship for the Royal Navy

 HMS HERALD and some of her story is started below.

HMS HERALD was an order from the M.o.D. Navy for a Hydrographic Survey ship to be built at the Leith Shipyards of Robb Caledon.

She seemed to take forever to build and she was on the stocks for a couple of years, this was mainly due to changes that were forced on the yard by the navy team that was in attendance at the yard, no sooner would a deck level be complete and along would come the navy and insist that this deck or bulkhead would have to come out or be moved due to all the constantly changing gear that she was being fitted with.

Leith Ships 1965 to 1970

The Leithshipyards website is now getting into some of the later ships that launched from the yard of Henry Robb from the late 1960’s and onward through the turbulent times that were the 1970’s.


We feature such ships as the “S”Class ships for the Ellerman Wilson Group, the largest single order for ships received at the yard outside of World War II

The “S” Class ships were the SALERNO,  SALMO,  SORRENTO, SILVIO and SANGRO.

SORRENTO seen here in a photograph by Stuart Smith and shown here with permission.

There is also a large feature on the largest ship ever built at the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb she was called RFA ENGADINE a Helicopter Support ship built as a first for the Royal Navy.
You will soon be able to read about the ships built at Leith from circa 1850 to 1918 in the first Volume of my new book, so keep looking in to see when it will be in a bookshop or online.

The ice strengthened ship RRS BRANSFIELD is also featured this famous Red ship was the primary source of transport for expeditions to Antarctica for the Antarctic Survey Teams that braved the extreme conditions down there for up to 9 months at a time.


In what was another first for a Leith built ship she reached the furthest South that a ship had ever been able to achieve at the time and this was done on her maiden voyage down there we have some great photographs from her time down there from two men who spent time on her and at the station in Antarctica.

 

This photograph is from Ivan Stevenson who was in Antarctica with the BRANSFIELD and his photograph is reproduced here with his permission.

 

 

ENGADINE on a visit to Glasgow from a photograph taken by Paul (Fairfield)


And shown here with his permission.

April 2012-Titanic 100 years on.

A model of the RMS TITANIC

Perhaps you may be aware of the fact that it is 100 years ago this month that the Titanic set out on her fateful maiden voyage and terrible as this event was it made me think about a similar disaster at sea which happened only 8 years prior to the Titanic going down and it involved as a proportion just as large a loss of life with even more women and children involved.


The ship was called the NORGE and she was on her way around the North of Scotland with a full cargo of poor immigrants looking for a new life in the new world of North America. (The Edinburgh Evening News recently done a story on her as well)

Image is from the http://www.norwayheritage.com/ website. The NORGE


Click through the link where you can find out more about this sinking.

The ship was a converted livestock carrier carrying mostly Scandinavian’s but no famous or wealthy people on this vessel. She was built by Alexander Stephen & Sons of Glasgow in 1891.


She foundered on the Isle of Rockall and it was entirely the Captains fault as he did not believe there were any rocks in the area. The sinking was not even reported for a few days and made the newspapers for a small time, there was as I have said a very large loss of life and in particular many women and children. Almost 600 passengers and 45 crew perished.

But the bit that really got to me about this story was the fact that after the disaster and lose of life the chairman (J.B.Ismay) of the White Star Line (Titanic owners) was to send to the owners of the Norge a telegraph to commiserate them on the loss of the ship one ship owner to another with no mention at all made of the huge loss of life. This was from the same chairman who 8 years later would be on the fateful Titanic and who would end up pushing women and children out of the way to get onto one of the few lifeboats on the Titanic.

So perhaps it is time we took off the rose tinted classes when we look back on this terrible event and be glad that some good did come out of it, such as making watertight bulkheads run right up to the underside of the main decks, and providing many more lifeboats for passengers along with the wireless act which required every ship to carry two wireless operators so that one would always be listening for distress calls..

It is an interesting topic with the sudden spate of “Cruise Line passenger ships” involved in sinking or collisions and makes one wonder what it is going to take before the owners and designers realise that some of those huge floating hotels are an accident waiting to happen which may make the Titanic disaster pail.

Picture above of the recent Costa Concordia sinking in which there was also loss of life


(Picture from the guardian newspaper)

I happen to think that the owners should be looking at double skinning the ships hulls at least to a height of around 2m above the water line.


I am sure the owners and designers would whinge about cost and loss of internal area etc, (make the area usable for water ballast, pipes and systems with the area also filled with a foam plastic to aid buoyancy etc) and stability questions etc, but this could be done and help to make the floating glass and steel boxes a little bit safer to take to the sea in. Sure it would make the build a bit more expensive but would create more work for shipyard workers and I also happen to think that while great strides have been taken in the design of Lifeboats more needs to be done into how the Lifeboats get into the water from a heavily listing ship.

ULUNDI Scanned Data

ULUNDI Ship No 78


Leica Scanned Data,

We are amazed to be able to show you the actual scanned data from the old Leith built ship the tug ULUNDI built in 1927 at the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb.

The ship was scanned by Brad Wakefield in Durban South Africa using Leica scanning equipment.

This gives a 3D all round picture of the ship as she is and surely is the way forward for the preservation of all old vessels as steel and wood will not last forever no matter how well the ship was built, but perhaps cyberspace as they call it will be around for as long as we can imagine.

For all you model makers out there this can give you so much information which would be unavailable to you without actually going out to measure the ship.

We will have the link to this info available to you very soon so you can see one of the oldest ships still left that was built at Leith for yourself.

Our thanks to Brad at Leica Geo-systems in South Africa for giving us access to this info and for taking the time to scan the ship for future posterity.

HMS NESS -in pictures

HMS NESS

A truly amazing record of this fine ship and her crew from 1943 until wars end in August 1945 a remarkable journey through the camera lens of Philip Forrest if a picture is worth a thousand words then this collection is worth many thousands of words.


We are very pleased to be able to bring you this collection of photographs taken by Leading Signalman (Telegraphist) Phil Forrest during his wartime service on the “River Class” Frigate HMS NESS Ship No 326 built at the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb and launched 30th July 1942.

This collection of photographs has never been published before and are exclusive to leithshipyards you will soon be able to see the collection on HMS NESS in one of the new books on ships built at Leith to be published soon.

HMS WINDRUSH-UPDATE



French Fire Fighters training on the ex HMS WINDRUSH


We also have a lot of new information on the River Class Frigate HMS WINDRUSH from one of the fire instructors who trained firemen in the process of fire fighting on board a ship.

For more see the new books to be published soon

More on ANNABELLA

One of the owners of the motor vessel ANNABELLA has been in touch with the Leithshipyards.com website and has provided a great insight into some of her history which included some very secret wartime work running "Ball Bearings" across the North Sea, they were of course crucial to the wartime effort and very scarce.

2012

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all
2012 promises to be a very good year if you are a shipbuilder, so keep checking back to see the latest news