What Happened to THE MILLER

The Miller in winter Ship No 194


The above photograph was sent into the Leith Shipyards website from a lady who lived on this fine old coaster for around 5 years and it has found memories for her and many others which brings me to the question What happened to THE MILLER

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Has she been to the scrap yard or is she still around just wasting away in some back water siding, we are sure that one of our informed readers will be able to let us know, is this very fine example of a Short Sea Coaster still around she was built in 1932 at the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb Ltd and was one of the many used to ferry freight around the British Isles in the days before road transport took over to block most of our inner city roads and add to the pollution and congestion that we all seem to just take for granted these days, how many trucks were used to replace just one ship such as THE MILLER.

HMNZS MOA Ships name plate recovered

HMNZS Moa (T233) had an eventful war serving as part of a minesweeper flotilla in the Solomon Islands, and working long and dangerous hours in the area of Guadalcanal,

She took part in the sinking of the Japanese submarine I-1 and many other adventures, before being sunk by Japanese dive bombers.

HMNZS MOA (7^th April 1943) was hit by two bombs in Tulagi, Harbour while re-fuelling and she sank within 4 minutes with the loss of five crewmen, and a total of 15 wounded.

HMNZS MOA ships letters recovered for conservation and eventual presentation at the Devonport Naval Museum Auckland, New Zealand

HMNZS MOA Ship No 314 (photo credit unknown for now)

Her name plate has now been recovered by divers and is being looked after by the marine archaeologist Brigid Gallagher who was amongst others responsible for the successful BBC programme “Timeline” now working out of New Zealand it is her responsibility to bring the ships letters back to a presentation condition and then hand the ships name plates back to the Royal New Zealand Navy for display and further recognition as to the fine part played by this gallant little ship during action in World War Two

HMNZS MOA

I am a conservator in New Zealand, and have been commissioned to conserve the 3 letters, M,O,A from the above ship for the Naval Museum in Devonport Auckland. These letters were lifted from the seabed in the Solomons by divers and now returned officially to New Zealand.

The sinking of the replica ship Bounty

Relplica of the HMS BOUNTY at Halifax “Tall Ships” 2012 (The Loftsman Collection)

For tales of the original HMS BOUNTY

The US NTSB has released its report into the Sinking of the Bounty

 

A captain's "reckless decision to sail into the well-forecasted path of Hurricane Sandy" was the probable cause of the sinking of a ship off the North Carolina coast in October 2012, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a report released today. The captain and one crewmember died in the accident. Three other crewmembers were seriously injured

The Challenges of Command This book explores the ways that the Edwardian naval arms race forced the Royal Navy to address deep-seated structural problems caused by rapidly changing technology. It charts how an institution organised for three hundred years around sailing ships, faced the challenge of steel and steam, and what that meant for an officer class recruited largely on the basis of its social class rather than technical expertise.

 

The 16-page report details how a mostly inexperienced crew - some injured from falls, others seasick and fatigued from the constant thrashing of 30-foot seas - struggled for many hours to keep the ships engines running and bilge pumps operating so the seawater filling the vessel would not overtake it.
In the early morning hours of October 29, 2012, about 110 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., the Bounty heeled sharply to the starboard side after taking on more than 10 feet of water in the final hours of a three and a half day voyage that the NTSB said, "should never have been attempted."
Despite hurricane winds gusting upwards of 100 mph, the U.S. Coast Guard was able to rescue all but two of the Bounty's 16 crewmembers by hoisting them from the sea into three Jayhawk helicopters in the midst of the storm. The body of one crewmember was found, still in a protective immersion suit, about 10 hours after rescue operations had commenced. The captain was presumed lost at sea; his body was never recovered.

The Way of a Ship When, as a young man in the 1880s, Benjamin Lundy signed up for duty aboard a square-rigged commercial sailing vessel, he began a journey more exciting, and more terrifying, than he could have ever imagined: a treacherous, white-knuckle passage around that notorious "graveyard of ships," Cape Horn. A century later, Derek Lundy, author of the bestselling Godforsaken Sea and an accomplished amateur seaman himself, set out to recount his forebear's journey. The Way of a Ship is a mesmerizing account of life on board a square-rigger, a remarkable reconstruction of a harrowing voyage through the most dangerous waters. Derek Lundy's masterful account evokes the excitement, romance, and brutality of a bygone era -- "a fantastic ride through one of the greatest moments in the history of adventure" ( Seattle Times ).

The KOBENHAVN Builders Plate

Representation of a builders plate from the Barque KOBENHAVN built at the Leith Shipyards of Ramage & Ferguson Ltd, 1921

This picture of what may or not have been a builders plate from the unfortunate ship KOBENHAVN Yard No 256 built at the Ramage & Ferguson shipyards at Leith in 1921, when she was lost in the Winter of 1928 has now been assessed by experts in Denmark and in Glasgow and the consensus of opinion is that this particular builders plate is not from the poor ship, although it may have been made as a commemoration of the mysterious loss of the KOBENHAVN with all her 15 crew and 45 cadets.

So one of the great maritime mystery stories continues and perhaps one day we shall find out what happened to this 5 masted Barque 3,901 grt, which was the largest sailing ship ever built in a British shipyard.

HMS RINGDOVE

For the latest update on HMS RINGDOVE Ship No 264

Leith Shipyards

Hi all,
Just to let you know that one of the best maritime history websites out there is having some what they call technical problems, it would appear that some very, very, very, very, very, very, very clever A1 A-Hole has been messing about with the website so the technical people are working on it and we hope that the better of the maritime website's will be back to what you are used to seeing soon.

WATCH THIS SPACE

And thank you to all who have ever visited the website except for one of course.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)



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.