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.