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Archives

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Archives

Awa Maru

Fred Brunskill told the Archive: “These three Redcar  men are (left to right) Thomas Hood Picknett, Will Raine and Thomas Bilton Picknett. They gave first aid to some of the injured crew of the Awa Maru.” The Awa Maru is in the background in this view. Ian Bushell tells us: ”My Grandfather, William John Weatherill BOAGEY and his brother Leslie befriended one of the crew of the Awa Maru. The crewmember lodged with the family until the ship was towed off the rocks and continued to send postcards from around the world. Crew members name as far as I can make out was K Uematsu.

Image courtesy of Fred Brunskill, thanks to Ian Bushell for that update.

Lemberg

Fred Brunskill advised the Archive about this stranding at Redcar: “The steamship Lemberg ran aground during the night in the blackout on December 16th 1914. She was later refloated.”

Image courtesy of Mike Holliday, thanks to Fred Brunskill for the update.

Clydesdale 1909

As this is a Graham (of Redcar) postcard it is assumed that SS Clydesdale grounded at Redcar in March 1909. Can there be more information about this grounding? 

Image courtesy of Mike Holliday.

Spiral 1915

A lovely set of images as part of a Graham postcard concerning the steam collier Spiral stranded on Salt Scar rocks. Fred Brunskill advises: ”The ‘Spiral’ laden with coal was aground on Saltscar rocks for some weeks and some local fishermen were employed to dump the cargo to lighten the vessel, this was successful and the ‘Spiral’ was re-floated and taken to Hartlepool for urgent repairs.
The ‘Fifi and Charles’ was Redcar’s lifeboat at the time and was often used to ferry the local men backwards and forwards to the ship. The above photo-montage was taken as soldiers from the local army camp assisting the launching crew. At that time horses and manpower was the only was of launching and retrieving the lifeboats.”

Image courtesy of Mike Holliday, thanks to Fred Brunskill for that update.

Ficara

Yes I do know the name of this one but only because it’s written in the caption when it arrived at the Archive. However now we know it was in June 1915 that the Ficara (a Danish vessel) grounded on Saltscar. The by-line for the image tells it all; interestingly the Swan Hotel is no more (sited on the corner) now occupied by Wilko.

Image courtesy of Mike Holliday.

Recovery

Recovery – that is just what Recovery needs – recovering, what a lot of ships came aground at Redcar.

Image courtesy of Mike Holliday.

Lord Cecil

A little undignified for a lord, but Fred Brunskill tells us: ”The steam powered trawler Lord Cecil was a brand new vessel built at Smiths Docks for the Grimsby Beacon Trawling Company. She left the Tees bound for Grimsby but became grounded inside of Westscar and was rolling so violently that during the rescue Redcar’s ‘Fifi & Charles’ lifeboat was damaged in the process. On subsequent tides she drifted onto the beach opposite the bandstand.”

Image courtesy of Mike Holliday, thanks to Fred Brunskill for the update.

S.S. Berg

Despite the title on this image it is believed to be SS Berg; ashore at Redcar 9th November 1914. As details in Redcar Shipwrecks list give the vessel as SS Berg, perhaps there was a typographical slip? Derick Pearson advises: “In the days of sailing ships, the term SS stood for “Sailing Ship”. Steam ships are termed SS which stands for “Steam ship” because they are powered by steam. If the vessel is powered by a internal combustion motor such as diesel engine or a gas turbine unit, the vessel’s name has MV (“Motor Vessel”) denoting the type of propulsion the vessel has. Now SSRF causes a problem here as SSRF stood for Small Scale Raiding Force which was set up during the early 1940s to undertake “pinprick” raids on the coast of Northern France and the Channel Islands. The raids were designed to gather information and to take prisoners for interrogation while locally having a demoralising effect on the German troops. More generally the unpredictability of the SSRF activities were designed to tie up enemy resources that would otherwise be used on other fronts. Often small boats were used and designated SSRFs.”

Image courtesy of Mike Holliday, thanks to Derick Pearson for the details.

Caulonia

Steam Trawler Caulonia ashore once again at Redcar 25th February 1915. Geoff Ayre tells us: ”I remember in the 1950s going on a pleasure boat (i.e. fisherman’s boat) and at low tide stuck on the rocks was the bow of a ship. Later destroyed, as I heard the ship blown up owing to ships heading for the mouth of the Tees being drawn toward the wreck whilst waiting for the tide.” If any body can assist with a date for destruction, the Archive would be grateful.

Image courtesy of Mike Holliday, thanks to Geoff Ayre for the additional information.

Hugh Bell

“The tugboat Sir Hugh Bell ran aground 06/01/1926 on Coatham Sands. The tug boat was trying to recover a buoy which had broken away, and washed up on the beach. It was reported that the tug boat would not be able to get off the sands for the next 10 days when high tides were expected.” Details courtesy of  Redcar Shipwrecks list.  Now another question why are all the ships called she?  Terry Shaw advised: “Tradition is to consider ships as female, referring to them as ‘she’. Although it may sound strange referring to an inanimate object as ‘she’, this tradition relates to the idea of a female figure such as a mother or goddess guiding and protecting a ship and crew. Another idea is that in many languages, objects are referred to using feminine or masculine nouns. This is less common in English which tends to use gender-neutral nouns, however referring to ships as ‘she’ may refer to far more ancient traditions.
Interestingly, Captain Ernst Lindemann of the German battleship Bismarck referred to his ship as ‘he’, in view of its awesome power. In popular parlance, the tradition of naming ships ‘she’ has now become less common. It’s worth noting that the shipping industry newspaper, Lloyd’s Register of Shipping, now calls ships ‘it’.

Image courtesy of Mike Holliday, thanks to Terry Shaw for the information update.