by teesships » Mon Nov 02, 2015 1:48 pm
Now that I have found John Proud's TCC fleet list in TEES PACKETS from 2002/3, issue no. 152 of November 2002 gives fuller details of the career of NO. 64. It does not, however, much clarify the matter of any previous name! It also introduces another name we did not have before!
John confirms she was completed in 1912 for J. Constant of London as NO. 64. He then says she was on Admiralty service during WW1 with the name LORD BENFLEET. Purchased for £21,000 by TCC in 1920 and reverted to the name NO. 64. He does not help us clarify where she was broken up in 1967. He also adds that c1939 she was requisitioned as a Boom Defence Vessel until she left the Tees in June 1943. Returned to TCC on 10 June 1945 and re-entered service in January 1946.
Taximan, I suspect your memory will be correct about her being broken up in the old TCC Graving Dock. Just wonder, however, if the demolition work was sub-contracted to Readman's who were more or less next door?
A sister vessel was called NO. 63 of similar vintage and history. John records her as having the name LORD NORTHFLEET during WW1. She had a relatively short career, being broken up by Clayton & Davie Ltd., Gateshead, leaving the Tees on 17 March 1936. She was sold for the princely sum of £650.
One of my prized possesions, salvaged from simply being thrown away around the time I left the Port Authority in December 1999, is an old black booklet with typed pages full of details about TCC vessels. I think it was compiled during the 1930s, possibly by Jack Russell, who was the Engineers' Clerk in Queens Square when I joined TCC. Albeit comprehensive on technical detail of vessels, it is silent over any former names carried by the two hoppers.
Ron