by CLYDEBRAE » Thu Aug 10, 2017 6:43 am
Was she broken up on the River Tees? "
"thecromartyarchive.org" have two photographs - one shows her beached off Marine Terrace and the other has a caption commenting she was brought into the firth in 1937 with damage to the port side. It refers to her being beached in front of the Cottage Hospital and refers to her being moored to a "large concrete block and ring by the Bayview Crescent Slipway" - this block still exists. It then states she was broken up "over the next 18 months"
The website (canmore.org) for the National Record of the Historic Environment, part of Historic Environment Scotland, outlines the historic record of HMS Natal, from the time there was an internal explosion on board on 30th December 1915, whilst at anchor in the firth. She sank in 8.5/9 fathoms of water with the loss of 405 lives. Canmore records she was sold by the Admiralty to the Stanlee Shipbuilding and Salvage Co of Dover. In 1926 she passed to the Upnor Shipbuilding Co, without further work being done, Canmore reporting the company folded in the same year. Getting to the point, Canmore reports she passed into the hands of the Middlesbrough Salvage Co in February 1930, and, they in turn, were reported, in July 1932, as likely to go into liquidation. In February 1937 the salvage contract transfers yet again, this time to the South Stockton Shipbuilding Co. Canmore reports the intentions of both the Middlesbrough Salvage Co and the South Stockton Shipbuilding Co were to recover selective non ferrous metals. The article published in The Scotsman in August 1938 not only refers to the "Stockton on Tees Salvage Co" breaking up the vessel at Cromarty but also states that they "will transfer the material from the vessel by the steamer "Disperser" to Stockton. Earlier articles suggest if the "Osterhav" could have been made seaworthy, she would have been used to convey recovered material from HMS Natal, presumably to Stockton, but can see no reference to this having happened.